We left Aspen this morning with plenty of time to spare. We drove well, stopped once for gas and food on the interstate. I thought it was going to be pretty easy, I mean it’s the interstate. Israel said he'd take over for me when I got tired. I started out thinking, oh man this is going to be no big deal. Garmin (our GPS) says we are going to get there 2 hours early. It was a beautiful drive, high granite cliffs ripped through by the Colorado. We were making good time. The hills weren't too bad and the curves weren't too bad. Then we started to climb hills that were so long and steep that I couldn't keep above 35 and I had to down shift into 2nd gear, which means were doing 20 in a 75. It’s a little frightening, semi’s and cars trying to merge as the close on you but everyone is cool because we’re an old bus and they find the room. I thought that was about the end of it in Veil at 10,000 + feet and we started to descend some pretty treacherous downhill slopes. Then we started to climb again I wound up in 2nd gear doing 20 for about 10 minutes and was relieved when we reached the top. The road leveled off and then began steeply descending and headed into this tunnel that runs through a mountain. There are signs just outside the tunnel that say “traffic monitored by camera” “No pedestrians or bicyclists.” I hate to admit this but I’ve read almost ½ of Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand makes a big deal about long tunnels and carbon monoxide poisoning. So I'm, you know, a little on edge. I go to shift from third to fourth and as soon as I get the clutch in the cigarette lighter housing power supply Garmin fried. Ozone smoke started to drift up. I left it in neutral, to coast for the time being hoping that it isn't the whole electrical system. Pumping the brakes I pull the Garmin plug out of the outlet because I don’t want it to spread and open the window so as I don't have to breath it in. I did not panic - that's twice in a row. When asked what happened. My immediate summary was that we'd lost Garmin, which was incomplete. In my defense I was asked to report what had happened while I was pushing 16 tons of steel, rubber, diesel fuel, wood, flesh, plastic, propane and glass down a 6% grade in a tunnel trying to make sure there wasn’t an electrical fire or some other horrendous malfunction that would render the vehicle uncontrollable. I will no longer be operating the bus with one of the emergency exits locked from the outside.
This was an absolute Cluster Fuck and it freaked the shit out of me. I mean that very honestly and truly. After I determined that it wasn't going to catch fire and that the bus was still running and that we were still operational and all my friends were okay and safe. I allowed myself to feel. It shook my breath. Sometimes the tricks are rigged. We had some good sized hills yet to come down, ones with signs like... "Lost your Brakes? ... Stay on the Highway." At the end of the hills I sighed and I wanted to cry. I took us to the junction of the interstate and highway 6 after Idaho Springs - which looks like a cool town with gold mines and an old town that looks like it hasn't burned down or changed much since the 1880's. I'd like to visit it sometime. Just not while driving an old school bus with some malfunctioning wiring; no speed-o-meter, Air brakes that have overheated twice on the journey, oh and a fucking rock band bound for greatness a sleep in the back. I pulled over and took the lock off the emergency exit. We were through the crazy shit and Israel, in all his wisdom, insisted on finishing the drive. I went down to the river and washed my face and hands. I looked for some gold in the river - It's there, I could see it in the hills and there was tons of pyrite (fool's gold). Israel came down and we discussed my shape. I expressed my concern about the upcoming curves, the lack of speed-o-meter (Garmin was our speed-o-meter) I explained my strategy of braking prior to the curve, cornering through the apex of the curve in order to maximize the efficiency of the rubber on the road, keep the momentum moving forward, rather than sideways. Sideways = no good, particularly in a bus. He explained that he would proceed with caution with regard to curves. I felt relieved.
I printed off directions from every venue to every venue before we left. Like this is some kind of giant appraisal and THIS is some kind of appraisal report.
The show in Boulder was amazing. The sound was excellent. Everything was clear. The band had a good time. We added Mike the sound guy from the last tour to the bus.
The promoter was excellent he was very helpful and generous. The band played dressed up and played every song they know. The set list looked like this:
Paint or Pollen
Two Towns From Me
The story I heard
Just One
I Buried a Bone
(If’n) Things I Cannot Recall
The as of yet song without a title
Go On Say It
Bitter End
(Holy Road) Always
Poor Boy
(Wild Idea) Get it Out
3 Rounds and a Sound
Half Moon
One Red Thread
Miss Ohio
White Apple
We Are The Tide
In the last episode I wanted to get the crowd from Salt Lake and the sound from Aspen. The Sound was as good as it was in Aspen; the crowd was almost as good as Salt Lake. The audience of 450 was so polite they knew the words but wouldn’t sing along for fear of bothering their neighbors. They also didn’t talk and no one even looked at their cell phones. I think they may have all switched them to vibrate. I know I did. The promoter said the club was running out of Red Wine and so he brought the band whiskey. These two girls from Denver missed the bus home so Kati invited them to hang out with the band until the next bus ran. I got to sleep on Cristina Rudosky’s living room floor (Israel’s special lady friend, Miki’s friend from Hawaii) so I didn’t get to see it but – they stayed up and did homework. Can you imagine? You go to see a show, I actually saw them singing along in the front row across the stage at the other edge, and you talk your way onto the bus the band is polishing of a 5th and then you proceed to do homework. By this I mean no disrespect to the young ladies, Luke said it reminded him of baby-sitting- it came in a context of age difference. Kids these days with all their respect and responsibility.
It turns out everybody else slept in and no one wants to hit the road before 5 tonight.
The drive to Santa Fe was perfect. Israel started and drove for 3 hours or so and I took a nap. I finished the drive. The highways were straight the hills not too bad. The only big hill was Raton Pass which wasn’t even that bad. We pulled in around 4 am. I found a Whole Foods and decided to park in the parking lot. They are awesome. I’ve been hole-up in the bus all day reading. Around lunch time the security guard came over and said he spoke to the manager and arranged for us to move to the loading dock if we wanted to. That dude was cool. The manager is cool. Whole Foods is cool. Our inverter overloaded a few days ago and we have no Alternating Current power so keeping phones and computers charged is getting to be challenge. There’s an electrician that’s supposed to come by a little later and take a look at it. I bought a new camera yesterday. Mine’s been around for 5 years and I’ve taken thousands of pictures of houses with it and I’m excited to get new one charged up and shooting.
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