Things I Loved - 1960 - 1972 (Alas - No More)

Merle Haggard says something like wishing old things were new. I miss that first joint and that first acid trip of orange barrel at a Hendrix concert, or the joy of the first time I felt a woman's breast.

Never like Ludes except to pick up women. What I do miss is acid. I have taken acid twice in the last year and I have been very disappointed. It was expensive and even 4 hits just gave me a tingle. The kids that do my yard raved about how great it was how they had been tripping for days. I think LSD must be about 50 mics a hit now and I am used to 250 a hit and taking a 4 way hit.
I miss Colombian Gold with those tiny little buds that were so trippy. And those giant Oxxacan buds that were lime green and wired you instead of couch lock.
I miss friends who have traveled on.
I miss running supplies on the Mississippi River and in the gulf.
I miss driving a cab in New Orleans.

I miss a lot but I wouldn't go back. Now is the best time and always has been and always will be for me. I am a present person. The pass was good but today is great.

 

awesome post

 

Oh I would go back in a second. I won't lie, I have some regrets but no one that has ever lived a life of value has never had a regret. So there would be a few things I might try and change.

But overall, I would just want to get on the ride again. It's been a trip!!

 

I don't spend much time looking in life's rear-view mirror. Generally speaking, it's not healthy. (Love Satchel Paige's take on this: "Never look back. Something might be gainin' on you.")

But if I miss anything from those days, it's old friends who've passed and having a body that pretty much did what it was told, without much complaint.

 

I hear you about the body part. They took away my license because I developed epilepsy in my old age. And I'm really upset about that.

But as for looking backwards,
I don't see it that way. Perhaps it's because I don't think time is linear. I think that everything exists right here and right now. It's just for whatever reason, we can't see it. Perhaps that's whay despite my wife having passed away, I can still feel her near me.

 

I remember when you passed other hippie-types on the road and gave each other the peace sign ,it felt real--and was. As soon as you met or came across other long hairs in any situation--acceptance was immediate and real with hugs and sharing of whatever was available. I remember stopping at stop signs and being handed a joint from an adjacent car and I also remember passing them to others in the same way ,never to see them again. I remember the changes in music from the 50s to the 60s that spoke for what we wanted and how we felt about society and war. I remember the conservatives--'Kennedy-King solution". I remember never knowing others last names,even if you traveled with them. I remember "window pane" and the path on which it led me to start. And quite a bit of other"stuff". Good "stuff" indeed. Yeah--I'd go back.

 

Yup. It's like we had our "15 minutes" and the military-industrialists just kept hacking away at us until we've become just a distant memory and the game continues. It started way before we were born and they know they have forever to complete their goals. The pendulum swings back and forth some---but they're closer now to complete domination and elimination of any semblance of a middle class than ever. They have no god but money and are relentless in their pursuit of it. They want it ALL and will make this country ever more like Mexico or Gabon, without any conscience at all. I have a feeling that if people get too pissed and try to reverse the situation in which we now find ourselves---that live ammo would/will be used,not unlike the government of Syria is doing. The elimination of safety nets--the busting of unions-the endless wars--just who are the immoral ones here? (he asks rhetorically)

 

Amen.

 

I thank you ddoright (me) for this thread. What wonderful memories of a time past. It seems so trite, but it is true, the innocence was palpable. If you flew your flag, people felt good about rallying under it. Peace was the answer and drugs were a conduit. I know we must live life in the now and make the best of the present situation - but God I miss those days.
The many who have passed before - I miss them most. So we all go, and when we go, a piece of the magic goes.

Please, younger folks, grab the magic. It is there still there and waits a new generation willing to grasp it, embrace it, take it, not as our legacy, but their own.

 

I wonder often about the fine folks that I met on the road traveling or down the road from Captain Cook on the big Island ,where I had some of the best and most spiritual times --not to mention just plain old fun. The Canadians I met when I traveled across Canada in 1970. The kids in some little town up there (Saskachawan?)that took us travelers under their wing for a night and showed us where to camp,brought us food,got us high and played music for us around a little campfire. Never saw then again,of course. The folks from Delaware-the guy from LA--the couple from Prince Edward Island that traveled back across Canada with me. Their first time acid trips(that I just happened to have) on some river in BC with me. Bet it changed their lives. The trip to Hana Maui where the police took us to their little station because the girls went topless while sunbathing. The girl that pulled her top up and asked the cops--"don't you guys like boobs--she had a big pair--made them laugh and tell us to get out. Bet it changed their lives too! It was like that back then and those things happened many times in many places. My buddies from then are????who knows where. Some are dead ,I know for sure. The 60s were the most amazing times in so many ways--it really was "us against them"which brought an immediate kinship with other travelers not to be matched--maybe never again. ---------------------and Delaware Punch. What ever happened to that?? Yeah--I'd go back.

 

Scratcho, this post had me in floods of tears. Yeh, I remember all that, also travelled across Canada in '70 and the way we all looked after each other. Don't know if I ever met you, but it doesn't matter. Thanks for the post.....I live in the UK now and my OH is 9 years younger than me (still a hippie, but different nationality, slightly different generation and very different experiences), so I sometimes feel like part of my past is lost. Your post brought it all back for me and reaffirms that it really was like that.

 

Thanks man. We stayed in a lot of youth hostels ,which were just in houses in older parts of towns across Canada. Ran into the same people going across and coming back across too. Stayed in a National Guard armory in Longeil above Montreal and snuck thru the fence to got to site of the worlds fair and had some great times.

 

There is one thing that I really miss. It is the attitude that we can change things and that things will change. It is time for us to take back that attitude and wake up from the TV and realize that the man has us by the tits and we need to do something real quick. When was the last time you wrote you representatives or went to a rally or town meeting? How about sign a petition or start a petition? Vote?
It is time to get off our asses, stand up, wave our arms madly in the air, jump up and down, and shout "Hell no, I am not going to take it anymore!" Then go out and do something to make this world a better place. Peace dudes, DR Razzu

 

Archie Bunker and Ralph Kramden

 

You are so on the mark!! It seems like young people - and old - have thrown in the towel. In 1968-1971 we felt we could change things. We did change a lot of things. Now it seems to be "what can you you do - you can't fight the corporations and Washington.
I'm afraid I'm one of them - though I do try to stay in the political fray. I miss believing. I'm not so sure I do anymore.

 

Hair, hair, hair, hair
Grow it, show it
Long as I can grow it
My hair

I let it fly in the breeze
And get caught in the trees
Give a home for the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas
A hive for the buzzin' bees
A nest for birds
There ain't no words
For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder
Of my...

Hair, hair, hair, hair,

 

Bicycles with ape hangers and bannanna seats
Pop in bottles chilled so it had little ice slivers in it
Campgrounds that wernt parking lawns for overpriced motorhomes
Rollerskating
Treehouses

 

I hear you. We are so assaulted with the propoganda that it's hard to believe. But for me, I look at my grandchildren and I understand that "not believing" is not an option.

Rome wasn't built in a day. And in a battle with the establishment we're going to loose some and win some. In my books the establishement has been on the winner side for too long and they are long overdue for a good fall.

It's now time for us old folks to teach the children the message of love. My friend all we got to do is get them to turn on. Today's establishement might be big and powerful but it's a house of cards more fragile than it was in our generation. Get the kids to turn on and that house is cominig down!

 

Oh, memories. I, too, can be nostalgic over the good ol days and they were great. I remember buying a "matchbox" for $5.00 on the streets of Denver waaaay back when.