37?!

Yesterday Gabriel and I left New York, making our way towards Nashville, Tennessee for the Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival. We decided before we left the east coast we'd swing by Leonardo, NJ and Red Bank, NJ to hit up the Quick Stop and RST Video where Kevin Smith shot "CLERKS" and his comic book shop Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash.

But of course once we decided to leave NY, we hit traffic for the first time. It should have only taken about an hour and a half to get to the Quick Stop, but instead it took us three hours.

Once we got there, we weren't sure it was the right place. It's a lot smaller in person than in the film. And the area looks boxed in. But once we went inside, we saw pictures and articles of Kevin Smith near the register. We asked the clerks if they get a lot of tourists. Yes. Yes, they do. Side note: because of the movie I kinda expected a couple of white dudes to be sitting back there, but nope, they were Indian. Anyway...

The store itself is pretty small too. I don't know how he was able to fit anything in there at all. They must have moved stuff around all the time while shooting.

I bought a "pack of cigarettes" and hoped to get a receipt that had the store name on it, but no such luck. (I don't smoke. Just a souvenir.)

We went outside a took some pictures and did a vlog. A young kid walked by and asked us if we were there just because of the movie. We told him we were and he got a kick out of it. He lived down the street and met a lot of people that did the same thing. It made me wonder if any of the neighborhood kids care that much that a movie was shot there. Like, to them it's just where they buy their energy drinks.

Unfortunately, because of the traffic we hit, we couldn't make it to the comic shop before it closed. I called earlier to check their hours and I'm rather certain that it was Walter (the "Egg Man" from CLERKS) that answered the phone. I knew that he ran it, but wasn't sure how often he was actually in the store. It would have been great to meet him and maybe get his autograph on my DVD along side Mewes and O'Halloran. Another time I guess.

We stopped for the night somewhere near Strasburg, Virginia. To tell the truth, we were a bit freaked out for awhile. It had been windy the whole trip, the truck was being knocked around quite a bit. Once we were parked, we really felt the gusts. A couple of times the back of the truck really started to sway. We double checked the weather to make sure there weren't any storms coming through. It looked clear, but it got COLD. I could see my breath laying back there. Luckily, my sleeping bag is really warm. I slept with a knit cap, my hoodie, two blankets and my sleeping bag. I just made a cocoon and curled into a ball. Slept well.

This morning we got to a late start. Gabe's phone died so the alarm didn't go off. We're not even in Knoxville yet. But we're making decent time.