Sunday, April 9, 2023

Sunshine State Resort

 Song 662: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Hotel California by The Eagles, written by Don Felder, Don Henley and Glen Frey, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. About a year before this hitch arrived in the winter of 1977, I had decided I'd like to leave the Chicago area and head towards the West Coast soon, but then some dental problems grabbed me and I understood that I had to get them resolved before I could hit the road. When The Eagles promise of the Sunshine State climbed the charts, I already looked forward to the moderate climate there, especially during the Windy City frigid months, but I knew I'd have to endure one more freezing season there before I could make my move, so I relished the lyrical vision conveyed by this spin, in addition to its engaging musical dives. When the summer of 1978 rolled around, I pointed my thumb westward and got some good rides, but I don't recall whether any of the desert highway lifts happened in the dark. I do know, though, that I didn't have to stop for the night. When I reached San Francisco, it felt like such a lovely place that I was thinking to myself, "This could be Heaven." Never once, during the decade I resided there, did it ever occur to me that "this could be Hell" - it definitely was not!

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