We pulled out after the show in Salt Lake City, made our way to the freeway, got a mile or two into the drive, and then pulled over to the side of the road.
Our driver got out, got back in a minute later, and we took off again.
We made it about another quarter mile before we pulled over again.
That’s about the point when we all realized that something might be wrong with the bus.
And there was.
We’ve had plenty of issues with buses over the years, but never five minutes into a nine hour drive.
We sat there for a while as our driver Steve went back and worked on things, but it was beginning to look like it might not be a salvageable situation.
He came back throwing out big words that an automotive novice like myself couldn’t understand. Words like “fan”, and “clutch”.
Okay, I actually know what those things are, but the context in which they were being discussed was over my head.
The main issue at the time (midnight) was finding a Plan B to get to Colorado Springs in case our driver couldn’t fix the problem in a timely manner.
Calls were made, flight options were discussed, and the crew bus even became part of the conversation.
Over the course of about 15 minutes we covered all sorts of possible solutions, and that’s about the time that Steve came back on board and said he figured out a temporary solution that would get us back on the road again.
It can be interesting to see how people react in the midst of a crisis.
Our tour manager was on the phone immediately with our travel agent working on flight scenarios.
Mike spent most of the time outside with Steve helping him try and fix things.
(Okay, maybe Mike just held a flashlight, but that’s more than any of the rest of us did)
Sean & William asked a bunch of questions and threw out alternatives, while Jerry texted our production manager to see what the options were regarding the crew bus.
Meanwhile, I sat in the front lounge eating chocolate chip cookies and watching the Dodgers/Brewers baseball game.
You know the old saying about having too many cooks in the kitchen?
I felt like we were in a situation where there was an overabundance of cooks, so I opted to take my cookies and get the hell out of the kitchen.
Sometimes in a crisis it can be important to know when to just get out of the way and let smarter people deal with it.
So basically for 15 minutes it was a semi-frantic madhouse of contingency plans and controlled freaking out, but it all ended well.
We eventually were back on the road to Colorado, and the bus never broke down again.
More importantly, the next time there’s a crisis, I know my role…