Steve and Gillian warned us that it can be havoc getting out of Chicago and on the morning of June 30 it was no exception. By the time we were up and on the road it was 10am so we had plenty of time to play with as the show in Detroit would not be starting until 8pm at the earliest.
The traffic was indeed bad as we made our way east along the I-94 in our comfortable new BMW which we were delivering for a company called 'Autodriveaway'. The concept being that the USA is a vast country and when people move house they do not always wish to drive the car themselves. Rather let someone else take the strain. For us it fitted in perfectly with our schedule with the tour as it was heading in the same direction as we were and all we had to find was the gas money.
We were down to a crawl for around an hour and a half and it was a big relief when it slowly began to clear and we were able to bring the car up to a more suitable speed. We were really on our way now and everything was fine. That was until I felt the steering go tight and I realised that we had a rear right blow out. Without (much!) panic I brought the car to a full stop just on the right hand hard shoulder. 'Hard shoulder' right!
Now, as hard shoulders go this was not biggest that was ever created and I would go as far to say that the car barely fit into it. Anyway, I removed all the necessary instruments from the trunk of the car and began to loosen the bolts in the wheel which went well. I then proceeded to jack the wheel so it could be replaced. The problem was though that it was a scorching hot day and it did not seem that the road surface had been down very long so as I was attempting to elevate the car the jack was sinking!
I then noticed that just to the right of the 'hard shoulder' there was a small hard semi-grassed area which then gradually dropped and then into a woodland area a little farther to the right. There was no way I was going to be able to change the wheel in its present spot so I decided to shift the car a little to the right so I could utilise the hard ground, get the job done and get on our way.
I went through the whole process again of loosening the wheel nuts and jacking the car up. Everything was going well until I realised that I had brought the car a little too far over to the right and as I was jacking the car up it was actually beginning to tip to the right! By the time I had taken the jack off and started the car up to move it more to the left the car had started to slip its way down the bloody bank!
So from having a blown tyre we were now in possession of a car which had basically slipped off the road and into a ditch. Cop cars are quite common in the States WHEN YOU NEED ONE and we must have stood there for 90 minutes waiting for one to come along and there was not one in sight.
Bear in mind that we were seriously in the middle of nowhere and unlike today we did not have the luxury of cellular phones.
Time was starting to fly and if we were to a) get to the gig in Detroit, and b) not be the subject of Deliverance 2 we decided to make our way along the freeway to see what we could find. After walking for approximately 45 minutes we came across a junction and it was basically a toss of a coin to which way to go for help.
Thankfully we chose correctly as within no time we stumbled across a friendly garage who were more than happy to help us tow the car out of its current predicament. They used a pick up and Kim and I rode in the back as we drove back toward the BMW and whenever I see the movie Trains, Planes and Automobiles I think of them. Remember the guy who picked them up for a ride and he had his pregnent wife in the car? That was them!
By the time we had thanked them, changed the wheel and got on our way it was getting seriously late and we had to make some proper haste if we were to make the show in time. We did not have specific directions to the venue so this could also be a time consuming issue for us.
To make the show I would have to put the pedal to the metal and remember what I was saying about traffic cops and never having one when you need one? Well we were making some real time and we were both keeping our eyes peeled for the buggers but I guess you could say I began to get a little blase because eventually the flashing lights appeared in the rear view and it was time to pull over again. Initially I was not concerned as the usual 'dumb English tourist routine' usually worked and we would be left to go on our way, or the worst case scenario would be a ticket which I would simply throw in the back and forget about.
Unfortunately it was neither of those because after another time consuming 30 minute lecture he informed us that the $40 fine had to be paid ON THE SPOT. Did Kim I have that amount of cash on us? Nope.
Our only way of paying him there and then was to cash a travellers check at such as place as Circle K. So there we were driving at around 3 mph behind a cop car on the look out for somewhere to be fined for speeding!
Eventually we came across a suitable place and the transaction was completed.
Forget the support acts we were in SERIOUS danger of missing the gig all together now. This show has added significance for both Kim and I because we were meeting some friends of ours from LA backstage after the show and we were all set to hit a club in the city afterwards where Kevin Sanderson was to be DJing. We had lost ALL contact details for them so we were of course anxious to hook up with them because otherwise we would have no idea where to go etc.
By the time we arrived in Detroit we were both on stress level 99,000 and the time was fast approaching 9PM before we had specific directions at how to get to the venue.
As it turned out we were not that far away so we could be there in less than 20 minutes which allowed us both to relax to some degree.
We actually took it easy on the final stage of the trip and our relief turned to joy as we turned the bend to the big black letters on the bright white billboard 'New Order'. "We made it!" We shouted, then quickly looked at each other in shock and amazement when we realised 'New Order' had something following it, and it was 'show cancelled'.
DM
Has anybody else heard of fines required to be paid on the spot? I've never heard of such crap. I wonder if the cop was really collecting fines, or pocketing the money? Anybody know if cops require this in your area?
