(56) Stockton, California

Monday, April 6^th: Rudy and I hopped in the truck and drove 264 miles(16,956 total miles) to Stockton, California. When we got to the hotel, a group of us immediately drove down to the nearest Chipotle and Jamba Juice for some food. We had a load in that night at the Faye Spanos Concert Hall. We already knew this was going to be an interesting load in because this was one of our hardest venues. Load in started fine and we were making due with all the difficulties. A couple hours in, we were bringing in a pipe to hang our drop on when it got caught on another pipe. When it came loose, it fell down and hit the top of my head knocking me over and giving me a very mild concussion. This is what I’ve been told happened, because I don’t remember any of it. Caroline then took me to the hospital where they took X-rays and did some tests. I very vaguely remember riding to the hospital, but I don’t remember what Caroline or I said. I don’t remember going into the hospital, but after being there for a bit, I started to remember where I was and with the help of Caroline remember what had been going on before I was hit on the head. I still don’t remember what happened right before or after I was hit. We spent some time at the hospital and they told me that my head was fine but that the muscles in my neck had been overstressed. They gave me some muscle relaxers and Ibuprofen there and then a prescription for it as well. After we left the hotel, I called Michelle, because she was planning on coming to Stockton the next morning to stay with me. Once I told her what happened, she got in her car and drove out that night to be with me. The doctor said that I needed to be watched for the first 12 hours. When we got back to the hotel, Carolyn, Eric and Rudy came over to hang out with me until Michelle arrived. Michelle got there in record time and I could not have been more happy to see her.

Tuesday, April 7^th-Thursday, April 9^th: The next couple of days blended together. Especially Tuesday and Wednesday. Michelle and I went to get the prescription and then spent the rest of Tuesday relaxing. Wednesday was similar, but I was feeling well enough to go see the show. We went to the grocery store and then headed back to the hotel. By the end of Wednesday I was feeling about 85% ok. Up until then, I had felt a little bit like I was in a daze. That night for dinner we went out to California Pizza Kitchen. Thursday morning, I got dressed and went to work the show. I was very proud of everyone for the work they had done in my absence but we were all happy that I was back working the show. That afternoon, Michelle and I watched the Giants baseball game in the hotel and then went to dinner at Roundtable Pizza. We came back to the hotel and watched the Sharks hockey game and then headed to bed.

Friday, April 10^th: It had been a great week with Michelle, but it was time for us to head to our next city. I was very sad to see her go, but I also knew that I’d be back in San Jose in just 17 days. We had two more shows that morning, at 9:30am(107) and 11:30am(108) which capped off the 8 scheduled shows in Stockton. Load out went well and we were on our 250 mile(17,206 total miles) drive to Bakersfield, CA. That night, Carolyn, Dave, Rudy and I watched a couple episodes of “Lost” and then we headed to bed.