We were scheduled to play at 4pm on the opening day of the 2007 Oyster Ridge Music Festival. Our plan was to leave Salt Lake City at noon in order to give us time to check into our hotel and arrive at the Festival with time to spare. From Salt Lake City, UT to Kemmerer, WY is never more than a two-and-a-half hour drive (but nobody told us of the two hour traffic delay that was ahead). We set out at a standard pace, abiding by the law until we hit the unforeseen traffic that put us well behind pace.
We had an obligation; Tommy was driving the van and knew what needed to be done. We were pushing the limit of the vehicle and well on our way to making up the lost time when we happened upon a State Trooper 13 miles outside of the Kemmerer city limits. The officer was kind, understanding of our situation but obligated to teach us a lesson. As you can see, he quickly issued us a ticket (as not to delay us any further) and set us on our way. We were sure to signal as we re-entered traffic that day and continued with haste as we entered Kemmerer. We pulled up in a daze, unloaded our equipment directly onto the stage and started our Friday set slightly winded but conveniently on time.
PS. 79 in a 65 was a very generous white lie (courtesy of the State Trooper) to avoid the ticket posting on Tommy’s long term driving record.