| I believe it was 3 months before the show, my friend's (Kim and Jess) and I decided we would road trip to Columbus, OH for Rock on the Range. A first time musicfest consisting of 14 bands on two stages all playing on the same day. YEAH! The line up in order of appearance: 2nd Stage: Whitestarr, 2 Cents, Operator, Black Stone Cherry, Puddle of Mudd, Papa Roach Main Stage: Breaking Benjamin, Buckcherry, Three Days Grace, Chevelle, Hinder, Velvet Revolver, Evanesence, ZZ Top Granted we were not interested in every one of the bands, but enough of them that the $49.50 face value was a pretty damn good deal. The only downside, it was ALL General Admission. (10,000 allowed onto the field, everyone else in the stands.) But we were not too concerned with it. We'd come up with a plan closer to the date. So, I mentioned we had to wait approx 3 months after buying the tickets. Well, the time flew by faster than I thought it would. Before I knew it, it was the week of the show. Fellow Buckcherry fans/friends were planning to meet the night before at a local bar, the Frog Bear and Wild Boar. The what?! What kind of name is that for a bar? haha So the plans were made and Friday morning, the day we were leaving, finally arrived. Jess made it to my house, an hour drive from WI, around 7am and then we drove to Kim's which took about an hour and a half with rush hour traffic. We packed up Kim's car and we were on the road by 9:15am. We rocked out on the trip with Kim's selection of "Metal Up Your Ass" songs on shuffle from her ipod. (her ipod LOVES Disturbed and Metallica!) At one point when we stopped I felt like I had been at a rock show. I thought to myself, "Do I need to wear earplugs in the car?" Yes, the music was LOUD! But really, is there any other way? ;) |
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 Finally...Columbus! |
After a few stops along the way, we arrived at the hotel around 5pm EST. Not too bad a drive considering. The hotel was pretty cool too and actually was a historical building. Oh and fire proof! |
 Local artwork! ;) |
 Our hotel |
 Not only is it old, it's also fire proof!  Now how cool is this?! A 100 year old time capsule! |
After checking in, I called Gup (fellow Buckcherry fan and organizer of the night's events). We chatted a bit, he was a smart ass, and all plans were still on for the night. I told him I would call again after we ate dinner. Kim, Jess and I relaxed a bit before getting ready for the night. |
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 "Reba", I mean Marsha, Me and Audrey |
 Amy, Laura and Me (and to those of you that would wonder, no, that's not my beer! BAD JESS!!! haha) |
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| Funny thing about this next picture, I metioned to Marsha that maybe we could get the waitress to take a group picture of us. She said something to Gup and next thing I knew, the waitress was taking our pic with someone's camera. Well then everyone else got out their cameras. It was hysterical. The waitress lined them all up at the table across from us and one by one started taking pics! SHE ROCKS! |
 The Buckcherry Gang |
 And (Buck) cherry shots for all... |
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 Gup's "dark side" or "best side" as he says... ;) |
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Around midnight, Kim, Jess and I headed back to the hotel. It was going to be a VERY long day on Saturday. Once we got back, there was a note stating that the path of the 15th annual breast cancer run/walk would be right in front of our hotel! I paniced! How would we get the car out of valet in the morning?! Luckily, the other street would not be blocked. whew. Our plan for ROTR was supposed to go something like this... We had decided we'd try for wristbands so we could be on the field, up close, to see Buckcherry. After their set we'd head to the stands or the 2nd stage or whatever. We coudn't help but wonder how many people were actually going to be there when the parking lots opened at 9am. Well, let me just say, we were in for the shock of our lives. |
