Our bus was scheduled to leave the hotel at 7AM Monday morning

…no lie…so since the party went until around 4 or 5AM, none of us slept until we were on it.

 

Our ferry was supposed to leave at 11:30am but didn’t actually leave until about 5:30PM and the ferry terminal was not the most hospitable place I’ve ever spent time.  Many of us had breakfast after aimlessly wandering in to the terminal and then tried to sleep to no avail.

 

However, everyone was still on a high from the weekend so somehow a little music continued to happen, and a few were even brave enough to have a beer.  Kev Corbett has a beautiful Morgan guitar that caught the eye of a lot of other guitar players in the room while he was quietly playing.  So for a while people took turns playing Kev’s guitar. 

 

Finally we got on the ferry.  Again, there was more trying to sleep and not much success.  Lots of us just wandering around and trying to wind down from the trip.  I finally stumbled onto a little bluegrass and old time country kind of jam in the bar that went on for almost 2 hours and made the trip a lot more enjoyable.  Two of the guys from Nudie and the Turks were in the jam and I had not got to see them over the weekend so really appreciated this last opportunity.  They were joined by Ryan Cook, a few of the Grass Mountain Hobos, and finally Meaghan Blanchard.  It was a great mix of musicians just chilling out and playing some of their favorite oldies.  Meaghan’s mother, Trish, talked Joyce Seamone and I into requesting she sing Jackson.  Even though Meaghan knew the request came from her Mom she was happy to oblige. I love original music but must admit it’s wonderful to hear the young musicians pay homage to their roots.

 

We finally pulled into North Sydney.  I was shocked when I looked out the window to see the ice chunks we’d been riding through.  No wonder it was such a choppy ride.  Awesome to think we crossed those waters twice and were entertained all the way to boot!

 

The rest of the bus ride was finally all about sleep and we pulled into Halifax around 6AM.  It was sad to end the adventure, but so good to finally be home.

 

My taxi dropped me off shortly afterwards; I had a glass of red wine, a very hot shower, and didn’t get out of bed until suppertime.  I would imagine a lot of my traveling companions did the same.  Well maybe minus the wine.

 

It was the first time I was warm in a week.  I was worn out and ragged.  I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

 

Can’t wait for next year in Sydney!