After the show, we staggered back to the tent, slept and woke up just in time for the early afternoon Dead show.

I barely made it through Zero’s opening set, and fell asleep – on the floor, with people dancing inches from my head – through Los Lobos’ set. We set up camp right outside the University of Oregon’s Autzen Stadium – gotta love the freedom of Eugene – and walked to a show, featuring Zero and Los Lobos, in downtown Eugene. Summer of 1994: After a great Buckwheat Zydeco show on Fanny Hill in Snowmass Village, Greg the Drummer and I hopped into his 1964 black Plymouth and drove through the night to Eugene, Ore. Having nowhere to stay in Baltimore, we drove back home, arriving at 8 a.m. After the Dead turned in a pitiful performance on night one, we sold the rest of our tickets and drove three hours to Baltimore to catch the last few songs of the Radiators show at the tiny club, 8 x 10. Circa 1984, my college roommate Jeff and I drive eight hours, from New Jersey to Virginia, to spend a few nights with the Grateful Dead. And before I get to a list of destination concerts to trip to – and those to avoid – let me recount a few vague incidents, which may or may not have happened exactly as I remember, from my foggy past.1. But being on the road itself adds a fog to everything: Did that run-in with the cops happen on the ’83 summer tour with the Dead, or was it on the way to the ’94 Telluride Bluegrass Festival? Where was it that I passed out in a hotel room and nobody remembered to wake me up in time for the show – and exactly what show was it I missed? It’s road-trip season, time to add to that history that may not be so vivid in detail, but leaves a distinct impression of adventurousness and the odor of spilled bong water. There are the drugs and booze, of course, and the long hours of straight two-lane highways. Road trips don’t lend themselves very well to sharp memories.

Summer sanitarium 2003 lineup