As we were gathering our belongings back at the hotel room, I received an email from the folks at FloydFest; they had found my wallet! I had thought I was out of luck, but someone had turned it in to lost and found sometime after the festival. They're going to mail it back to my home address; this was good news, indeed! We left Johnson City and headed for the radio gig in Knoxville.
WDVX is an independent radio station that broadcasts from the Knoxville Visitor Center in downtown Knoxville, TN. Today, we were scheduled to perform a handful of tunes on a program called the Blue Plate Special, which is open to the public and broadcast live via radio and the internet. The show went great. We played well, there was a large, enthusiastic crowd, and we sold a batch of CDs. Success.
We figured we deserved to treat ourselves to lunch. I asked the young woman working the desk at the visitor center for a recommendation, and without hesitation she suggested the Tomato Head at Market Square. It was a beautiful day, so we sat outside. Life was good.
We drove to Gatlinburg to load in at Sugarlands Distilling Company. The town was much more touristy than I expected, but it had a fun energy. Sugarlands provided us with a room right next door at the Gatlinburg Inn, a quirky, comfortable hotel established in 1937.
I had an hour before soundcheck. Nothing came up on my TrailLink app, so I tried good old Google and learned there was a two-mile multi-use path nearby. Shadowfax and I set out to find it. I was amazed by how close the trailhead was to the mainstream tourist area and yet how it felt like it was a world away. It was a beautiful, shady mountain riverside ride, just what Shadowfax and I needed.
Sugarlands was a good gig. Folks were into it, and we sold some merch. The venue treated us right; they paid us decent money, provided the room, brought us dinner, and gave us some free moonshine. Speaking of moonshine, I'm not going to lie; today was tough. That stuff looked absolutely delicious. I really wanted some. My bike ride had taken my mind off booze earlier, but during and after the gig, the desire had come back strong. I was exhausted by the time we finished playing, and the idea of catching a moonshine buzz sounded great.
We went to the hotel pool after the show. Knowing the boys would be imbibing our recently-acquired free product, I treated myself to a late night meal of fruit, peanuts, pistachios, and coconut water before I joined them. I figured I could fill up on these healthier alternatives to liquor and the cravings would disappear. The trouble was that everytime someone opened the jar to take a sip of shine, it smelled heavenly. I still wanted it. To be honest, I think this blog is what saved me. I felt like I would be letting down anybody who's been reading my posts as well as myself if I were to break down and drink. If it had just been me, without the blog, I'm fairly certain I would have found a way to justify it to myself. "It's been a long day." "I've earned it." "It would be a waste to pass it up when it's free." But I've been down that road before and decided it wasn't working for me. Why is that so easy to forget? I excused myself from the moonshine party and headed back to our room to finish this post.
Today was Day 73 toward my goal of 100 alcohol-free, and officially the longest I've gone without a drink since I started drinking so many years ago. Thank you for your help!
- Jon
Whew!
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