While on our second tour to New York (early '88) in our newly-bought 1975 Chevy van, the engine burnt up in the middle of the night (had the oil changed at FIRESTONE right before we left, and they left the drain plug loose). We had to have the van towed to the nearest service station, in SPICELAND, Indiana. The tow truck driver dropped us off, and said, "You'll have to sleep here until morning. There's no motels around here." Seeing that a red '73 Coupe DeVille was also being occupied, we asked the driver "How long has that guy been here?" The driver said, totally serious, "Oh, about 5 months." I still remember the chill down my back!!!!
We all split up for the night. Myself and Chris Fletcher (organ player) slept in the van, while Mace crashed out in a VW bus in the station's junkyard out back. Our friend, Andy Brown, who had come along for the ride, crashed out on a picnic table. Clarke wandered around Spiceland. I slept a total of probably 20 minutes the whole night.
The next morning, the guy at the station said he could get a rebuilt engine in the van in about a week. Clarke and I hitched a ride 40 miles into Richmond, Indiana to rent a van on his credit card. Everything was fine until they saw his drivers license was expired! I couldn't rent it, 'cause I wasn't 21 yet!! We wandered around Richmond for a few hours, COMPLETELY bumming out, until I remembered: I had a cousin in Dayton, Ohio--only 30 miles from Richmond! Cousin David came through, and we were on our way! Of course, our complete royalty advance for THREE ALBUMS was blown on this ordeal, and we hadn't even recorded our first album yet!!! That's the way the mop flops!