Bummer. I didn’t realize that he had passed (or I had forgotten). I think that Leader of the Band is his best work. It always makes me think of my dad, who is fortunately still living.
As of 2015 (last time I checked) passengers in Connecticut could still drink in cars. In Mississippi, the driver can drink while driving as long as he or she stays below the legal BAC.
Here is an article from 2015 that mentions both.
As for that song, it sucks donkey balls. The only thing it reminds me of is this Denis Leary bit:
It makes my wife cry because the song makes her think of her father, who is still living.
Funny.
It was the early 80s when he made me into a pussy. I liked his music. Still do. Even this song that you think sucks balls.
Though I don’t relate to the story in the song, and honestly, I don’t recall when I heard it for the first time, I think it’s gorgeous. I can picture the whole scene as the song goes on, like a little movie in my head.
This. The characters seemed older to me than young college kids reminiscing about a high school relationship. Then again, Fogelberg was writing a song to sell to the masses. The inspiration was autobiographical. That doesn’t mean the details have to be verbatim accurate. The characters in the song could easily be 30+ even though Fogelberg himself was 26ish when he bumped into his GF.
My reaction?
I was late in undergrad college at the time. Back then while it played incessantly it held a certain poignancy for me as I was about to graduate, set out across the country, and leave behind all the (few) women I’d been close to. So I could see myself having the same encounter in a few years. In those days I had a bit of a taste for schmaltz.
Fast forward to now and the song triggers mostly nostalgia for the era when that song was current and the future was large and exciting and uncertain. Rather than the (I hope) smallish, simple, and predictable it is/will continue to be. And schmaltz isn’t nearly as good as it once was.
It’s only illegal if you get caught 
I imagine they parked somewhere unobtrusive.
In real life, I think he was in town visiting family. Might have been kind of awkward.
This may be blatantly obvious to some of you but I’ve been listening to this song for 37 years and just realized the song’s tune comes from the finale of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.
I thought the tune was kinda catchy. 
ETA — it’s mentioned in post 21.