TC: 24 Hours at Sundance Part 1

3:55 am - (alarm) I made a quick trip to the head before calling Chris to make sure he's on time. He confirms that he's on the way and I proceed to meander around a house that's still asleep. I had prepared my things the night before but I still needed to go through that mental checklist before I could feel comfort leaving my home.

4:10 am - I kissed my wife and pups goodbye and I was off into the cold. When last nights sleep has yet to leave your eyes and you open the front door to 2 degree weather, it feels like you're stepping out into an Alaskan winter. Not like today's winters, but like the winters a million years ago when mammoths still roamed the arctic.

4:15 am - Chris was waiting out front and greeted me with a warm good morning grumble as I loaded my bag into his Mercedes. "How tired are you?" was my response. His answer, the gas pedal....we were off.
4:45 am - The attendants at the ticket counter seemed about as awake as we were and didn't mention that the self check in was open til after we'd waited in line for 10 minutes. Chris slid his card through the machine and was asked (by a machine) if he would like an upgrade to first class for $70 per ticket. "Fuck ya I want an upgrade!"

5:35 am - As we are getting ready to board the plane, I greatfully mentioned to Chris "I'm glad when we get on we won't have to go all the way back to 29F." Immediately after that, an announcement is made over the intercom, "We would like to ask all passengers seated in zone 1 to now board."

"That's us."

Since we had a layover in Denver, there are were two separate boarding passes. One for IAD to DEN and the other for DEN to SLC. The entire time I was in the airport I was only carrying one of these two tickets. I showed it to at least 3 security guards, one of which actually made check marks in three different places. I assumed that he was "checking" to make sure it was legit. But when we got to the ticket guy I handed him mine, which he tried to scan, looked at it, and then said, "This ticket is for Denver to Salt Lake. Do you have another one?" "As a matter of fact I do." I sarcastically told the flamboyant man taking tickets. But much to my surprise, upon pulling my ticket out of my bag my seat number had changed from 1C to 29F. So here I am, jacked to sit first class for the first time in my life and now, like a boy who got hand woven sweater for Christmas, I moped to the back of the plane and sat in my seat for the 4 hour flight. "Fuck United!" I thought to myself.

9:35 am - Four hours of Eucher poker, 10 coffee's, and a Crystal Light energy drink later, we landed in Denver. Boy did I have to spill some urine...

10:40 am - $208 dollars richer thanks to Eucher poker we I made my way off my first first class flight ever. Was it awesome...eh, I did like the extra leg room and the unlimited bags of airplane pretzels, besides that, nothing too special. I made a quick phone call letting D-Watts know we had arrived and we headed toward the door. As we were walking out the door we saw our first star. "Hey! It's Sandy Cohan!" I shouted to Chris about Peter Gallagher. Unfortunately for me, Peter heard and didn't seem to happy to be called Sandy. Needless to say, I don't have a picture of me posing with him.

This is how we got to Sundance. The rest includes getting lost in a city with a grid for a road system, some SWAG party's, a special trip to SLC for a favorite meal, and finally, the debacle that happened when we tried to get into the T.I. concert. Check back tomorrow for the rest...

Posted in: Chris Cooley, Off Season Adventures, Sundance, Tanner Cooley