What is (are) the craziest thing(s) you've ever done?, And would you consider ever doing it again? Options

[lien]

Thought this might be fun...

[burd]

In 1992, a month or so after we graduated high school, my friend & I drove to Saratoga in her car (it was her first car and she just got it a week prior). We had no directions. We had no money (well, we THOUGHT we had money. We had $40 each and we bought 1/2 pound of turkey, a bag of rolls, a thing of mustard & some soda). We told our parents we were going to Great Adventure for the weekend, but in reality, we had GA tickets for U2's Actung Baby tour up at the Saratoga Raceway in NY. We told them the Great Adventure story because we tried asking if we could go to Saratoga & they said 'no' ... while we already had tickets.

We stopped at a police booth and asked if they had a map we could look at. We wrote out the most ridiculous directions and SOMEHOW made it to Saratoga a day and a half early. We camped out and made some cool friends. The first night we slept in the car in the parking lot of a hospital. We figured, they have vending machines, bathrooms, phones, and doctors. We have turkey sandwiches and 40 bucks. What could go wrong???

Luckily, the first night, nothing went wrong. We woke up, got out of the car to stretch, and turned around to see about 5 hospital employees staring at us. Nobody said a word as we went in to wash up in the bathrooms & grab some "breakfast" from the machine. Then they waved as we drove away. Again, with no words being exchanged.

We waited and waited and waited at the gates for the doors to open. Some local news crew came up to the front of the line where we were and wanted to interview us. My friend and I were like, "NOOOO WAY! We're supposed to be in JERSEY! If our parents see us on tv, we're FUCKED!"

Some dude came out with a bullhorn telling us where to line up and to prepare because they're going to open the gates. Now bear in mind this is at a racetrack where the only thing in town is, well, a fucking racetrack. So when they opened the gates, some big ass bell rang and someone on the PA system actually said, "AAAAAAND THEY'RE OFF!!!"

We ran. RAN. Ran like I've never run before. And we didn't know where we were going. We were just running around, randomly looking for racetrack staff pointing us in the right direction, screaming completely incoherently, no usable words at our grasp.

Then we saw it. Bono's catwalk. *GASP* We HAD to be at the catwalk after driving with no directions to fucking Saratoga with GA tickets for this tour, after lying to our parents about the entire weekend. We fucking flew. I don't remember it at all. I'm sure we bumped into people and maybe even knocked someone down ... but we made it. UP AGAINST THE CATWALK. They would be playing their little acoustic set THREE FEET FROM OUR FACES. NOTHING could pull us away from this spot. Nothing, of course, unless I decide to pass out.

So suddenly my friend and I are NOT at the catwalk, but at the Red Cross station. I have no idea what happened between drooling with anticipation knowing that Larry's conga drum would be *right*there* in a matter of hours, and hearing strangers under a tent call my name and make me drink water.

The show had not started yet, and there was NOOOO way we were getting back to the catwalk unless Bono himself dropped us off there. And even that promised potential of trampling. So we found an empty section of seats on the side of the main stage and stood there. Disposable Heros of Hypocracy, then Primus (FUCKING AWESOME) came out in pajamas hahahaha and then ... U2. With the tvs, and the lights, and the sunglasses, and Edge's handy-cam ... you know, before they went insane and forgot how to write new songs.

The concert was awesome. The drive home felt effortless. The next day at home, all hell broke loose. Two weeks later, I was supposed to take my car and head off to college. It turns out my mom and my friend's mom were MUCH smarter than we gave them credit for. They called Ticketmaster saying their daughters were missing ... "and can you please tell us what shows are going on in the area this weekend?"

"Well, ma'am, Carly Simon is here, Bonnie Raitt is there, blah blah is over here, bluu bluu is over there ... and U2 is at Saratoga Raceway."

Fuck me. Busted.

I was still off to college in two weeks, but I had to find my own way there because mom made me turn in my plates on my car. The car sat in the garage for a whole fucking year ... nobody drove it, nobody started it, for a whole year, it sat and rotted in my mom's garage. And then when I came home, a year later, my punishment continued and mom made me sell my car.

Later on we found out that some other group of kids our age were on a similar voyage. They didn't sleep at a hospital though. They slept at a rest stop on the NY Thruway and never made it to the show because someone broke into their car while they slept, beat them up, and took all their money.

We really lucked out and that is something I would DEFINITELY do again ... as long as I plan it properly. We were fucking stupid. But it was sooooo much fun.