Dave Renne wanted me go to a Bush concert in Toronto with himself and Dave Klingon. Dave and I were XC teammated at OU at the time and I believe that it was the summer before my 4th year of college.
So on one Saturday morning in May the 3 of us crammed into Dave's tinny Susuki and drove to Toronto. Canada is such a weird place. It is just like the US, except with a Canadian accent and Kilometers. I am pretty sheltered and haven't been on too many trips anywhere. So I was just amazed by the city and everything else in Toronto. After checking into the hotel in Downtown we got something to eat and I even bought a cool shirt for $3. We left for the concert shortly after. It was at the Molsen Ampatheater. Mapquest directed us to take a ferry to an island just out of downtown. None of this made any sense. There was no crowd waiting to get over to the island. Some idoit working at the ferry dock told us that the Molsen Ampatheater is like 30 mile out of downtown. We didn't end up going to the concert but later found out. That the venue wasn't on an island or 30 miles away, it was in downtown, right around the corner.
So we said "Fuck the concert, lets live it up in Toronto." We went to the tallest free standing structure in the world, the CN Tower. Then we picked up some alcohol and did some preparting in the hotel. We took the subway to the club district. We just bar hopped all night, but 75% of the places we went to wouldn't let us in wearing running shoes. We finally found a cool place and stayed there for a while. By this point in the night, I was fucking waisted. On the way to the bathroom, one of the bouncers took me aside and told me that I was walking a little funny and I needed to stop drinking or else I would get kicked out. I told him I am done drinking and meant it at the time. So about 10 minutes later I was so drunk that I totally forgot about what the bouncer told me and bought a beer. As soon as I paid for it, I noticed 2 large men standing on either side of me. At this point, I knew the jig was up and did the only thing I could think to do. I grabbed the beer and started chugged it as much of it as possible until they grapped it from my hand and litterally dragged me out of the back door of the club. I asked on the way out if I could at least let my friends know that I had been kicked out..... their answer was no. This was before everyone had a cell phone, so there was a problem. I waited outside the club for a while, but didn't see them.
So here I am out on the streets of Toronto all alone probably around 2:00 or 3:00 am, don't really know how to get back to the hotel, the subway is closed, don't have a key to the hotel even if I find it, hungry, and cold. There are all kinds of bums sleeping on the side walk and I am pretty scared. Somehow in my drunken haze, I am able to wonder back to my hotel after walking around for a few hours. I just try to fall asleep in the hallway outside the door of my hotel. So a few hours later Dave and Klingon show up and find Billy curled up in the featal position passed out and crying.
So we went to bed and Klingon and I woke up with the worst hangovers in the world. Dave however woke up feeling like a million $. I just wanted to stay in bed all day. Instead, I had to sit in a car for a 5 hours as Dave drove us back to Detroit.
It wasn't what I expected when I set out on this trip, but it was a fun weekend that I will never forget.
