We jumped in the van. I remember it pretty well because it was in such good condition. The hippie crowd that we knew weren't all that big on shiny, clean vehicles. I guess it was pretty new at the time. It was tan and only had seats in the front. The rest of the van was for sleeping and camping stuff. So we plopped down in the back.
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| Pretty close to this |
I was able to look directly at the gal and she was in the passenger seat, so I must have been right behind the dude. They were friendly as heck. They asked us our story. We told them about dreaming of getting to California. The trees, the mountains and the fresh air. Trying to live away the filth and oppressive darkness of the city. The motivating incident was never shared. We didn't want to think about it, let alone bring down everyone else.
They were from somewhere in LA. When we heard that it blew us over. L-A.
We were a happy go lucky little group. Even though we had completely different experiences the laughter didn't stop. I don't know how Tommy Chong could drive. Passed a joint around a couple of times. I don't remember if I talked about the difference between pot then and now. It was more mellow for sure, but yes paranoia sometimes set in. I'm no expert but monster strains didn't happen yet. You just added hash or whatever if you wanted more.
Bouncing along Highway 395. Another situation sitting on the floor, and not seats, we missed some of the scenery. Caught a portion of it, but we were pretty busy talking and laughing. We did have discussions about the beauty of the scenery and good places to go in California. It was on the eastern side of the Sierras and we made our way past some pretty spectacular areas.
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| Whitney near Lone Pine |
"Do you like Taco Bell?" "Taco Bell? What's that? What's a taco?" "Huh? You've never had a taco?" No. This is 1972. I'm from Long Island. Listen to my accent. We had newspapers and the six o'clock news. I'm supposing the sophisticated members of New York society that were well traveled knew what they were talking about. We had pizza, heroes and knishes. Maybe there were a few places we didn't know about that had tacos. The world was regional.
I honestly don't remember where this Taco Bell was. Maybe it was South Lake Tahoe. Wherever it was, Crystal was delighted to introduce us to our first Mexican food. She was so happy. We were so happy. Tommy was tired from smoking and driving. I was in a wonderland. LBJ was along for the ride.
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| Not the one we went to |
Everything was so good. It was what I needed. Clean my soul out. What a day. Headed to go camp. Was it dusk by the time we pulled into the entrance to the campground? Old fella in the booth. He could see us in the back. "Are you married?" he said to us. Before I could blurt out my holy Catholic honesty, LBJ answered yes. He looked at Tommy and Crystal and asked them too. "Yes" they said. "Alright. We don't let unmarried couples in here." That was still going on big time in a lot of places.
Started driving on down the road, Crystal turned and asked "Are you guys really married?" No. "Oh. Either are we. It was good you said that." I don't know why the guy believed us. If you saw the four of us on the street in those days you wouldn't think we were following any kind of the rules. I suppose the man in the booth didn't really give a crap. Just had to ask. Some of those old timers lived kind of hard lifestyles themselves.
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| Photo credit Gregory Haynes |
The spot we were at was pretty isolated. I don't think anyone was close. The air. The clean air. The pines. The sound of nothing. Except deep observations on the stars. Maybe sometime I'll do a special edition trying to recreate some of those conversations.
There was no tent. They usually slept in the van. We were just gonna throw our sleeping bags on the ground but Crystal would have nothing to do with it. We were all going to fit in the back of the van. Rolled out those bags. I had the stinky mummy bag first. It was us two girls in the middle, fellas on the outside. Still laughing. Wow. That sleeping bag smells. Ok. LBJ, you're taking it tonight. Keep it away from our hosts as much as possible. There was no squishing. No snoring. Just silent, happy peace when we finally stopped laughing. We were God's creatures that night. The way it was always meant to be. So lucky.
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| Photo credit Amy Bennett |
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