We come to you live from Left Coast Crime in Denver after a not-so-full day here. I think I've learned my lesson and will henceforth buckle down and come a day early so I can fully appreciate the first day of events.
The (very) early morning was fraught with problems. My flight was at 6:25 in the morning. Or at least it was supposed to be. Electrical problems kept the plane on the ground for half an hour. I worried about my connection (it was from Ontario, CA to Phoenix, AZ and from Phoenix on to Denver). I offered to pull my car around and give it a jump, but the pilot preferred to start the jet engines and jumpstart the power that way. Once on the plane, the gentleman in front of me was being asked to deplane as he was carrying oxygen without a doctor's certificate (why they let him on...) and he refused to budge. The stewardess was on her way to get "law enforcement" when the old fellow thought better of his position. We were finally on our way! I switched planes in Phoenix--more delaying--and after another forty-five minutes we were off again...taxiing on the tarmac for quite a while. Are we driving to Denver? Then another wait in line at the runway and we were finally off. Turbulance greeted us at Denver and I was here at last, about 1 hour and 1/2 delayed all told.
Denver was not what I expected. It is a wide plain set high amongst the rockies. The mountains seem as foothills all around us, with a band of white along the lower hills with patches of snow spotting the smooth blue peaks behind. A wide prairie of brown grasses seperates the airport from downtown Denver and it is half an hour of driving over this seemingly endless plain. It is very reminicient of the Mammoth area in California: A wide plain surrounded by mountains, a plain actually in the mountains.
I decided on an expensive taxi ride to get to the hotel sooner--sometimes it's not worth nickel and diming it--and checked in. I didn't plan on going to any panels. Mostly I planned on eating since it was about 2:00 without much but pretzels echoing inside me. But then I ran into none other than Kat Richardson and we decided to get a late lunch. After chatting a while it was getting on so I wanted to nap a bit before my Mile High Murder Machine Bus Tour of Denver Murders (hey, you know the routine: get to the airport at 5, which means leaving the house at 4, which me
ans getting up at 3. I was pooped!)
Not much of a napper, so it was time to meet the bus. I never thought I'd have to ask this question, but I inquired at the front desk where I could meet the prison bus.
Author and Denver local Mario Acevedo gave the informative tour and started us off with glow-in-the-dark neckaces with toe tags (for a raffle) and then started us on margaritas while we settled in to the bus (at left.) It was a two hour tour of mayhem and unsolved murders in and around Denver, from the downtown capitol district to the seedier side of town. We wended our way through some of the more interesting neighborhoods, with amazing homes from the turn of the last century (Denver was established, after all, in 1858). Murders ranged from the 1911 murder of Charles Patterson at the Richthofen Castle (yes, that Richthofen, of Baron von fame. A relative of same, anyway) to the 1933 Mafia boss hit of Joe Roma, to the 2007 drive-by murder of Denver Broncos' Darrent Williams.
A good time was had by all, but I think we and our bus made some folks in these neighborhoods a little worried that we were coming by to pick up a few stragglers.
Tomorrow, I shall be more productive. I have panels to see. I have a panel to be on! (Don't miss it. It's at 2:30) And I have a St. Martin's cocktail party to attend where I will meet my editor in the flesh! Stay tuned.
I love your posts about the Prison Bus. What a lot of creativity is lurking in Denver this weekend! I love to go to conferences and I enjoy being able to attend this one through your eyes.
Marilynne
Posted by: Marilynne Smith | March 07, 2008 at 01:39 PM