Day Off -
Hot
Up at 10. Dave R. calls began at 9AM. We rise slowly. We go to "Stop & Go". Get coffee, crispies and muffins. Back to Michelle's and eat breakfast. More calls - hang out - TV etc. Denver shows fall through - SHIT! Decide to leave for Grand Canyon.
Pack our gear up and drive to Texaco. Michelle used her gas credit card and filled up our gas tank. With a fill up we get a free car wash...Well - we drive to the machine and the van gets caught in the machine - can't get it out. The people at the garage give us shit about wrecking the $50,000 machine. All we have to do is remove the guidepost rail - 4 bolts. "No way! You're liable for damages".
As promised, a nice thing that Michele did for bands as part of the gigs she promoted was to pay for a full tank of gas on the way out of town. When we went to the station for the gas, it was Dave R. who noticed that with a fill-up you get a car wash, "Hey - our van (Rod's parents family van with swivel captains chairs etc.) is filthy - lets get the wash!" We drove in and got stuck on the guide rail inside the washer building. Dave drove the van against the left guide and the front tire went over it. Rodney freaked out - we put a dent in the side of the door and a piece of metal from the machinery had managed to lodge itself between the driver side door and the doorframe. We couldn't go forward or backward. The Mobil manager was freaking out - saying we'll have to wait until tomorrow when the "team from Amarillo TX comes up to see how to remove the van."
We call Michelle - we have to leave the van overnight so "Technicians" can remove the van in the morning. We started unloading our stuff. Michelle showed up. Loaded our sleeping gear and took Dave B., Joe and Rod back. Dave R. and I waited. Second trip - loaded musical gear in the Honda Civic wagon. I went back - unloaded. Michelle went back for Dave and last bit of gear. Took them a long time - where are they? Rodney runs in - the van is here! At the last minute the station manager took the guide rail off and the van was free. He said no questions asked. He'll tell the people we were never there.
Michele had left already so we had to call her and she kindly let us stay yet another night. While waiting for her, Dave R. started with the "well my lawyer friends in Philadelphia will be interested in this situation..." He ended up convincing the gas station manager that the removal of the few bolts on the guide rail would free us up and we would go on our merry way and we'll forget about the whole thing...
Back to house. We order pizza and decide to stay - off to California at 9AM tomorrow. Went to bed at 2:15AM.
In all our years of touring, one of my disappointments is that we never were able to see the Grand Canyon.
Posted by Dean at July 24, 1985 08:10 PM
"Rodney freaked out " is an understatement. I sat on a nearby rock for about a half-an-hour repeating "Oh, shit" over-and-over until it became my mantra. I had promised my parents that nothing bad would happen to their van. I later found out that they were surprised that we returned it in one piece and not smelling like the monkey house at the Bronx zoo.
Dave R.'s actual line was "My brother - who's a lawyer in Philadelphia - might find this a very interesting case." A stroke of pure genius on his part. Then again, he did wedge the van in there in the first place.
Dean, don't be sad about never getting to see the Grand Canyon - after all, you got to see "Crazy Mary" fight a fireman.
Yeah. This reminds me that you guys aren't just big stars like I consider you.
The situation described reminds me of being in highschool and now, stress over minor political car incidents.
Stepping out into the grand Shanyon.
