Everything was set and my roomate and I were slated to hit the Hampton show in 96' (10/15/96). We were both attending Roanoke College at the time, and I had somewhat recently purchased a 82' Volkswagon van, which would be on it's way to it's first show. So we left the confines of our house just after selecting the proper listening for the ride. 

We had been on the road for roughly an hour and everything was going superb.....sun was shining, beautiful fall day, Herbie Hancock's Warner Brother's recordings (the music Herbie recorded for the "Fat Albert" cartoon) were blaring out of my rigged stereo. The van had just been serviced and was running like a dream.  Just as we were commenting on the smooth ride, Andy let out a disgruntled "Uh-Oh"

Smoke began to pour out of the back of the van....I immediately got upset, and yelled for him to pull over. We began to veer to the shoulder, and just as we got off the highway Andy's "Uh-Oh" turned into a "Holy S*&T!!! There are flames now!!" We coasted to a stop, began to grab everything out of the vehicle, and move everything within a safe distance. 

I moved around to the rear of the vehicle and began to try and open the engine compartment. It was already REALLY hot, so I grabbed it and with one motion flipped it open. Flames immediately shot out at me forcing me to jump back. 

I looked under the car and realized that the engine was MELTING to the ground and the melting metal/engine parts were remaining on fire under the car.  A very nice gentleman in a Ryder truck stopped and offered his assistance. He had three fire extinguishers on him. 

We used the first and the molten engine puddle kept re-igniting the already piping hot engine. We moved the car up roughly 15 feet and went through the same process, ending up using the entire second extinguisher. Once again we moved the car, and tried the third.....to no avail.

After the last extinguisher was used up we decided that it was pretty much lost. The flames had begun to crawl up the side of the vehicle and began to creep along the side of the van. We figured that the gas tank may go so it would be a good idea to get a safe distance.  At this point, cars were barely able to pass (I-81) in either lane due to the debris. 

Fortunately enough friends from Roanoke had stopped because they recognized my van. So there I was, watching my van violently burn to the ground from roughly 100 feet (I could still feel the heat from the fire, which had now grown to flames that stood nearly 15 feet above the vehicle). At this point I knew that there was no way to save the vehicle, and just wanted to get to the show. The fire dept. finally showed up and I-81 had pretty much been closed, due to the fact that my tires were literally blowing up, and shooting searing rubber into the lanes of traffic.

The fire was finally put out and I signed the relase from the fire marshall. As I walked past my van one last time (after the inferno had been put out) I noticed that there was literally NOTHING left. The enitre van had been literally melted to the highway's shoulder, and the firemen were busy trying to PRY the corpse off the ground. The police men had been taking some pictures for insurance purposes, and I asked if I could get copies (which I never did get), and I left with my ULTRA PATIENT friends for the show.

We ended up getting caught in traffic, and were a bit late for the show.....as I walked in to meet my other roomate who had our taping rig, I walked up to him and said...."remember my van? It burned to the ground...literally...." he laughed, and dismissed it as a joke. I repeated "no, it literally burned to the ground, does not exist anymore..." 

Then I took a look at the setlist..(we entered just as Trey solo for Maze began)..the opener "HA HA HA"...truly funny that the boys could have a laugh on my behalf. The show was really great, and I did end up making it to the next night as well. The encore for the next night....you guessed it....none other than Jimi Hendrix's "Fire."

Needless to say, insurance is a good thing and I ended up getting reimbursed fully for the van, and got a new car out of it....but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 - Kyle Poehling