Runnin' Down a Dream

Listen while you read: Rather trippy video . . .

It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees flew by, me and Del were singin' Little Runaway
I was flyin'

Yeah, runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

I felt so good, like anything was possible
I hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes
The last three days, the rain was unstoppable
It was always cold, no sunshine

Yeah, running' down a dream . . . 

I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waiting down this road
I'm pickin' up whatever's mine

~  Jeff Lynne, Mike Campbell, Tom Petty  (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)

Now that's a road trip song! This one dates back to 1989, on Full Moon Fever. If you like Tom Petty, and you haven't done so already, check out the 2007 Peter Bogdanovich documentary of the same name. I think you can find it on Netflix. It's damn good.

I think that Tom Petty has never gotten the acclaim he deserves. Sure, everybody likes his stuff, but it doesn't seem to me that he gets the same attention as other chart-toppers of his era. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, but still, how many people do you know who will list the band among their top five favorites? I have seen them in concert, and they put on a damn good show. And yet, if you ask me my top five? I probably won't include Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Go figure. (So many bands, so much pressure to choose.)

So the Canadian part of the road trip has begun. The first leg was a gorgeous drive up scenic Route 99 from Vancouver to Squamish. On the way to Whistler, we stopped at Brandywine Falls and then strolled around Whistler Village. Whistler was host to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. (We're not skiers, but then again, it's not winter.) The Village is, as you might expect, another tourist trap, but we had some tasty gelato before hitting the road again.

It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down / I had the radio on. I was drivin'. And that was all cool until we hit Historic Hat Creek Ranch on our way to Kamloops. Is that smoke or clouds over there? A road blockade gave us the answer. My research later on revealed that just today, 68 new wildfires started in British Columbia. The worst of these is in Ashcroft, 120 kilometers west of Kamloops. I think that's the one that stopped us in our tracks.

So what should have been a four hour drive from Whistler to Kamloops turned into a detour that added two and a half hours to our drive.

I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waiting down this road . . .

Yep. A bed and a cold beer.