THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Skiing on Saturday was a mixed blessing. Eric went with me to Ski Cooper, which meant no party on the pass as I had to drive up with him very early Saturday morning. I was stopped and ticketed by the Jefferson County sheriff on I-70, clocked going only 81 mph. Within a half hour I had passed every vehicle that passed me while sitting on the roadside. An inch of fresh snow dusted the slopes and made for a fine day of carving turns on the packed powder slopes. Light snow alternating with sunshine. We departed by 3 PM, joining the moderate traffic on the highway. That damn Idaho Springs tunnel is a bottleneck that drivers can't seem to adjust to. Some fool a few vehicles ahead breaked hard in the tunnel, causing the truck in front of me to do the same, blue smoke coming off their tires as they tried to stop from hitting the car in front of them. I breaked hard too, wheels locking as they tried to grip the pavement. I was resigned to the fact that we'd impact but my truck began skidding sideways and I took my foot off the break, turned hard and shot into the adjoining lane, missing the vehicle in front by inches. I passed the pile up, car debris on the road, a liscense plate cartwheeling down the tunnel. Few vehilcles emerged from its opening behind me. Give me a high five Eric!

I held my "party on the pass" in front of the house Friday night, listening to the boys play at the Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo on June 22, 1978. Excellent audience bootleg. You can tell the crowds were not wild and crazy like the ones elsewhere, the band just doing their job putting on a standard concert. Too tired Saturday night after skiing to go outside and do it again. Sunday evening I listened to a compliation of live songs from their 5150 album while smoking a cigar, the setting sun flaming the clouds to the west. The one bad thing about my concerts at home is that I'm afraid the neighbors can hear the blaring truck stereo, even thought he nearest one is 300 feet away. There's no such fear in the mountains! Can't wait to get back to my normal routine next weekend!

A light snow falling
Clouds break to reveal the sun
Mountain air sparkles

Backyard party band
Crowds dance to their primal beat
Right from the stoned age