49 I picked up my bag, went lookin' for a place to hide

So I'm not going to get all the roads right, but I'm pretty sure I've got our next day figured out. I'm going to admit to a crime but I don't think anyone would care by now.😀

We were heading out of Portland and were thinking "Well, we ended up here. How are we going to do this?" Don't want to go through New York. No. Last thing we should do. LBJ said "Canada." Canada? "It's the only way." Uh. Weird. But yeah.

Next time the car stopped we said Canada for once. Guess we got a ride going north on the 295 for a little bit. Got let off before Augusta. I'm damn lucky to have known what that was like. The side of the road. Sometimes walking cause you just had to make some progress or just plopped down. Sitting in the grass, eating sandwiches the nice lady made. We didn't have anything to drink with us, but all the coffee we had in the morning held us over. There was never a problem finding a break in the traffic to pee either.

Next car that pulled over had an awfully nice couple in the front seat. I don't even think we had our thumbs out. Still eating. There was another hitchhiker in the back seat. No problem. Those interiors were pretty big.

You're on those roads up there going north, there's a good chance some of those people are heading into Canada. Especially for the hippie type back then. I couldn't tell you what we talked about after all these years, but another group of friendly people. I fit right into this laid back attitude, already felt like the weight of a thousand pounds was lifted off my chest. The car radio was always on. Mostly AM channels going in the cars. FM was still almost like pirate radio.

I could almost picture them but a little hazy. Windows open. Wind blowing in my hair again. Still had knots from the first day. Took a long time to get all those out. The couple and the hitchhiker were all straighter than us, but we all respected each other as human beings. I know we talked a little bit about our plans to get to California. They liked that we were going through Canada first. People enjoyed different stories and ideas.

But the way they were going wasn't straight north. They were going west at Augusta, backtracking through New Hampshire and Vermont. Then going north. Said we end up in a better spot anyway. Sure, good.

Not us.

I always spent a lot of time staring out the window. LBJ was more of a talker, Irish blood. I'd throw in a couple of things once in a while. Think we probably stopped at a gas station once. They weren't like convenience stores. Just gas and bathrooms. But I think we stopped somewhere for quick food. Had the sandwiches so we probably got a glass of milk or something. 

Probably about four hours later we pull into the Derby Line - Rock Island Border Crossing in Derby Line, Vermont. For some reason, mostly being potheads, we didn't really anticipate this. The couple in the front seat just kept staring forward, looked a little nervous. Didn't turn around to ask "Is everything OK?' They waited till now to ask. 😀 The other hitchhiker was confident. We said "uh, yeah." You know they were asking if we were wanted by the law or maybe carrying drugs. 

Here's where one of the dreams starts. We pull up to the customs officer or whatever he was. He puts his head in the window. Asked the couple where they were headed and what their plans were. I guess their answers were ok, They looked ok. The officer looks in the backseat at us and the other guy and asks the couple if we were with them. No. Hitchhikers. He looks back at us. "Please follow me into the station." Fuck. He told the couple where to wait for us. They were awesome and waited. I guess it would have looked weird if they took off, even though they were a little nervous.

The other guy was just so happy and confident about everything. He goes bouncing in there. We follow with our Pan Am bag, green duffle bag and mummy sleeping bag.

The border. Stanstead.

I guess we were in Stanstead, Quebec. The dude that brought us in told us where to sit and I remember the building wasn't very big at all. We sat down outside a room that the other hitchhiker went into. There was some kind of window and we could see him showing the person behind the desk all kinds of things. Digging in his bag. They were really asking him a lot of questions. Really. We were completely "shitting bricks." We were trying to talk very quietly and thought the gig was up.

He was in there a while. He was putting his stuff away. Shit, we just have to get out of here. There was a water cooler near the entrance. I stood up and looked at LBJ. He got up. We were walking towards the cooler and someone looked up at us. I said "Just getting a drink of water." They put their head down again, I guess. Got to the water cooler. Acted like we were getting a cup of water and just walked back out the front. 

Walked casually, but without turning around or taking too long, directly to the car. I'm sure we had a weird, maybe tense, look on our faces. The couple looked around. "It's ok?" Yeah. Luckily the the other hitchhiker came strolling out just a minute after us. He jumped in. Was going on about all the questions he had to answer. Destinations. Had to prove he had enough money with him. We sure as hell didn't and we had no plans or destination, besides all that other stuff. The Vietnam War was still on and Canada was a destination of choice.

The couple turned forward and pulled out of the spot. Fuck. Now we still had to go back in the line. The original cop guy came back over to car, all friendly though. Leaned his head in the window again. Looked at the back seat and asked "Everything Ok?" with a smile. Yeah. Everything's ok. He smiled and said to enjoy our time in Canada. Holy shit. Off we went. Kept turning around and looking for a cop car or something. Never saw one. I don't know if the cops ever knew what happened. Or if they did, how long it took before they figured it out.