1/12/07 Flagstaff Brewery (Flagstaff AZ)

We left the beautiful Malibu coast in the morning and hit the road. We all felt pretty good and had a laugh as sean retold the story from the night before. As the day grew on and it got darker we stopped for gas in Kingman City (a few hours from Flagstaff). I called the venue to let them know we were on our way and they cautioned us about the black ice that was on the road and for us to be careful. I got a little spooked but we had plenty of time to get there so I wasn't to worried. We continued driving and then the snow started to fall, then the road was wet, then drivers were slowing down. Then the black ice was everywhere. We were stopped in the middle of the highway and a truck had jack knifed and was blocking traffic and trying to put on chains. We realized how serious it was when the semi started sliding back towards us. We all started freaking out because we couldn't move. Luckily it stopped before hitting us. The car in front of us was spinning its wheels and going nowhere. Right then and there I was thinking "there is no way were going to make it." A highway vehicle that looked like a tank with a snow plow showed up and chipped away at the highway and salted the road. As the worker passed by our window I asked him about the road. He said "there is now way your getting to Flagstaff tonight but there is a truck stop 12 miles up you can pull into for the night." The semi eventually moved and we were then faced with a decision do we try to move? I put it in 2nd gear and gently touched the gas. It was like driving with ice skates instead of tires. If we go off the road we are really screwed. All of our luggage and equipment is in this van. We followed in the tracks of the semi which crisscrossed the highway to creat traction. We inched along at 8 mph, holding our breath the whole time. The storm was getting worse. It went from can we make the gig, to can we make it to the truck stop 12 miles up. Other cars were pulling off the road and calling it a night, we continued and decided we would try to make it to the truck stop. We called the venue to tell them it would be impossible to make the show. We really neede that money too. They were disappointed and offered us more money if we showed up, we appreciated it but they had no idea what we were facing. While I was inching along in this storm I realized it was Jan 12th. It was the anniversary of the death of my father in law. Once I realize that, I knew I could not let anything happen to me, it was all about safety, forget the gig. Over a 10 mile stretch we saw 9 accidents between overturned cars, semi trucks and spun out vehicles. All I remember was that every few miles we saw sirens and emergency vehicles. It was one of the most treacherous roads I've ever been on in my life. Little by little it started to clear up. When I say clear up I mean now the semi trucks weren't overturned they were only jackknifed on the road. We decided to bypass the truck stop because we were afraid to get on a ramp in fear we wouldn't be able to stop. Icy roads are no joke, the only thing helping us was our gear holding us down. It started to look like we would make it to Flagstaff, not to play the show but to get a good nights rest. The venue called back check in on us, they said that there was an article in the paper about us and that the place was packed. We arrived late but they didn't care. We left Malibu at 10am and arrive in Flagstaff at 11:30pm after loosing an hour. Besides bathroom breaks all that time was on the road. I told the venue to have 7 shots of jack lined up and a couple of cases of beer ready and we would come through. We pulled up after this crazy life threatening drive and went straight on stage and rocked the show for the rest of the night. The crowd was giving us so much love, because they had heard of our experience getting there through the grapevine and they appreciated it. We ended up having a great finish to one of the crazeist days of my life. But I got what i wanted, not to die on Jan 12th.