Wow Bob, I feel like I was in the car next to you reading this, detailed so well like your electric daisy story about the helicopters whipping past you last year, great writing dude.
Steiny
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Great entry as usual Bob - For those not familiar, Heard It In A Love Song comes from a magnificent album. It's almost bubble gum when compared to the whole album. Carolina Dreams straddles Southern Rock with Cowboy Country and even solid blues. It grows on you.
Bernard Yin
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Bob, welcome to Colorado. I live in Durango and if you give me a little lead time I would come up and help.
I will be back in SO CA the end of next week wand it would be "interesting" to have lunch. I probably see life more
positively than you do but we would both learn a lot.
Feel free to have an "escort" as you may a decision.
I love the topics and issues you bring up for the music industry. It is positive and well thought out. I am more interested in learning why you are so negative on life and our current state of affairs.
Marsh Bull
PS: My assumption is that I will not hear back from you so have a great weekend and trip back to So CA.
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The roads to telluride scare me.
Jason Hirschhorn
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My teeth were clinched the whole time I was reading this. Be careful out there Bob.
Kevin Weaver
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PUNT...your asshole will pucker on the Million Dollar Highway...if it is open!
CR at the Base of Little Cottonwood Canyon, which was also sketchy today
Coby Reghr
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Pack!!! To Hell U Ride is great! You are tough, you will make it.
Mike Busch
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wow, nice work navigating. brings back memories of a college road trip from chicago to tempe, az to see the grateful dead....got caught in an insane blizzard in new mexico (as born and bred northerners we were puzzled as to why there would even be snow at all that far south) 40 West was shut down, so we decided to point south at 25 towards sunnier climes b/c we didn't want to miss the show. Didn't work out so well. soon it was dark and we were on 25 South in a full whiteout and heavy winds....but pulling over was not an option, you'd be hit from behind. Exiting was not an option b/c you couldn't see them and even if you could they were covered in a foot of snow. So we soldiered on. Periodically the driver would need to reach out and shake the ice off the wiper, so as the shotgun rider I'd hold the wheel. We did it probably a dozen times. Then the next time he reached out, the fucking thing snapped off. The entire wiper. FUCKED. We were a solid 3-4 hours from safety at that point so
it looked pretty fucking dire. For the next 4 hours I steered from the passenger seat (my wiper was still working) while my friend did the gas/brake at my command. Somehow just before daybreak we found the exit for 10 west and we made it to the show with a couple of hours to spare. The most vicious drive I've ever endured...and i've endured a whole bunch of them.
Great show though.
Glad you made it in one piece....at this point the worst case is stuck in Vail, so could be worse.
Don Bartlett
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You don't know me, and I only know you from reading your letters. I do know this, the cost of a rental for even a few days is nowhere near as valuable as your health and well being. I've lived in Denver for 16 years and have spent a fair amount of time driving in all kinds of weather in the mountains. My unsolicited advice is please don't drive to Telluride in a storm. Please.
Claire Cocurullo
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Could not pass this one up. PUNT.
The skiing in Vail will be incredible because no one will be able to get here. Haha
Go to Telluride on Sunday afternoon, they are going to get puked on till Tuesday.
Kevin Roach
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Really vivid, harrowing storytelling, Bob. I was right there in the passenger seat with you.
Colman DeKay
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Pack. Drive in daylight. If roads are open, you go. Otherwise you'll tear yourself apart for missing the top of the season in Telluride.
My $0.02.
Jim Rondinelli
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BBBEEN THERE!! Vaya con dios!
Patrick J. Daly
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50" ?????
YOU'VE GOT TO GO!!!
AND THEN YOU'VE GOT TO WRITE ABOUT IT!!!!!
HEEEELLL YEAH!!!
Thanks for the skiing stories every year. This build up is killing me!
Chris Johnson
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Stay right where you are. No amount of car fees are worth your life, Bob!
Dave Bass
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Take the sure thing. Ski vail! It will be awesome either way. I could never sleep in telluride. Too high and too dry. And I hated their chairlift system.
Irving Azoff
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Bob you have such a memory for details. What a harrowing experience. I've had similar driving terrors in Utah. Be safe out there!
Grace Mosqueda
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Ski Vail, of course. Glad you made it.
Sam Glaser
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Nice play by play. Been there many times in Vermont and Colorado. Hope to all works out. Was supposed to go to Vail this weekend but cancelled for a few reasons. Kind of happy with my decision now. Yes, that means I'm getting old. But hey...hell of a season so far!
Danny Cooper
VP Promotion
RCA Records
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Sounds dubious w/out 4wd. Please stay safe. DG
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I think you're nuts. I would have gone to Miami.
James LaLumia
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What's missing from this is that during your entire complicated drive (which might have included a serious accident) you also were trying to keep track of the details for writing in your blog. Like on some level you must have thought this anguish will make a fantastic post.
Firstname Lastname
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Glad you made it in one piece.
Jeanne Buckley Peloso
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Try surfing!
Harvey Leeds
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Stay put. We need you. Pay the extra rental fee.
Lizzz Kritzer
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I've lived in Colorado for almost 40 of the last 50 years.
Driven the mountain roads before freeways were carved into the Rockies.
Been down to Telluride maybe a half dozen times.
When we're in high snow alert, disregard what the GPS system says.
Not even a Jeep with V-8, a turbocharger, and off-road tires could make it from Vail to Telluride in under five hours.
And that assumes the driver is more experienced than some "flatlander" in for a ski week.
No offense intended, but most ski tourists believe that "four wheel drive" also means "four wheel stop."
The roadsides along I-70, on the road from Grand Junction to Ridgeway and from there to T'ride bear witness to those who've made the mistake.
Regards,
Bill Clarke
Denver and the Rockies.
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Punt! After that dizzying episode where you managed to keep control in the most uncontrollable of situations, driving in snow, you will manage.
Patti Jones
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Wait it out, Bob!
Will you remember the $170/day or the powder?
At least you're driving TO the snow. Last week I white-knuckled it down from Telluride to Montrose to come home. And that's far less rewarding.
Lars Murray
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Bob - I've been reading you for years and I had to respond to this one. I laughed so hard! You captured snow driving so well! Reminds me (again, as I sit at the Denver Airport) how happy I am to live in San Francisco these days.
Thanks!
Hugs - Ursula Fritsch
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I'd just enjoy the snow.
Joe Vitka
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PUNT. It's the only way.
Leland Grant
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Sitting here in Macon, GA where it will be 70 and sunny today it's hard to even conceive having to navigate in a blizzard, but I did it years ago when I was a tour manager. No more!!
Willie Perkins
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I felt as if I was in the passenger's seat of your car while your were driving. That was an incredible piece of writing.
Eric Herz
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My knuckles are white just reading this. I can't believe you had to go so far just to pick up the car. So have you decided to pack or punt? Whatever you do, stay safe!
You back by Thursday?
Amy Madnick
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I hope I'm not the only person saying, "Don't go!"
It takes a strong person to make the most sensible decision, even (especially) when it means ignoring the testosterone-fueled choice
Jenny McCourt
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High adventure, Bob.
Wolf Creek is east of Telluride and I'm excited about what's about to happen here.
Let me know if you get this far and need refuge.
Haz
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Re: pack or punt...as a Wyoming resident that deals with this frequently, my best advice is to Park. Find a place to stay put until the storm clears and the plows get their work done. Safe travels.
Mike Geraci
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Go surfing, Bob. Fewer logistical hurdles.
Stay safe.
smitty
Jim Smith, CTIE
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My blood pressure rose as I read. Be safe.
You put me in mind of my own winter driving perils. I was going from CT to Middlebury in early Feb (after winter term). Connecticut? No worries. Mass? A little snow, but OK. Route 7 in VT just south of Brandon? We are stopped at a light (because, you know, Metropolitan Brandon needs a light). I realize that the car (a very old station wagon) is sliding backward on a slight incline. I manage to arrest the slide by steering into a snow bank. Some hours later, trucks salt the road and we creep north to Midd. Damnedest thing. I can still conjure the anxiety of moving backwards from a fixed position. Somewhere in there is a useful metaphor for something.
Best,
John
-----------------------------------------------
John Hyman
Director, College Writing Program
Department of Literature
College of Arts and Sciences
American University
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I've done that drive from Beaver Creek to the Denver airport with my wife and kids in the 4 wheel drive. Kids throwing up in the back, white knuckles on steering wheel, normally passenger seat driving by my wife but instead you can hear a pin drop.
Be safe my man.
Andrew Schwartz
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Hhhmmm. Let's see. The airport's closes. The Pass is closed. You're a skier. You're in Vail. There are 50 new inches of snow. You have your ski gear. Hhhhmmmm. What to do.
Bill Tenneson
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Your post awakened memories of when my brother and I played in Chicago with Carl Carlton. We drove back to Detroit and hit lake effect snow. For over an hour I had to look out the window for guard rails as he drove blind. I thought that this could be the end.
Gary D. Strauss
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That reminds me of the time I got caught in a whiteout on I-81 through PA. I was living on the far SW edge of Northern VA at the time and I can't remember if I was coming back from Lake Placid or Hartford. I used to take I-81 to avoid the traffic and tolls on I-95. But 81 goes through some pretty hilly and isolated areas. Usually I enjoyed the scenery and the ability to speed due to little traffic. But this time the snow was way heavier than I thought it would be. I really couldn't see much of anything and it was starting scare me. I know there are some pretty steep dropoffs on the other side of those guardrails. Fortunately, I was able to follow an 18-wheeler most of the way until the snow let up and I could see. I was white knuckling it though, for sure. Cursing myself half the time for not taking 95. I don't remember what music I was listening to that night. But I know it was what kept me calm, because that's how I am. I can't drive without music. Knowing me, it was probably the
Eagles.
Glad you made it back safe and sound.
Amy Primeaux
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Wait it out, Bob! You could end up with the most epic skiing of all time!!!
Tim
Calgary
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Don't pack, dig in for the adventure with good judgment, meaning don't get killed.
Stephen Marcussen
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Great read, I know what you're going through. Godspeed Bob.
I'm up here in Aspen helping to run the Platinum Suites program for the X Games (you should come out next year!). Last night there was an accident in the roundabout on the way from Buttermilk into town and the free shuttle line snaked all the way into the vendor village.
Really hoping to get done today and get back to Denver before we get dumped on again tomorrow morning!
Best,
Kobi Waldfogel
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Should Marshall Tucker be in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame?
OBTW, I'm from SOUTH CAROLINA : )
Doug Thompson
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Stay...you went to ski right? Lotsa snow...it's an adventure. Like-minded souls are likely to hookup and laugh, even if your east coast buds don't make it. It's a memory in the making, either way.
Erik Scott
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I know that road and the snow. Flo & Eddie and we neo-Turtles barely escaped Vail trying to get back to play the Troubadour on Christmas Eve in '74. Had to get thru the pass before it closed, the station wagon the band was in was following the equipment truck rental...the taillights... Every once in awhile you could glimpse the falloff 2000 feet on the right side...yup...I know the trip.
Congrats...you made it. Hang in...it'll be great.....
or...
Erik Scott
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Ooops sorry...a final addendum to the Vail-in-a-snowstorm story. I know you probably won't read this...a social media giant
like yourself has little time for such nonsense...flotsam email from an old-timer. But I got to thinking about my own escape and travel down the Vail mountain in a snowstorm in '74. As I mentioned, Flo & Eddie and we Neo-Turtles had to get to the LA Troubadour to play Christmas Eve and Christmas night, snowstorm or no...so down the hill we went, following the equipment truck taillights...Flo (Mark) driving, and Howard knowing we were all going to die in a 2000 foot fall: "Un-identified beatniks found frozen" as he would put it..hell, as he did put it. But an interesting part, especially for a newly transplanted bass-playing rube from the midwest, were the shows at the Troubadour. On Christmas Eve, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Asher, Joni Mitchell and a crowd showed up to sing carols for the encore. The next night on Christmas, Keith Moon and Alice Cooper showed up and did the "Happy Together", and an interesting version of "Wooly Bully"…and I had a small adventure with
Moonie.
So you see, perhaps the snowstorm travel is but a prelude to great new memories for you during this week…..and then again,
no..for sure, good memories. and congrats for your survival. oorah
Erik Scott
(Note: I was at the Troubadour on Christmas Eve with my college buddy John Hughes, below.)
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Thanks for this Bob. This reminds me of many adventures driving in Colorado and one of the things I miss about living in the Vail area, as weird as that sounds. I am a cover musician and lived and worked in the Vail and Beaver Creek resort hotels for almost 10 years. I bought a condo in Avon and skied every day at "The Beav" and then went to work in a bar/restaurant every night during the winters. Near the end of my life style in that valley I lived in Leadville and remember driving back to Leadville at 1am from my gig in Edwards in a blizzard with a Subaru with snow tires. Great vehicle for saving your ass in those situations.
My ears/eyes always perk up when you write about being in Vail. Now I live in San Jose (Silicon Valley) and miss the lifestyle of living and working in a ski resort! I married a tech "rockstar" and we follow her career.
I used to play bars, ski and travel around the San Juans. Telluride is still one of the most beautiful places for skiing in my mind and Wolf Creek always had a ton of snow. I hope you make it safe and thanks for all you share for the young musicians and oldsters like me who love staying up to date!
All the best,
Wil Mullen
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You're a little late on Marshall Tucker...
Chris Branson
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Go hit Wolf Creek! The back area is sick when there's fresh and then when you've had enough you can go hit the hot springs in pagosa springs! And wolf creek is a day area with no village and none of the touristy bullshit of all the other places you're thinking of hitting!
Or if you're up for it and feeling hardcore you could always try Silverton.
Have a blast Bob - but stay safe
Jarrett Sherman
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I hope you stayed in Vail. I lived in Steamboat for 2.5 years...3 winters...after college. Late '70's. Deferred grad school twice (I'd gotten into one of the better graduate school real estate programs in the country; University of Wisconsin, Madison. The third time I tried to defer they said, "nope...see 'ya." Then I figured I needed to get a life. But I'd followed my muse....powder skiing in the Rockies....it was heaven...and things have turned out ok).
And you know the Rockies in the winter, Bob, especially in big snow years like this one, don't you? Don't fuck with the mountains. They're like that margarine commercial from the '70's, "...you can't fool mother nature." No shit. You can't win in bad weather. Sure, you may survive. But the driving? You'll never forget it! It'll scare the shit out of you, if you've got half a brain. And driving in a Rocky Mountain white out? I've been in some Rocky Mountain winter storms where I couldn't see past the hood. Scared me to death. I remember those trips to this day. Vividly.
You can always ski another day. Can't do that when you're dead.
David Svikhart
Salt Lake City, UT
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"Finally I was in Edwards. Civilization".
You insulted everyone that lives in Wolcott!
Love that area and loved the story.
Kevin McCloskey
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I can't remember for sure if it was Geddy Lee or Neil Peart that once said "adventures suck while you're going through them". And you know not to put yourself in harms way over $130/day fees. Love your blow by blow accounting. Breathe deep my friend .....sooner or later it has to end.
Kevin
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Quite an adventure. I know that adrenaline driving feeling. Ugh.
That car rental fee has gotta hurt. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story. And it could be worse: 52 degrees here in Vermont today, and rain on the way.
- Greg Dennis
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so what happened next??!! the suspense is killing me!!! does sound like the music helped pull you through that first part, though. amazing what a difference it can make to have that one extra thing going on, which you'd think would distract you from the needed ultra-concentration, but somehow works the opposite way, and has a calming effect instead.
John Hughes
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Fantastic Bob, thanks for that. Nothing like a great Colorado snow storm.
Hope you drove--I think you would find once you got down onto the flats, you'd be fine, with only Dallas Divide and the drive up valley to deal with.
Enjoy your turns! David Knudsen
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And then...?
Lisa Battista
Red Light Management
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