Somewhere, under the rainbow.

I found the end of the rainbow. It is at the get off ramp of Interstate 76 in eastern colorado. Mile marker 155. It's not a pot of gold, it is a 1985 eagle rock and roll tour bus formerly owned by meatloaf, that's right meatloaf. She has treated us well and hauled us all over the country multiple times for the past year and many others for many years before. new years day sunday in far eastern colorado she gave up, shut down, and left us stranded.



2:30pm . . . . we started making calls. We called truckstops, repair shops, emergency roadside assistance, the police, the sherrif's dept, the highway patrol. Not a single one responded. NO ONE! We may have told them we were in a tour bus, but regardless the "highway patrol" said they would not be responding and could not help us.



7 hours later we finally found a tow company in Kearney (that's about 400 miles away) that was willing to try and tow us the next day. Now we needed a way home. We thought about hitchhiking to the nearest town and renting a vehicle, but only one place in a 200 mile radius called vern's cars was even listed and they didn't answer the phone. We racked our brains to figure out what poor friend of ours could help. Things are a little complicated when you are trying to move 8 people and a 3000 pound trailer. It sort of limits the options. . .



Enter Wendy and Dallas to the rescue. They had just made it home to Omaha after celebrating with us in denver. They drove 10 hours to denver, came to our show, drove 10 hours back, then they got the call. Hearing we were stranded they saddled up again and headed right back over the same ruts and pot holes they had already navigated twice in the past 24 hours. As we hunkered down for the night, they borrowed a suped up chevy suburban and headed west . . . again.

Now, I am very disappointed in the system. I can't believe that the highway patrol or sherrif's office refused to respond. If I had been traveling with my family or something this could have been very dangerous. But I wasn't and we were safe, warm, we had a little food, plenty of beer and whiskey and a few good movies. Our generator was still running strong so we had power. We were comfortable. Except . . . . the smokers were almost out of smokes. When the going gets tough, the tough start smoking . . . more. After a few hours they were getting desperate and agitated. It was either walk 40 miles, or comb the ditches for butts. Then Jon got an idea. . . . .

breaker . . . breaker, broken down rock band out of smokes, eastbound I 76 on the exit 155 get off ramp. Jon plugged into the original information superhighway. After a few desperate calls, a response. The trucker on the other end was already past, but he said he would relay the message down the road. For the next 30 min we heard a bunch of chatter discussing our plight and then came all call . . . "y'all still looking for smokes?" I'm pulling up behind you. He dropped off a supply and wouldn't even take a penny. I ran back to the bus and grabbed a couple of CDs. I told him to pass the word, so hopefully the we are building a new fan base within the trucking industry.



Wendy and Dallas pulled up just as the sun was starting to rise. what a welcome sight. In a matter of minutes, we were hooked up, loaded up and heading down the road. Leaving our trusty steel horse behind awaiting a tow. Jon took the wheel and piloted us home losing just under a day in the debacle.



THANK YOU WENDY AND DALLAS. We always say we couldn't do it without our fans. This is a prime example.



still waiting for news on the bus. . . . I hope find a way to make it to our upcoming shows.

Love and a rebuilt 6v92Ti detroit deisel engine.

Jason