Road Trip - boxes fly as New Mexico burns

report filed 5/11/00 8:31 am - Left O.B. Monday as planned. Didn't plan on having a couple of boxes that were tied to the roof of my overstuffed Subaru to go flying off within a few minutes of getting on the highway. Didn't even make it through the first song of the first cassette!

The problem was the tie-downs for the bungy cords. The roof rack itself has oddly curved rails which didn't match up real well with the hooks at the ends of the bungies. Packing up, everything seemed secure, but after hitting around 70 mph on 8-East, the force apparently was too great for the weak hook/tie-down combo. The good news is that nobody got hurt. The boxes just sort of exploded upon impact and all the misc. crap (mostly coffee mugs, a couple of pots and pans, etc.) was immediately scattered and for all intents and purposes, gone.

After figuring out how to use the tie-downs -inside- the vehicle (I can't believe they designed the roof rack without adequate tie-downs on top), I was back on my way. A bit rattled, but as long as nobody got hurt, surviving the loss of some misc. kitchen stuff was no biggie. Needless to say, I arrived late at my first stop enroute to All Good, my folks place just outside Las Vegas. We had a good visit nonetheless. Had the pleasure of hanging out with my sister Wendella, who was also in town for a few days, and all in all, the visit with 4/5's of the nuclear unit (my other sister is back East), was a nice change of pace from the box flying weirdness that lingered from earlier in the day.

Went to Flagstaff after Vegas, and then last night drove to Albuquerque. That's where I'm at right now. Room 105 at the Motel 6 to be exact. Got the TV on in the background. Seems like the entire state of New Mexico is on fire right now. The town of Los Alamos is being evacuated as we go to press. Fortunately, our travel route is not in flames and if all goes well, I'll be in Amarillo tonight.

OK, so now we're up to date.

Before leaving O.B. I caught a pair of excellent shows at Winstons. The David Nelson Band played on Thursday, and Wise Monkey on Saturday. Both shows were top notch... What a great way to wrap up a boffo Winter/Spring season for everyone here at the Anytime/Anywhere studios!

Here's a few images from WMO's show on Saturday which included the band's old buddy Jason Whitmore sitting in on sax:

Check out time from my temporary digs is noon. Gotta finish this update, pack up the vehicle (yes, I'll be sure to make the stupid roof rack is secure), take a shower, and then hit the road. If all goes well, next week's update will be chock full of images from the All Good Festival.

See you then...