Kenny said the sun would rise to our right making the window shade one of the greatest inventions yet. The sun actually rose directly in front of the van make windshields a candidate for the worst. Being awake at 6:30 in the morning isn't all that bad when you are camping next to the rio grand just northeast of Albuquerque, new mexico. It's actually quite beautiful. We drove from jerome, az which was one of the greatest stops on the tour. Jerome numbers all of 400 and is built vertically on the side of a mountain. It overlooks the sedona valley at an altitude contemporary to denver and the view, I'm told, spans 50+ miles. Jerome was a boom town for copper and grew to a population of 15,000+ by the late 19th century. The connor hotel was our venue and was the 1st concrete structure in town. The second floor brothel added in 1897 and provided a relaxing night on the town for weary prospectors. Kenny and I got the suite on the second floor of the Conner hotel...It's not like that, but it was pretty plush.
Our show was downstairs in the spirit room at 1pm on memorial day. We had the place rockin; locals and tourists alike. I saw a sign in jerome that said"Jerome, population strange.". The folks in jerome are really proud to live in jerome, and don't care about what the outside world thinks. When the mine was closed in 1953, the population dwindled to roughly 30 hearty souls and stayed that way until the late sixties. The counter cultural revolution brought to jerome an artistic community who rebuilt dilapidated homes, and reopened the shops to sell their wares.
Since then the town has grown into a tourist destination. The citizens are friendly, and the view is spectacular. If there was one location from our tour that I would move to it would be jerome; ashland is a close second.
In all arizona treated us great. Good friends were there every step of the way and we met some very amazing people. I think the Arizona region will be a great fall/winter tour destination.
We move to colorado as I type for the last 5 shows of the tour. Manitou springs tonight, denver on thursday, ft collins on friday and saturday, and finally lincoln, nebraska(which I clearly know isn't in colorado) on sunday.
This tour has flown by! We've set sales records for merch by a long shot. We traveled through 12 states meeting a great cross section of people and personalities. I can't wait to see everybody at kenny's mustache bash on june, 6th.
Rocky mountain high, colorado...that john denver was full of shit.