Boulder, CO to St. Louis, MO – “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” – July 19, 2002

Leaving for tour- I already miss Dean and it’s only been an hour. Poor thing was exhausted last night after a week of celebrating our engagement with our exuberant Boulder friends. Still, I was pissed he fell asleep early on the eve of my leaving for tour. I stayed up packing until three — sequined stage shirts and belts with oversized buckles — to the rhythmic beat of my lover’s snores. When I was finished, I painted Dean’s toenails magenta — something to remind him of me, I thought, as I packed the nail polish remover in my luggage. When I crawled into bed beside him, I couldn’t latch into the train tracks of sleep. I was excited and nervous to be leaving on tour again.
Dean gathered me into his arms by the light of the morning. I tried to memorize the moment—the cool room against his warm body. It would be too long until we were in each other’s arms again.
Now, we’re on the highway, 60 miles away from Dean’s arms. The land is yellow and flat. It’ll be this way until we get to St. Louis. We picked up a new sound guy this morning before heading out — just a temp really, ‘til Delucchi finishes up his tour with Femi Kuti. The temporary sound guy’s name is Brian Neubauer. None of us knew him before this morning but he seems nice enough, and after brief introductions, Brian climbed into the back of Moby and fell fast asleep. Impressive.
Delucchi calls hourly like a worried mother hen. “Did Brian get in the van with you guys?” “Did you get the Fed Ex from Michelle?” “Don’t forget to pick up CDs and cash the checks in the merch box.” “and.. “don’t forget your guitar, Sal.” His concern is sweet, and I appreciate it…mainly because, frankly, I would forget my guitar without him.
As we drive further east we start to pass familiar advertising on billboards; The largest prairie dog in the world, The live 6-legged cow, and The fiercest snake alive, but we don’t stop despite my whining. Someday, I’ll get to see that snake. I swear it.
When we do stop, it’s at a Texaco to refuel and pick up Twizzlers. Outside the station, we try to figure out if we’ve been to this one before. Inside the shop there are white rabbit skins for sale; that seems familiar. And books on Christianity with titles like, “Why the Blood of Jesus is so Magical”; and well, that seems familiar too. But the Wizard of Oz mini mugs? those don’t ring a bell with any of us and the glitter poster of Dorothy? Well, that’s sort of foreign too. We decided as a band that this is our first time in this Texaco. This triggers a conversation about which US rest stops each of us likes most. You’d think we’d have more important things to talk about—Like my new engagement, where we’ve each spent the last 6 months, or how the intro to Split Decisions goes, but no.
Kenny and I decide that the Texico at The House of Sod in Gothenburg, Nebraska is our favorite place to stop, and Kenny pulls out a couple photos we took there once. He hands one to Brian, who laughs at the expressions on our faces poking through the plywood American Gothic

200 miles further from Boulder, the van falls silent. The seat belts go click clack against the windows, The AC hums like a train soothing a weeping countryside and Dino turns on, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” on his computer.
“Can you see Sal?” he asks.
“Yeah, but should I be watching?” I ask. “I’m the one “I’m driving.”
“Nah, probably not,” Admits Dino. The van is silent again when the whistling intro begins. Dino freezes screens long enough for me to dart a look, just so I can decipher the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’ and the ‘ugly.’ Otherwise, my personal viewing consists of the flat road ahead, corn to my left and cattle to my right.
As the sun sets behind us, we drive into the shadows arriving at our hometel, only twelve or so hours after we left Colorado’s rocky mountains. The rooms are clean but they only have one bed and a fold-out, leaving one of us floor-bound; we draw Twizzlers to designate the unfortunate floor taker. Kenny picks the short one. Sorry Kenny

The world’s largest prairie dog! YES!! I can vouch that this Billboard exists(ed)! Also the world’s largest ball of string! I-70 has always been such a stretch of amazing-ness!
Glad to be back in the van with you, Sally!
I love that you knew that billboard and that vein through America. I-70 was definitely my favorite of all the interstates.