When a chance. Came along. A big boys holiday to California. Took me from. A sad, Manchester. to the golden beaches Of California. Me and Andy started in San Francisco. Well, friends of his mum's let us stay there. Whilst we were there. We needed to find transport for the whole journey. We took a look around San Francisco to find the perfect. Transport. As we left his Mums friends place. We saw a Brown Bay window. Volkswagen bus. For $1200. we thought it looked OK but continued our search. Down as far as the Bay Area, Berkeley, All over San Francisco, we looked for ,a vehicle.
After about 5 hours we returned. To the area where we were staying, and there was the $1200 Volkswagen. Then we realised this is the Bus. This is the bus for us. The next day we got the money out and purchased the Volkswagen.
Then we set off to go and see the Grateful Dead. Shea Stadium. It was quite a crazy place. Full of rainbow people. A little like a. 15th century market and a Carnival. This was my first meeting of the Rainbow People. They were all there with long hair and tie dye. And sandals and no shoes. And beads. And vegetarian food. And ,A lot of crazy cigarettes. We enjoyed ourselves and they made us feel welcome. We listened to the Grateful Dead. Sat on the floor a little while. And realised we were not in Manchester.
We decided to get into the Volkswagen. And head for Big Sur. It was about four hours away. The radio DJ. Said hey guys, this is side 2. Of Dark Side of the Moon. He didn't speak again until the end of the album We had never heard a radio DJ. Play. The full side of such a crazy album. But it was absolutely fantastic. A short while after we, we arrived. At , Big sur It was the middle of the night. We decided to go for a walk along the beach. In the middle of the beach. We met 2 girls. They were playing acoustic guitars. They asked us if we had a tune that we wanted them to play. But then they said, hey, why don't we just play Wish You Were Here? Again. We were not in Manchester. This was California. The next day we headed back to San Francisco. To pick up Rick, Jake, And Rowan. We met them at the airport. Bundled them into the bus. And headed for Mendicino. It took us about 3 hours. We met Andys mums friend ,And her two sons. She was a spiritual healer. And her sons were, Hillbillies. Well, rainbow hillbillies. We got acquainted and chilled out for a few days. The Volkswagen. Developed a oil leak. So the next thing was fix the Volkswagen. Whilst commuting along the front. Between the small town of Manchester. And Mendicino.
We picked up two hitchhikers. Somewhere near the commune Where Winona Ryder lived. The two guys. Look like. Rainbow people. Hillbillies. No shoes. Crazy hair? Tie dyed shirts, No fixed abode. They took one look at us guys in the van. And they thought we're the crazy ones. We thought they were the crazy ones. Anyhow, we all got on pretty well. They were happy to have a lift to the town. I'm thinking we had picked up two crazy guys from 1968. Though this was 1995 .Towards the end of the journey. They mentioned about a party. That was happening that next weekend. At the Hog. farm They said we should go. So after the Volkswagen was fixed. We headed for the hog farm. We arrived in the car park. And realised this was a baby Wood stock Festival. Yellow buses ,Volkswagen's. Hippies. Rainbow people. Age between. 80 and 2 With one thing in common. And that was to have a crazy wild festival. The car park started to fill. And we realised we were going to have a great time. Somebody offered us. Golden Top. Mexican. Mushrooms. We took them. And dissolved into the festival.
After an hour or so. A woman on stage. Explained about Chakras. The colours. Around your head. Throat. Chest. Stomach. Pelvis. She told us how to Push the lightvDown through our bodies. To relieve. All illnesses. It felt pretty amazing. Then I realised. I need to find out who this woman is. I need to write her name down. And put it in my back pocket. For the next day, you know.
I headed straight back to a small Tent. It was the tent I had visited before. It was the tent where the guy was making moccasins. You know the kind. All Grateful Dead and rainbow people. Long hair. Handmade clothes. Some Tribal jewellery. And of course, moccasins. I looked at this guy who was the. Moccasin maker. He looked just like Gandalf The grey. 6 foot 4. Full hemp tracksuit. Knee high moccasins. Long white hair. Long white Beard. A felt Magician's pointy hat.in natural greys, This guy was tripping dude Wow. He said. Where are you from? I said I'm from Manchester, England. He said sit down. I said OK. He said. What you doing here? I said I read Carlos Castaneda. And I wanted to meet Mescalito. But then I also said. I wanted to learn more about moccasins. Because. After watching. Hawkwind At. Brixton. Academy. A few years before. I had had a vision. Where the whole place? Turned from Gig venue. To desert. With cactus. And sand. And I was wearing. Elk skin. Wallaby's. And brown cord Levis. Which at the time. Felt like Native American Clothing. So that's what I told this guy. You know the one , the Gandalf guy. Turns out his name was Grey Wolf. And the adventure into my American dream? Had just started.
Nige.
