1 ... Gabriel Morristo us, was the first day of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Hippies
and rednecks were swarming the normally quiet mountain town, as
well as festival organizers with flashlights, reflective gear and walkie-
talkies directing the masses.
They wanted $0 a night to camp in a noisy, dirty parking lot. This
was not only unappealing, but more than any of us could afford. We
decided instead to drive into the center of town and see what was
happening there. Maybe we would just hang out at a coffee shop and
stay awake all night.
But it took almost an hour just to drive the mile into town and find
somewhere to park, by which time we were all worn out and fed up
with the crowded mess. Rather than try to get back out of town, we
parked and decided to look around for somewhere we could possibly
sleep for a few hours.
We found a landing at the top of some stairs leading to a local busi-
ness, where we hoped we wouldn’t be bothered until morning. We
spread out our sleeping bags and blankets and, exhausted, tried to get
some sleep, but, thanks to noise throughout the night and a blinding
overhead light that never shut off, we all spent a miserable night on
the hard concrete.
By dawn, we were all basically in worse shape than when we’d laid
down to sleep five hours earlier. We got up early to avoid being roused
by whoever owned the business, and went in search of a good cup of
coffee. Hopefully, that would bring us all back to a more manageable
state of consciousness. After putting our things back in the car, we
wandered down the main street in the early light, until we found a
cozy café where we could sit down, relax, and plan out the day—per-
haps even find a way to sneak into the festival and have a little fun.
But the coffee following insufficient sleep made me feel like throw-
ing up, and the three teenagers decided, understandably, that things
were too hectic in this small mountain town. They were going to
continue on their way back east.
I decided that what I needed most was to tend to my psychologi-
cal and physical health and get some sleep. I was feeling extremely