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It was 8:30 on Friday night and everyone was in a good mood. We chatted for a while outside our cars and confirmed the location of the pending party, including any landmark and nearest mile marker in case someone became separated. After we drove away from the rendezvous point, I began to flip through my friends cassettes looking for something to play and finally landed on the new Boston album. We were on the west edge of town driving towards the Missouri River, past the fairgrounds then left, passing my brother-in-law’s Dads gas station and garage while More Than a Feeling and Peace of Mind played. We continued towards the refinery and turned north on Highway 87 while the sun was setting. We were directly behind Matt and two of his friends in his jet-black Ford truck, with extra chrome. Six or seven vehicles were behind us, from trucks to Volkswagen Beetles.
The third song on that album is Foreplay/Long Time and it was perfect because as soon as we approached the top of the hill and began to exit the highway, the faint transition began. We slowed down to make the gentle turn onto Bootlegger Trail and then the song exploded into the best part. As soon as every car in the convoy centered themselves in the lane, we all accelerated in sync like our cars were linked. We were in my friends red and white four-door sedan, with white leather upholstery, brand new tires, and a state-of-the-art sound system. We couldn’t hear each other speak even if we wanted to and we didn’t really want to, because who talks when this song is blaring. I wasn’t interested in the rest of the album though and I’ve always enjoyed choosing and sequencing music at times like this, so as the song was about to end, I searched for the next tune to keep the momentum going — songs by The Outlaws, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, or Pure Prairie League were typical candidates, but I landed on the Tres Hombres album by ZZ Top. It was surprising because we were both very aware of each other’s music collection and I didn’t know he had that tape. I fast forwarded through the first seven songs to La Grange, to the one I knew best and the one that was perfect for our convoy speeding north.
Eventually Matt signaled his turn onto a seldom used dirt road on the south end of a huge ranch. The people in our convoy would only be a portion that would arrive that night. Since we were the early arrivals, we followed him because he organized the gathering, he owned the tap and was probably the one who purchased the 16-gallon keg. It was late October and cool at night, even with a big fire on the edge of the coulee and a hill on one side that helped break the wind. People periodically retreated to someone’s car to get warm. We were were usually on a classmates family ranch land and our location was secluded with only two-track access. After hours of milling about and catching-up with friends next to the heat of the bonfire, in cars, and under the star filled sky, we said our goodbyes and connected with two friends who’d asked us for a ride home. As we left the orange glow of the party and sparks that streamed into the sky, I flipped though his tapes and landed on the perfect tune. We turned south from the dirt road onto pavement and accelerated. I leaned forward, turned the volume up and settled in to Night Moves towards the light haze of town.
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Community :: A group of living things with something in common like beliefs, customs, or identity. Communities might share a sense of place in a geographic area, or a virtual space.
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For S. S. :: Rest in peace my friend
Songs :: Foreplay/Long Time by Boston, Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws, Sure Feels Good by Elvin Bishop, La Grange by ZZ Top, and Night Moves by Bob Seger
© C. Davidson