Dan Fogelberg Tour 2003 Road
Journal
by Michael Botts
Part 32 – ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
We knew we still had a long drive ahead of us so we all agreed it would be best
to leave Grand Junction fairly early. We had a concert in Denver that evening
and getting there would require another long twisting ride through the mountains
in the land yacht, this time over the Rocky Mountains, through the ski resort of
Vail and then down the other side to the "Mile High City" of Denver.
Our early departure from Grand Junction turned out to be a wise decision indeed.
Do you remember road rule #10, which states; "The less time you have the more
time it will take"? Well, we were just about one hour outside of Grand Junction
when Roadzilla attacked us once again. Jeff jumped on the CB radio and found out
a large tanker truck had overturned about half a mile ahead of us and both lanes
were entirely blocked. And they would remain blocked until the tanker truck was
removed, which a friendly highway patrolman informed us would take approximately
forty-five minutes to an hour. That was the bad news. The good news was that we
were on a land yacht with plenty of food, drinks and satellite TV and the bar
was open. As you can see, we eventually learned to take those Roadzilla events
in stride.
After a short period of time, our interstate parking lot had become an impromptu
social gathering as people got out of their cars to take in the scenery and
actually talk to each other. Amazing! In fact, at one point a guy jumped out of
his convertible with an acoustic guitar and proceeded to give anyone nearby a
free concert. Of course, the land yacht started to draw as much attention as an
elephant standing in your living room. We were like a giant in a sea of
automotive dwarves, like Gulliver among the Lilliputians. And it wasn't long
before a few folks started to wonder who was on board, so we all got out and
joined in the festivities of the first annual "Grand Junction Interstate
Fiesta." After all, what else were we going to do?
Well, it wasn't long before they had cleared the obstruction and we were all
back on the bus and rolling down the highway. As usual, I was strapped into
The Chair
with plenty of drinks and snacks and I was ready to sit back and enjoy the ride
through some beautiful Rocky Mountain scenery. And believe me, it was nothing
short of spectacular.
We were wonderfully distracted for quite a few hours as we rolled through the
beauty of the Rockies. But as we descended into the valley and got closer to
Denver, a reality started to creep back into our minds that couldn't be avoided.
There were only two more gigs and then the tour was over. Nobody was really
talking about it but I could tell from the unusual silence on board the bus that
we were all thinking about it in some way.
Our show in Denver was at the Paramount Theatre, another one of those grand old
theatres from a bygone era. And of course, it was sold out and filled to
capacity with Dan fans that had been waiting a long, long time for the tour to
finally come around to the Denver area. They let us know it as soon as the
lights went up and we started playing "Part of the Plan." These people were
there to have a good time and we were more than anxious to give them one.
It was a great high-energy show that night but maybe it just seemed more
significant to me because it was one of our last concerts together as a band and
I was intent on savoring every musical moment. We had become so tight since our
first gigs on the east coast and it seemed like such a shame to know that it
would all disappear in a few days and become memories, just another wonderful
chapter in the "Big Book of Roadzilla." We were like a championship team that's
reached the end of a great season. I was finishing the last few drops of a
wonderful vintage wine.