Chapter 31 - BAND ON THE RUN
So once
again, there we were careening through the night, waving goodbye
to the city lights of L.A. while unwinding with our respective
cocktails and speeding on to Grand Junction, Colorado. Why
Grand Junction? Because the distance to our final destination,
which was Denver, was so far away that they didn't even print
the mileage in our itineraries, probably for fear of a rebellion.
And although 'Jeff the Invincible' is a man of great stamina,
he's not crazy! There would have to be a rest stop somewhere
and Grand Junction ended up being the place. All in all, it
looked like another night of bouncing bunks for us and a long
night at the wheel of the land yacht for Jeff.
Well,
we finally made it through the long bumpy night and arose
in the early morning to find Jeff still burning up the miles.
And as we sat displaying our various styles of bus hair and
gulping down some bean drink for our wake up jolt of caffeine,
we discussed what we would do in the bustling metropolis of
Grand Junction once we arrived. Believe me! Now that's optimism!
I guess
we completely missed Nevada while we were in our slumber cubicles
because Jeff informed us that we were now someplace in Utah
and it was time to grab some fuel for the bus, and breakfast
for us, before continuing our trek to Grand Junction. Besides,
Jeff was in need of some more of that thirty weight bean drink
and a fresh bag of 'Bulls eye' candies. I guess the sugar
and caffeine must be a really potent mix, it certainly works
for him. As for me, I'd be so wired I'd be chewing my fingernails
all the way to Grand Junction! Oh well, to each his own.
I think
it was around 8:00 a.m. when we finally pulled in to a truck
stop. I can't tell you exactly where because all I knew was
that I was awake and we were somewhere in Utah and there was
nothing else around for miles. I mean this little place was
so remote that I couldn't help but wonder, where do the people
who work here actually live? I didn't see any homes nearby
and I'm sure they don't commute, there's no place close enough
to commute from. To me, it looked like a pretty Spartan existence
but like I said, to each his own.
After
breakfast, we drifted back to our land yacht for the remaining
few hours of travel to Grand Junction and got to see some
of Utah's most spectacular desert scenery. Yeah, I know, another
desert but this was different. I'd never seen geological formations
like this before, it was sometimes like being on another planet.
And no, I didn't have a Gin & Tonic with my bacon and
eggs. We were near Bryce Canyon National Park and the surrounding
landscape was truly awesome. This was one of the few places
in the U.S. that I never had a chance to see except in photos
and it was quite an extraordinary treat.
The old
land yacht finally rolled into Grand Junction sometime in
the mid-afternoon and we checked in to our hotel, a little
ragged around the edges and ready for a short nap. Of course,
'Jeff the Invincible' was ready for a long nap, a very long
eight to ten hour nap. He knew he had another humongous drive
over the Rockies to Denver the next day.
It was
only a couple of hours later that phones were ringing and
we were making plans for the evening. Dan had flown on to
Denver from L.A. and Jeff was catching some well-deserved
slumber, so it was just the four of us. Yes, imagine, the
"Band On The Run" turned loose and roaming the streets
of Grand Junction -- what a scary thought. But this was an
old band, so we settled for a grand and leisurely dinner at
the best local Mexican restaurant, chased it down with a couple
of margaritas and then called it a night.
It became
evident that we'd all been thinking about the same thing for
the last day or so. There were only a few days left until
the end of the tour and that quickly became the major topic
of our conversation over dinner. The end of a tour brings
both dread and joy at the same time. Of course, you want to
get back home to your loved ones and your relatively normal
life. But on the other hand, having the absolute pleasure
of working in a band this exciting and tight is rare and it's
extremely difficult to let go of. A very special bond had
been established over the weeks we spent together on the road.
This Fogelberg tour will always remain in my memory, like
a wonderful chapter in a book that's still being written --Fogelberg,
McEntee, Photoglo, Zoot and me, the band of summer 2003.
.