In the morning we take the van to a mechanic to take care of the problems it still seems to be having: veering to the left when the brakes are
depressed, air conditioning turning on and off sporadically, etc. Meanwhile, we have found out that our next show, in Salt Lake City, has been
cancelled. This, along with other factors, causes Ben the drummer to announce that he is strongly considering quitting the tour and going home. This
is discussed for a while, and we come up with a contingency plan: we previously dropped off our acoustic guitars in Pittsburgh so we could retrieve
them to play the last show in Washington DC acoustically. These will be shipped to Scott’s parents in Seatlle, and we will play the rest of the shows
on the tour acoustically.

That done for now, we take the bus into downtown Denver for the evening. We walk up and down the 16th street mall, a very nice strip with a lot of
panhandlers who don’t look particularly like panhandlers. Later we find the Denver mint, and after walking its perimeter have an interesting chat
with a US Mint Police officer. He tells us that the coins are transported to federal reserve banks in normal 18-wheel trucks, because no criminal
could get very far with a truckload of coins--an unusually rational stance. Much more valuable is the gold kept here, 25% of the government’s
holdings. Presumably because of that, ever since 9-11 one needs a request to a congressman and a background check before a tour of the premises is
allowed. When Mike asks if we are being watched he reveals that ‘several people mentioned you were walking around, that’s why I came out to talk to
you.’ But we seem pretty safe, he says, since we don’t have accents. This comment figures later tonight in a protracted debate about profiling in
airport security.