Skip to main content

Crestone's summer of '76

Recently uncovered from an old brown shoebox


Sun, July 11

Hot day again, but I took it better.... Hard 13 station drive through usual area, Merle's reel crossed SD / Wyo border, some rough washout cuts, and truck had some crazy routes to get through. Did some 660s and later a parallel 17-station run over very dry hot country on knoll w/in view of Igloo. Wore cut offs, got confused with some crazy terrain, Jim arrived to read pulses in "hot-rod" ( GMC got high-centered and muffler got "ripped off" by nature ! ) Had a great talk with the family: Mark, Arlene, Mike, about Momma working so hard and making bread. The band played tonight and Denny played too. We all smoked during SNL and later Denny and I teased Nancy a little.
(?) <--- don't remember about what. Wed July 14

As with Tuesday, you did most of driving, Merle and Mark ran one star line across highway but had flat tire, we stayed on Porters Ranch, then went E. to old airport strip area. Saw hang glider, then set up again near Newcastle where we had to run for cover in the truck, as we got attacked by swarms of tiny flying ants. Jim arrived with our sandwiches and beer, but started laughing when we wouldn't get out of truck. Worked smoothly until Jim high-centered around 6:15 p.m. Ate at Victory, went to Stockmans for beers, where Jim got locked out of Blazer. Talked with Lori that night after she came back with us from Stockman's. Foxy Lori. Not to be mine that night, I guess.

Saturday July 24

Now working with Bob, did a couple of star spreads, where you did a lot of the driving and Bob the reeling. Afternoon started at "surveyers hill' and then we ran across tracks into farmland, where we saw train cars rattle by with funny penguin art on them. Went around behind, had a flat tire with Bobby, waited, then realized our line wires got severed by the train coming across our tracks. DUH! (We blamed it all on the penguins.)

Monday, July 26

Hunted around for salt in the morning, (for the electrodes) went back to the end of Sunday's line, this time we smartly spliced line under tracks. Saw weird deformed sheep, huge back legs, little tiny front legs, head 4 inches off the dusty trail. Your last station ended up in trees near dead cow at cliff. Eventually we all rendezvoused in the treed area mid afternoon, where we smoked, Denny and I climbed two trees, and I climbed higher, freaking out Denny, then got all the way down, leaving my shirt up top. Rode back with Denny where he got stoned and stuck.

Drove through dense trees off south side of road west of Dewey looking for dry well (hilarious). Jim broke window on shell, had to drive around to find up, that's where you fucked up forgetting reel. Denny was "Tom Sawyer on whiskey." My "favorite corner" joke went over well. After shower, came over to Jim (still in shower), drove around for place to eat after beers at Stockman. Came back to find Denny, Lori and Bob having a great time, esp. Bob. Talked with Bob till midnight, fed electrodes for next day. We originally had found Bob passed out, face up on his unmaid hotel room bed, hands inside his pants. No comment.

Tuesday, July 27

At our breakfast spot 4 miles away, I had spaced out our electrodes, drove back 100 mph to get them, with Tim and Bob getting an especially hard time about driving through the crops the day before from Jim. Did a 5 station run near Dewey, you were harassed by "bees." Then back to E-W road west of Dewey, and ran a supposed 10 station N-S to this farm, using haystacks as a sight. Went across a lot of bumpy shit to get there. Waited till radio call, fell completely asleep. Jim came back with his proudly soldered "roach clip" made from our back-up electrode tester. Went back to Igloo, fell asleep, Bob woke me back up, changed, went down for dinner, with a lot of joking around, wine, later went out and played pool. Woke up at 3:00 a.m. and wrote Tom a letter.

Wednesday, July 28

Greeted by pigs. Worked on east side of RR tracks North of Dewey, one line aimed for little shack with smokestack. Packed it in early this day, ditched the trucks, hopped all in Blazer, headed for Dewey, on beautiful dirt road which later joined a fantastic paved road winding through canyon into Flintstone land, a cool tourist town, called Custer, SD. We ate in a lounge-type place with TV inside, later wound up in a nice 3.2 place with excellent Chick Corea music, and later a great band of similar music and hung out with some sharp looking girls.

Friday, July 30

Drove Dodge with tape deck (what's playing now) back to gas up. Greeted by pigs, ended up in a weird box canyon and over some very rough stuff. Porter's Ranch we are now always calling "Porter's Hell". Bob took over and we were passing through after getting stuck in deefly swamp. (Bobby got in shit later for getting stuck in same place twice). Finished the day, ate early, beers with Bob and Jim, looked over Nancy's maps, bought a round, then Denny and I went into town to do laundry, met Lori's old factory friend, had a good talk, smoked a couple listened to their stereo and messed around. From Waylon Jennings to Empty Sky! (Maybe should have been wasted sky).

Saturday July 31

Kind of slept in on account of the rain, ate breakfast in the Dario, and discussed rain. Served by one-armed waitress. Headed out to work area, meeting Bob and Blazer coming back. Permission not granted. Came back to Dario and Jim made out a shopping list of needed stuff, supplied for electrodes, then junk shop for flex hose extension, came to Mobil to put it on. Hardware store from plastic and lock. Bought new watch and bought Jim's old tape player. Finished Denny's lunch, headed for Sagebrush 3:30. Sun came out and we went to the Great Demolition Derby of Edgemont South Dakota. Guess who was there! (Wasted Jennings and Empty Sky). Invited them back for Mama's Band. But they both like Denny over me. But it's Denny that has the weed, too.

Sunday we return to Fort Collins, end of SD gig, me back to college. Dad speaking to me, don't spend all this money all in one place. Some of it I did. I got wider rims and tires, 4 barrel Holley and put dual exhaust on the Mustang. I would now consider it cherried out. Jim says he will call me back for Elflex by June 15, 77, but there will be some December stuff in Forsythe MT over winter break first.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old post from the Anthropik network

"I noticed, when she delivered the plate of fruit, that my Balian hostess was also balancing a tray containing many little green bowls-small, boatshaped platters, each of them woven neatly from a freshly cut section of palm frond. The platters were two or three inches long, and within each was a small mound of white rice. After handing me my breakfast, the woman and the tray disappeared from view behind the other buildings, and when she came by some minutes later to pick up my empty plate, the tray was empty as well. * On the second morning, when I saw the array of tiny rice platters, I asked my hostess what they were for. Patiently, she explained to me that they were offerings for the household spirits. When I inquired about the Balinese term that she used for "spirit," she repeated the explanation in Indonesian, saying that these were gifts for the spirits of the family compound, and I saw that I had understood her correctly. She handed me a bowl of sliced papaya and
Secret Lives of Meter Readers If you are looking for a long walk every day with not bad pay, maybe meter reading is the ticket. Generally, you get to spend a lot of peaceful time by yourself, plenty of serene reflecting space, unhindered by a bickering work crew. Simply dedicating yourself to reading meters all day can actually lead to a very ascetic lifestyle. When a vault into the earth is uncovered, great mysteries lie inside. Neighborhood kids dash over and want to spy. Newts and frogs, snakes, snails and polliwogs are all revealed from these tiny underground arenas. If the meter reader does not watch carefully, he may uncover a hornet's nest. Thus, most workers carry a medicine pouch within their toolkits. Meter reading routes are hard roads at first; but endurance soon builds up, as the man (or woman) becomes self-reliant. As he walks along, he strengthens his full character, all the way down to his stem cells. Striding along, his breathing becomes natural and he fin

Honor Idaho film sites

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005119953 With the Senate recently passing a bill, to create a fund to offer incentives to film movies and TV shows within the state, Idaho leaders could further bolster this opportunity by asking that our transportation department revisit Professor Tom Trusky 's innovative "Statewide Movie Signage Proposal." Expanding our already successful Idaho Highway Historical Marker program to include tributes to films made in Idaho could be next logical step in this popular program's evolution. To quote Professor Trusky from last year, "The tourist/publicity value of such signage is apparent—and locals might appreciate such knowledge, too, if they are unaware of their cinematic heritage. As well, given the recent interest in bringing film production to the state, such signage would not only be public acknowledgment of Idaho 's considerable contribution to the film industry but also serve as a reminder to contemporary filmmakers