It may be difficult for one to recall a particular favorite vacation get away or road trip to a far off destination and until just recently I couldn't think of any particular event that stuck out in my mind most vividly. Little did I know that the lives of four college kids would change after just one weekend in a little known area called Masontown, West Virginia. It was the summer of 2009 and we were feeling spontaneous and eager to try new things.
It all started when my best friend Hunter gained knowledge of amazing experiences known as music festivals. We had heard of them before but had never considered attending one. He seemed to be extremely ecstatic having purchased his ticket almost half a year before the festival even took place. I on the other hand was a little skeptical and nervous about going to a festival, nevertheless he convinced me to purchase my one hundred and eighty dollar golden ticket. The two of us packed as much camping gear, food, and water that we could fit in my '87 Firebird and hit the road on the morning of Wednesday July 8th.
The gates of Allgood music festival were set to open at 2pm on Thursday, so as we were on our way we stopped in Richmond to pick up our good friend Trey and headed to Charlottesville to our friend James' house. We arrived in Charlottesville around 10pm that night and made sure everything was ready to go. Having all of our members of our group together now we were so excited we could barely sleep that night.
By 9am on Thursday morning we were ready and on our way to Masontown which was only a four hour drive. By the time we arrived we were some 3,000 feet elevated in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains on a private farm land. It was then that I knew this was going to be a really great experience. We parked the car, set up our tent, and began to explore. Scattered on the mountains were 20,000 people who did the same thing we did, we were just one dot out of thousands. As the sun set behind the mountains we started to hear the opening band, Seepeoples. They would be the first of an all night concert that stretched until 5:30 Friday morning, at which point we finally fell asleep.
The next morning we woke up to find our tent had collapsed on us from the mountain winds, James and i reconstructed and set off to get our minds right while Hunter and Trey slept trying to recover from the night before. By Friday evening our gang was fully recovered for another night of great music, new friends, and great vibes with a little help from the herbals. We watched some of our favorite bands like Lotus and STS9 jam out all night while having mind blowing experiences under a full moon.
By midday on Saturday Trey had found a girl and disappeared for the remainder of the trip until it was time to leave Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, Hunter, James and myself found ourselves locked in the grasp of the psychedelics and ventured down to the main stage to catch Soja and Umphree's McGee. The trip couldn't have gone any better, we felt totally at one with each other and everyone around us. I ended up falling asleep staring at the stars outside of the tent that night, I'll never forget how calm and collected it was.
Sunday was to be our final day there. We spent most of the morning wondering where Trey was having no means of contact with him and packing up our campsite. We decided to catch one or two more shows before leaving so we hiked down to the stage where coincidentally we found Trey. We stayed and wached a couple more bands, none of which i was very interested in. We were all mentally and physically anguished from the extremely overwhelming past couple of days and we knew it was time to head home.
By the time Hunter and I got Trey back to his house in Richmond and returned back to Virginia Beach we knew it was the trip of all trips. On our way back to Charlottesville I recall James saying that there wasn't one day that went by where he didn't think of how fun it was to be there. Now, almost two months later I can honestly say there won't be a day where I don't recollect my thoughts of Allgood and get myself excited for next year. I kept my golden ticket and framed it on my wall; I plan on having it for the rest of my life. All in all it was the most fun I've ever had and I developed a relationship with those three friends that won't be like any other, it is and was all good.
