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Highway 287, Bowie, Texas, 1:40 pm

Posted by Mark David Manders Sat, 03 Jun 2006 13:40:00 GMT

Somewhere in between Vernon and Amarillo yesterday we passed by a house with a Cadillac parked out front. Inside were what appeared to be two bikini-clad girls. We decided to turn around and investigate. The girls proved to be mannequins, but it didn’t matter, Peccho was in love. It was all we could do to get him back into the truck.

Once inside the Amarillo city limits we had a pretty good scare. The suburban lost power and we were forced to pull over at a gas station about a mile from the club. We thought the transmission was acting up, but as we limped into the parking area the truck shuttered and died.

I called Tony, our mechanic, and he said we might have finally worn out the suburban. I checked the transmission fluid and the oil and both were fine. Then I hit the ignition and the engine started right up. We drove slowly to the Midnight Rodeo where I turned off the key and tried to restart the engine again. The first time the engine shuttered and died. The second time it started normally.

We came to the conclusion that we had probably picked up some bad gas at the Love’s truck stop back in Wichita Falls. When we filled up earlier that day there was a tanker refilling the gas station tanks. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, but I will from now on. Apparently when the tanks are refilled it kicks up all the debris from the bottom allowing it to be sucked into the pump.

The guys went into the club and I drove to a gas station and bought a couple of cans of fuel injector treatment. I dumped one into the tank and crossed my fingers. We haven’t had any problems since.

We had an easy sound check at Midnight Rodeo and finished up around seven o’clock. Grant and the guys went to check into the hotel afterwards, but Peccho Baludo and I decided to take a drive south of town with Gabe from Copperhead. Frank, the sound man, had told us of a place where someone had buried twelve combines face up in a field, much like the Cadillac Ranch west of town. Peccho, having never seen the Cadillac Ranch, was very interested in checking out Amarillo’s newest tourist attraction.

Afterwards, Gabe dropped us off at the hotel and came inside for a beer. Jeff showed up a few minutes later. We hung out for about an hour before heading back to the club.

I forgot to bring the camera, so we don’t have any pictures of the show last night. There weren’t many people when we started, but by the time we ended our set there were three or four hundred and a line out the door.

We stayed for Copperhead’s set, which lasted until 1:00. Jeff called me up on stage at one point and we did “Country Mick” which went over well with the crowd. Copperhead put on a great show. The boys and I watched from the merchandise table and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We had planned on getting together with Gabe and Jeff and crew later that night, but everyone was worn out. I was still worried about the suburban making it home and wanted to get an early start this morning. Copperhead had a show in Waco today and I’m sure they needed to get a good night’s rest.

Right now we are just a few miles west of Denton, a safe distance from home should the truck decide to act up again. We have tonight off which is a good thing. The Mavericks are playing Game 6 in Phoenix this evening and I wouldn’t want to compete with them. No, I’d rather take it easy in the garage and watch the game.

Note: Almost immediately after I finished typing the above entry the fuel filter clogged and we had to pull over. We broke down three more times between Denton and Plano, but still managed to limp home.