As befitting my youthful innocence, I had no idea there might be anything dangerous about this trip, or in a larger sense, my new life. It wasn't as though I'd never driven anywhere. In fact, the previous two years had seen my young body fling itself down Interstate 95 for two college-kid Spring Break marathons, one to Pensacola Florida, another to the Florida Keys. These were brand new experiences. Doing 80 miles per hour in a fatigue-induced trance on a two lane Georgia highway in the middle of a silent April night seemed hardly real enough to be dangerous.
Musicians do a lot of late night driving.
Pile into the van, truck or cars, drive 2 to 5 hours to the gig, set up, do a sound check, eat dinner and play until 1 or 2 in the morning. What happens next depends on the band's schedule. If the gig is a one-nighter, the next step is almost always to drive home, no matter how long it takes. Your basic 16 to 20 hour work day, arriving home between 6am and 10am. If you are on the road the routine varies.