according to Dixon:

I woke up feeling refreshed after getting a few good hours of sleep. The previous night we were told it would only take us about four or five hours to get to Virginia, so we all decided we'd sleep in. After a leisurely breakfast, JoE checked online for a better estimate on exactly how long the trip would take. It was actually another eight hours, not four. We were supposed to arrive at the bar in Norfolk around 5pm, but there was no way that was happening anymore.

We all rushed to the car, filled up on gas, and Matty from Starstruck and Mikee switched cars, so it was JoE, Klug, Matty, and me in Shantay Jr. After this quick stop we made our way to Virginia. It was smooth sailing until we hit the outskirts of Washington D.C. We knew traffic would be bad there, so we planned on going around the city instead of through it. This plan sucked. Traffic was just as bad, and Shantay Jr. was stuck in traffic for two hours. We hardly even moved. Luckily we had the video camera and found plenty of stuff to keep us amused. Every so often JoE would point the camera in my face and tell me to give him a tour update. Not to mention over 7 different exits for the city of "Manassas." Mikee called us up a couple times to see how we were doing, and they were making much better time. When we couldn't take the traffic anymore, we consulted the map, and found an alternate route to Norfolk. The second we got off that horrible road, we were moving. The new route was faster, and scenic, making us wonder why we waited two hours to try it.

We finally arrived at the bar at 10pm, and quickly unpacked the trailer and set up. PGS would play first, Starstruck second, and local band Bailout would headline. Everyone played well, and the show was a lot of fun, despite all the driving. Drinks were free, unfortunately, and some of our crew (JoE) really took advantage. Once he was good and drunk, he made it his goal to fully irritate everyone else until I finally took him out to the car and wouldn't let him do anything.

A girl at the show was nice enough to let us crash at her place, so we followed her home. She had a cool little place, but we were seriously in the ghetto. How do you know when you're in the ghetto? When there are some dudes across the street selling crack and prostitutes down on the corner, that's a pretty good clue. I'm not joking. Despite the neighborhood, we figured it would be a good idea to swim in the bay, which was about two blocks from the house. Everyone but Mikee got in the water...iIn only our boxers...iIt was... different. The cops even drove by and saw us, but I think they were looking for a murder suspect on the run or something because they didn't even care that a bunch of white guys were on the beach in their underwear.

After our dip in the bay, we all needed a shower. One slight problem, the girl only had one solitary towel! Luckily I had the shower second. Unluckily that meant while drummer Mark was in the shower. I was in my boxers talking to the nice girl who let us stay at her place, giving Matty the perfect opportunity to pull down my shorts. Thanks Matty. At least the towel was still sort of dry when I used it.

Feeling refreshed after my shower, I got my pillow and blanket, and found a nice spot on the floor to sleep. This is when I got acquainted with the dog Sierra. She was a big, friendly, black dog, and had no concept of where not to step on people. Twice over the course of the night she went running over me, putting all her weight on my groin. Ouch. After the second time I moved to the entryway of her house, and slept with an uneven floor under my back. Fun. Of course, with JoE and Billy talking all night long, there wasn't that much sleep to be had.

according to JoE:

Slept in a bit since the next show was only about 15 minutes away supposedly and we didn't have to be there until noon. And this was the day of the big show. This is the beach show that we actually planned the whole tour around, so we were hoping it was going to be cool. The show started at noon and our friends from here, Slick McFavorite, were scheduled to open the show, then a Virginia band, then us. Well, Slick McFavorite wasn't too fond of the idea of driving over 17 hours there and another 17 back just to open a show, so they ended up not going. We were scheduled to go on at 1:30pm. After grabbing some breakfast from McDonald's at around 11am (it was lunch technically, but our first meal of the day), we arrived at the show promptly at noon.

"Yeah, Slick McFavorite didn't show up, so looks like you guys are going on first." - guy who set up the show

"But we're in Virginia and we're scheduled later, wouldn't it make more sense to have a Virginia band open?" - JoE

"Whatever, you guys should be on already." - guy who set up the show

Not to pleasing obviously. Only thing cool was after all that driving, it was nice to see some common faces when Kil' Cupid showed up. We took our time and chatted with them for a bit, introduced ourselves to some of the fans and then started our set. Well, nobody told us we had to curb our language for the show, so after a fairly vulger version of "Not the Jealous Type" some form of beach security came over and told us we'd better watch what we say or he was gonna shut the show down. We laughed and thought it actually sounded like a good idea since we had another show after this one, but we didn't want to screw over the other bands, including our friends who had driven down just for this show. So, we curbed it and finished up our set. Starstruck demanded to play directly after us, and shortly after they finished we left for our next show in Williamsburg, VA. We didn't sell much of anything, but we still think we left a good impression.

We arrived in Williamsburg to find out that we were going to open, and then Starstruck was going on directly after us. Turns out Starstruck had left a backpack and a wireless system back at the last show. So the guys from the band Original Conspiracy (they set up the show), threw a different band on while Starstruck ran back to the last show, but just as we PGS was ready to start they showed back up with their stuff.. For some reason, the kids in Williamsburg loved us. The whole crowd was pretty much into the show except when a car crashed into a ditch outside. Once that happened, pretty much everybody in the place went outside to see this dumbass who crashed his car into a ditch. A few songs later everybody came back in though with even more energy.

The coolest thing had to be when we got done playing. I went back to the merch table and people were actually lined up at our table to buy stuff. We ended up selling a crapload of merch and met some really cool fans. Starstruck went on right after us and they had a pretty good crowd response also. So, we stuck around to check out the bands and support our new found friends in Original Conspiracy. Well, since we procrastinated packing up, after O.C. played the exit was pretty much blocked and we had to stick around until the very end of the show. Which wasn't too bad since we got to take in a pretty cool set from a band called Races To April. After that, we packed up and headed back to Newport News to meet up with Shooting Blanks who had also traveled down for the beach show.

Turns out Shooting Blanks decided to get a hotel for the two nights they were down there. Just in the case of pure dumb luck, it turns out Hawaiian Tropic was hosting the "Ms. Hawaiian Tropic Contest" at the same hotel. So, they had told us if we wanted to come crash at the hotel with them we were more then welcome. Sweet deal! So of course we did. We stayed up in the room playing guitar and getting kicked out of parties, it was pretty ridiculous. Especially Shooting Blank's Hoffman's escapades with a fake blow-up doll, but that's a story for Shooting Blanks, not us. In the end I fell asleep in bed with Deech from Shooting Blanks, I still don't think i'm fully healed.

according to JoE:

It was agreed at this point that tour was officially over. With nothing but a drive back home left, you can't really say you're on tour anymore. We leave the hotel a damn mess. I've never actually seen a hotel room as disgusting as we all had left it. There were beer bottles all over the place, and pizza boxes, the sheets were ripped off the bed and tossed around the room, chairs were tipped upside down, and there was no tip left either (sucks to be this maid, but we couldn't afford it). So, i'm going through by duffelbag making sure everything is in order and I find a yellow nightgown. THOSE BASTARDS! Starstruck must have stuck it in my bag back at the girls house in Norfolk, VA because it was all the way at the bottom of my bag and that's the last time I went through it. See, they probably figured "let's shove the nightgown in his bag this way he'll have some explaining to do when he gets home and he's unpacking his bag in front of his girlfriend." Good thing I at least caught it before I left, so it ended up just staying on the hotel room floor to be disposed with the rest of the trash.

We leave and head back down some scenic road. We've also all decided to sleep in...not a good idea. Marc from Starstruck has to be back home at 6:30am monday morning because he has work. We were planning on hitting the Akron show and then driving straight home after that, but at this point, with 4 out of state bands on the bill, we really don't see much purpose in playing the show. So, we're just gonna drive straight home. We now had a goal and were hoping we'd be home by that time. That is until....

we got into the Maryland mountains. HOLY HELL! We hit some of the worst storms any of us had ever been driving through and you couldn't much see the car in front of you. Juicebox was driving at this point, and although he was completely confident in his driving abilities, he scared the hell out of myself, Klug, and Billy who were all riding in the car. It was here that just getting home became our new goal. We turned on the video camera, said our goodbyes to friends and family who may view the tape after we had passed on, and Juicebox continued driving.

By the grace of God, we made it out alive, I think, unless i'm still living one of those "I think i'm alive" kind of things like in "The Others." And the journey continued on. We stopped at gas stations continually to fill up and one of them actually had a novelty machine in the Men's room. Of course I had to purchase something, so I bought a regular lubricated condom and decided to save it as my souvinier. The driving continued.

according to JoE:

Near the 1:00am on this day, we had already been driving for quite some time and the darkness doesn't help your fight to stay awake, especially to Dixon. Dixon had come back in our car and Starstruck members were all in their own car by this point. Klug and Juicebox had been doing most of the driving, but they now decided it was mine and Dixon's turn to drive, so we stopped at a gas station and swtiched. Matty had fallen asleep in the front seat of the Struckmobile so I decided to have a little fun with him. We thought putting an open condom on his face while he's sleeping was a lot funnier than he did.

I'm not very good at nightime expressway driving, I get highway hypnosis really easy and have a tendency to close my eyes for a little too long when i'm driving, especially at this hour. So Dixon takes control of the wheel and we head out. For the next hour, Dixon and I keep ourselves awake by playing the word association game. For those who don't know what it is, you simply say a word, and the other person says the first thing that pops into their head when that word is said, and then you say the first thing that comes to mind, and so it continues back and forth. For an hour. We stopped talking and Dixon is making pretty good time in the vast emptiness we called Indiana. By now though, i'm starting to drift off to sleep and Dixon's telling me how he's getting really tired. I start slapping myself in the face to stay awake and I manage to for at least a little bit. We're cruising along in the right hand lane when suddenly Dixon decides to change over to the left lane. Pretty normal thing, except that he changed lanes without using a turn signal. Very unlike him. Especially when he kept changing lanes straight over to the shoulder, I grabbed the wheel and yanked it back to get us in the left hand lane. He didn't even know he was doing it cause he had fallen asleep. Thank god there were no other cars around.

Needless to say I was awake now. So we stop at a rest area just to change drivers real quick (Juicebox and Klug are still out cold in the backseat). I'm crusing along Interstate 65 in the left hand lane about 200 feet behind a semi in the right hand lane. Nobody likes riding behind trucks, so I proceed to pass him, just as I do the truck locks up his breaks and proceeds to swerve into the middle lane of a 2 lane highway. Apparently he didn't realize there was no middle lane. I slammed on the breaks and the trailer did a fancy little fishtail thing behind us and for the next mile and half the guy in the truck continued to sway back and forth between lanes. We believe he had Dixon syndrome, but we're not quite sure.

From there Klug took over driving and brought us all the way back home arriving at my house at 7:00am, a little later than Marc had intended to be home, but at least we were alive. We headed over to Dixon's house, unloaded all the equipment, and ended tour. And if you actually read all this, give yourself a nice little pat on the back. Thanks for caring.