Wrestling Tour
This actually starts in Yosemite
with our first meeting 5-29-94.
Thankfully Mike and Mark were starving climbers and my friend Shell and I were cute girls with free beer and pizza to share. This is our first picture together at the top of Vernal Falls. Who knew that a year later our paths would cross again and would be the start of a 3- year love affair !
I kept a journal throughout our wrestling tour so these dates are pretty accurate.
Just HOW did Mike come to be the referee on an oil wrestling tour anyhow???? Well.............After running into each other again in Yosemite, I was back in San Francisco getting ready to go out on the 2nd leg of the tour. I got a call from Mike in Yosemite. Seems he had just parted ways with the search and rescue team, and really wanted to get out of the valley. Within hours of that call he was pulling up outside my work in the city.
I thought I'd remembered my boss saying that he needed a DJ for this leg of the tour. Turns out, instead of a DJ, he was looking for a referee to be part of the show. He needed someone in good shape that could take off at any moment and travel for months at a time. Seeing as how Mike was now unemployed I thought the two should meet. I took Mike over there and the rest, shall we say, is history.
A week later we were out on tour !!
Bar and Nightclub Expo in Atlanta GA. June 25th & 26th 1995.
The Ref in Action ! Me , Monkey & Mike in the ring.
You've all heard the stories now here's the proof. Actual pictures of Mike in action.
| The 4th of July was spent in Isle Minnesota. It rained all day but we set off fire works and BBQed anyways. He thought it was the funniest thing to pose with this dumb used fire works, cause it looked like a dookie. Always willing to be silly to make others laugh. |
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Drinking was usually part of the evening. Here Mike and our friend Andy help themselves to an open keg at the Diamonds Night Club in Louisville KY July of 1995.
who was in Tennessee at the time.
During our travels Mike had the chance to stop in and see his daughter
Amanda,
Here
he is holding Amanda with Jessica standing next to
them.
~ September 1995 ~
We had a great time everywhere we went taking tons of pictures along the way.
Monkey, Meghan , Stacey , Polly and Me with Mike. Somewhere USA
Ever the climbing BUM, Mike climbs the outside of our hotel one night after a show.
In September we hit Florida doing shows in Daytona
Beach and Orlando.
Mike
and I took this opportunity to lounge on the beach and see
Disney World.
Daytona Beach FL
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Disney World FL 9~22~95 My Little Pirate
Castle at the Magic Kingdom
Also in September
we went through Mississippi and got to spend a day at Elvis Presley
Lake in Tupelo. BBQing, boating and just enjoying a day
off. This was the
picture he sent back to his friends in Yosemite. Just to say that
there were no hard feelings and that he was doing well. ha ha
ha ha
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Sometimes on the road things got pretty rough and we did have our share of arguments. But making up was always nice . |
OK so you all know Mike as a great guy, always laughing, telling jokes , protecting people and generally helping out when he could. But did you ever know that he spent a day in jail for attempted murder????
So here's the story. We did a show in Franklin Wisconsin Wed October 25th 1995. This really drunk guy came to the show in a ref jersey and whistle just like Mikes. At first we thought it was funny. He kept trying to come in the dressing room, Mike escorted him out a couple of times. During the show he kept trying to get in the ring and DJ booth, Mike just kept taking him back to his seat. But after a while it wasn't funny anymore and Mike finally told the guy if he didn't stay in his seat he would be kicked out. And that exactly what happened Mike and our driver Fish tossed him out a side door and we finished the show.
The next morning the police surrounded our hotel at 9:00, banging on the door looking for Mike and Fish. Apparently the guy told the police that Mike had stabbed him while throwing him out of the club that night. They searched all of our bags and rooms for "The Weapon". Taking Mike's ref outfit he had worn in the night before looking for blood. They made us all go down to the station to give statements of what had happened. They let us all go back to the hotel but kept Mike and Fish on suspicion of attempted murder. I was totally freaked out and so was poor Mike.
Well to make a long story short they let them out and brought them to the hotel at 3:30 in the morning. Seems the guy had fallen on glass and other construction debris outside the door of the club. He needed stiches and told everyone that he had been stabbed. When he finally was proven wrong and told the truth, they had no choice but to let Mike and Fish go.
Mike did end up paying a fine for hitting the guy but was cleared of everything else. I still have the letter he wrote to me while he was sitting in jail.
We had a little fun with Mike after that.
We even put " Mike is NOT GUILTY" on the back of the equipment truck !
All total we were on the road for seven months from May to November. With a small break in between where Mike and I did a seven-day/six night hike in the high country of Yosemite. I will never forget our first months together, what a way to start off a relationship on the road, oil wrestling for seven months !!
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