Cornerstone Festival 2006

5 July 2006


This was a rather significant Cornerstone year. My original Cornerstone buddy, Ted, couldn't make it. My buddy from last year, Joy (who had also happened to be my fiance), couldn't go either. She had moved to Iowa after we broke up. Matt and Amy both couldn't make it. I had talked them into going last year but this year they decided to go to Lifest since it was closer to home. So instead of these, I had a new Cornerstone buddy, Joel. It would be his first time and we both anticipated great things.

We didn't get to leave Eau Claire until the afternoon. It was a warm sunny day and we decided to take a more scenic route and avoid the interstate even though it would be a little bit slower. There was a small problem in Galesburg when we couldn't find the road we were supposed to take because we both missed the sign (despite traveling back and forth on Main Street enough times that, once we stopped for directions, we kept volunteering landmarks to help the woman in her direction-giving!), but otherwise it was a mostly uneventful drive. We listened to music and a Dannah Gresh / Leslie Ludy interview and we talked about girls. It was a good time.

Once we arrived, there was enough time to set up camp and head over to the Gallery Stage to watch the Lost Dogs play at 10pm. Afterwards, Joel was pretty exhausted so he went back to camp while I stayed for the 77s who were playing at midnight. Their set was awesome. Well worth staying up for. I know Joel would have enjoyed it. Since Mike Roe is in both the Lost Dogs and the 77s, each band did a separate version of the 77s tune "The Lust, The Flesh, and The Pride of Life" which was a huge crowd pleaser. At the end of the night, I happily melted into my hammock ready to sleep after a long day.