Last summer I spent the 4th of July in a British camp in the Helmand Valley surrounded by “Redcoats”. Oh the irony! This year’s festivities were more in keeping with tradition, as we spent the weekend on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, with friends and family. The town of Incline Village had invited my rescue unit up to perform an air demo for the beachgoers on Saturday, so we put together a mock rescue scenario complete with stranded dude in a raft, parachuting rescue swimmers and low flying helicopters. Our performance earned us significant fan fare, and a “semi-rockstar” status that I had only previously achieved via giving away free ice cream. We were on “the list” for free access to the Grand Hyatt beach, the free beer and brats dinner on Saturday night, the fireworks, and even scored 3 jet-skis for 2 hours free of charge. We took full advantage, and to my knowledge no serious injuries were sustained!
As anyone who has spent a long weekend in Tahoe knows, all is good until you have to drive home (If your heading back to the Bay). The usual 3 hour drive, can take 7 plus hours in parking lot traffic. So, over a Bloody Mary in Kings Beach on Monday morning, Jaemee and I made the fortuitous decision to check into the Sun-and-Sand Motel for an extra night. We would commute straight to work from Lake Tahoe on Tuesday. At first we had that weird feeling like you’re trying too hard to keep the vacation going, but as we relaxed on the beach, text messages poured in on how disastrous the traffic was. We napped, met up with some friends from Reno on the beach, got some sushi, and headed over to the Crystal Bay Casino to close out the weekend with some southern country from Truth and Salvage Co.
A six-man outfit, hailing individually from various southern locales, Truth and Salvage Co. formed when it’s members merged in L.A. about four years ago. After signing to Chris Robinson’s Silver Arrow Records and touring in 2009 with the Black Crowes and Avett Brothers, Truth and Salvage company set off on their own solo tour in support of the May release of their self-titled debut. After 43 dates including a showing at High Sierra Music Festival over the weekend, the Crystal Bay was the last show of the tour. But don’t fear, they’ll be back on the road with Big Head Todd and the Monsters (a personal favorite from my CO days) in a few weeks…
