The night drive over the Rockies takes longer than planned, due to the light snow and slightly icy roads. We’re running at least a couple of hours late, more like 3, which is OK for us in the band; I’m typing this and having a morning coffee, but for the truck and crew, it means they’ll be later than is comfortable getting to the venue. We’ll have to push soundcheck back and see if the union guys in the hall will cut us some slack. At some point in the middle of the night, we were in the mountains at a Flying J truckstop and Arlene (the crew bus driver, just ahead of us) got on the CB radio and said, “Stay where you are, the road over the mountains is closed.” Ice and frozen snow. A few hours later, the road opened up again but soon we came to a stop as a truck had jackknifed on the icy road ahead. As we sat there, our bus began to slide backwards on the ice, coming quickly to rest. Once the road was cleared of the truck, it took a few tries and some spinning tires to get us moving again.
It’s absolutely gorgeous outside though. Snowy mountains, fir trees and high treeless valleys.
© DB, 2008
Sad to say, this is Dick Cheney country. There are lovely little pistol cases for sale in the truckstop, camo trousers and…plush snakes.
© Jenni Muldaur, 2008
