Me and a Bicycle and the Road

We've been traveling for over a week now and it's been one heckuva tour so far. Mostly pretty dang good. Susan played to a packed house in Dallas and San Angelo was a fun stop with lots of good weather photos, as posted below. On the way to San Angelo we started spewing black smoke out the back of the van and losing power on hills...not a good thing. Everyone had an opinion at the bar, but we made the decision that maybe bad diesel was the issue and we headed to Albuquerque because a) my folks will always put us up b) the Sprinter dealer that Susan purchased the van from lives in ABQ So after some runaround and about 3 different Sprinter dealers and mechanics, Susan herself found that there was a crack in an air hose, which tends to cause black smoke and loss of power. She duct taped it and things improved immensely. There is not a thing that she can't do with a roll of duct tape, I don't think. We found Ricky the Sprinter Magician who got us a new air hose (because 100 degree weather is probably not the best for duct tape on a very essential car part) and we were on the road to Colorado by Tuesday morning. Mom "helps" Susan fix the van. Mechanic rear view. ABQ Rear View. Susan played a really neat show in Arvada called "America's Soul Live" at the Old Town Pickin' Parlor, which is exactly what it says...a parlor (aka a paradise aka a room) FULL OF GUITARS TO PLAY. Nothing I picked up that night cost less than $2500, I don't think. We spent the last few days up in Centennial, Wyoming, home of the Friendly Store and Bar...owned by some awesome folks. This town has about 60 residents in it but they all come out to see the show, and some drive in from Laramie and other towns in the area. On Thursday we decided to take what is called a Cruiser bike ride down the mountain near Centennial. You pick a bike, all made int he 50's or 60's or so...put it in a truck, take it up the mountain, and you coast down. It's awesomely gorgeous and the best way to see the natural beauty around area. However, you see...I wore flips flops because I didn't really know the exact components of a Cruiser ride, and obviously this was a bad idea. I made it all the way down almost when on the very last...10th of the ride I felt some brake loss and then tried to stop myself with my flip flops, which true to their name flopped over so that I was off both pedals trying to stop on a hill DRAGGING THE TOPS OF MY FEET ON THE ASPHALT. I'll let you soak in that image for a bit. Luckily I didn't like this situation for very long and veered off into the weeds once I realized that I had. To. Stop. I got up with help and rode the rest of the way down because I guess I was in shock and my feet just looked brown, which was probably what burned skin looks like. We got back to the house and I was pretty bloody...so our kind hosts and Susan offered Band-Aids, Advil, and tequila. I think the tequila probably helped most. FIRST AID TIP ALERT: The next day we didn't have gauze so we cut up a maxi pad and used it. Surprisingly the exact same material. Worked amazingly well. I limped around for our Friendly Store gig and tried and probably failed to not be too whiny about it, but now I'm all wrapped up and we're in Fort Collins, Colorado and I'm feeling ok. I borrowed a pair of Crocs and I walk like I'm 50 years older than I am...but things seem to be on the mend. I do plan to milk the sympathy card for as long as I can though. Tonight after the show we drive to South Fork, where I'll be playing along with Susan at the Rhythms on the Rio Festival. Pretty excited! No more accidents.