A night of Hotel California through the Appalachians

There are some songs that you remember exactly where you were when you heard it first. For me it's an entire album, Hotel California by The Eagles. Each time one of the songs comes on the radio, I remember exactly where I was in the 1970's when I heard that entire album.

It's possible that the album had already been released. It was either December of 1976 or March of 1977. My dad, two brothers and my older brother's friend, Bob, were driving from Michigan to Florida. We were listening to WLAC AM. At that time it was a 50,000 watt powerhouse pumping out music for a thousand miles in every direction from Nashville, Tennessee. I spent many nights in Kalamazoo listening to WLAC on a portable radio.

It was the middle of the night when WLAC announced that they would be playing the Eagles' album Hotel California without a break. When the first song started (Hotel California), I remember that my brother's friend Bob said "Bad!" My dad turned up the radio, which was a bit unusual for him. We rode through Appalachians in the dead of the night while The Eagles played songs that would become etched into my memory forever.

As a fourteen year old kid, it's tough to think that anything you can do will influence anything. If I could go back and talk to that 14 year old kid, I wonder what I'd tell my younger self? I wonder what I would tell everyone else who was in that Ford Country Squire station wagon on that wonderful night? It was a pivotal time for everyone in that car. We'd all face heartbreak and tragedy in our own ways.

I wonder if anyone else in the car that night remembers cruising through the shadows of the Appalachian mountains while listening to The Eagles? Do they remember that night each time that Hotel California starts?!

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air...