Another excellent adventure, Part III

The morning after the Joe Cocker concert, I had breakfast at the casino with Carnell and Marlene while Linda got ready for our trip back to Arkansas. This time we stayed on the Interstate, driving north on I-35 to Oklahoma City, and then west on I-40 to Russellville. It was a much simpler trip than the ride over. There were no two lane roads, no towns to drive through and no road construction so even though it was a little further in miles, the drive time was almost exactly the same.

Michael, Will, and I went down to the tuxedo rental place on Monday to be fitted for Michael's upcoming wedding and then I spent the rest of the day resting and relaxing at Linda's house, eagerly anticipating our journey to Tulsa the next day to see the Levon Helm band.

Some of you will remember Levon from his career as the drummer for The Band, one of the most influential rock bands of their era, immortalized in the brilliant concert documentary directed by Martin Scorsese called "The Last Waltz." When the band broke up in the late '70s the members went their separate ways and two of them have since passed on. Levon never stopped playing, however, even through a bout with throat cancer, and the midnight rambles he puts on most weekends at his home in Woodstock have become almost legendary in the hearts and minds of his true fans. In the publicity leading up to the concert, Levon announced that the gigs he and his band would be performing in America's heartland would be just like the rambles he does at his home so the anticipation was high in my heart as Linda and I left Tuesday afternoon for our drive to Tulsa.

Linda and I always stayed at Embassy Suites when we were married and I have continued to do so since our divorce so that's where we drove to when we arrived in Tulsa. Since the concert was on Tuesday, I had not made reservations, thinking there would be plenty of space available and I was wrong. Embassy was totally booked so we stayed at the Marriott Courtyard next door. It wasn't nearly as cool as Embassy but sufficed for our needs. I called Cain's Ballroom to find out when the doors would open since the concert was to be open seating and we were there standing in a long line when we were allowed to enter. Seating was very limited and after purchasing a couple of adult beverages, we parked ourselves in bleacher-type seating to the left of the bandstand. By the time the concert started, the place was packed with most people standing.

We were not disappointed. Helm, 69, brought his entire 12-piece band to Tulsa with him and from the opening song, "Ophelia," the crowd was absolutely mesmerized at the performance. Much like the Cocker concert, there was no bad music and no songs we didn't like. The crowd was on its feet for the entire performance, even those fortunate few who actually had seats; dancing and swaying in place to the incredible music being performed. There was no opening act this time and no intermission so it was Levon Helm music from start to finish of the almost two hour long concert. The band did two encores and as we filed out of the Ballroom with everyone else, there wasn't a look of disappointment to be found on the faces of anyone.

After a good night's sleep, we awoke early, had breakfast, and then Linda drove me to the airport for my return flight to Denver. Unlike my flight from Denver in the brand new plane, the one I flew on back to Denver was old and the flight was totally uneventful. I paid the parking lot attendant 90 bucks for my car's five night stay in the underground covered parking lot adjacent to the airport and headed home, satisfied and gratified about a journey that turned out to be everything I had hoped it would be after a pretty unnerving beginning.

Probably the most amazing thing about the whole trip was the time I spent with Linda. We've been divorced for almost 10 years now and yet, on these journeys we made with each other, it was like we hadn't been physically separated from each other at all. We acted, behaved, and talked with and to each other just like we always had when we were married. It was totally comfortable, like wearing the old robe you've put on every morning for most of your life. So even though I think we both know we could never be married to each other again, we totally enjoyed each other's company and our shared experiences with each other.

Maybe we'll do it again sometime.