The Summer of Love

Bad Vibrations in the Desert

By the sunset of that day we had left Nebraska and crossed the great mountains of Colorado. The Rocky Mountains were simply incredible. I had never seen anything so massive in size and height. It was awe inspiring and I wished we could've stopped, but time was of the essence. By this time tomorrow the concert will have begun.

We were in the desert. I wasn't sure it was Utan or Nevada, but by this point the highway was just a flat road going in one direction through the whole desert. I drove Charlotte at around 90 miles per hour. We were making great time that way. George was bored, I could tell. All he could do all day was smoke grass and drink, because he already knew I wouldn't let him drive my car. Not that I distrusted him, but it feels wrong when someone else is driving your car with you in it. 

We had gotten bored and eventually the conversation got to where we were when we first heard that Kennedy was shot. "I was in school." George said. I was in history class sitting through a lecture when another teacher comes in with a radio and said "Everyone, you're about to witness history." And he turned it on just in time for us to hear "President Kennedy has been declared dead."

"I skipped school that day." I told him. George laughed. "Shocking." He said sarcastically. "Me and a couple of buddies were just loitering around in a Harlem diner. The TV was on and the news came on and we saw Walter Cronkite deliver us updates for a while. Up until he announced his death."

George decided to play a tape on the radio. "Which one?" I asked. "The greatest crushing song ever made, man." He told me. He put it in the radio which still had some juice left in its batteries. I immediately recognized the song. It is the best song for being cool while driving. It was "Green Onions" by Booker T. and the MG's.

"Y'know, these are the future." George said. "What?" "Cassette Tapes. They're the future of music. I think viynl records are gonna go obsolete in 10 years." I laughed. "Man, records have been around for a long ass time. These are handy, I'll give you that, but they're a fad." I could tell he disagreed with me. "Frankly," I told him, "I think they're popularity has peaked." "Sure, whatever." He said. "I bet they'll figure out a way to put a Cassete Radio in a car. I just laughed at that foolish idea, but George later on proved to be right.
After "Green Onions" was finished I turned on the radio. We were on some news channel. 

"California governor Ronald Reagan has signed an act making abortion legal in California under certain circumstances, such as rape. This makes California the second state to legalize some form of abortion, behind Colorado."

"Wait," George said. "Ronald Reagan governor of California?" George and I weren't too politically involved (yet) so it took us by surprise. I chucked. "I guess he is." It's a weird feeling finding out that one of the biggest actors of your childhood is the governor of the Union's fastest growing state. "Oh man, remember "Bedtime for Bonzo?" That always made me laugh." George said smiling. "I liked him in "Cattle Queen of Montana", with Barbara Stanwyck. My dad took me to see it." The news carried on. "Numbers of American troops in Vietnam have risen to around 500,000. Increasing from 400,000 last year. President Johnson stated-"

I turned the channel. George seemed glad that I did but didn't say anything. I turned it to some random radio station and the announcer was saying "And here's a highly requested song, it's climbing up the charts to Number One. Ladies and gentlemen, here is "Light My Fire" by The Doors." And the song came on. Not the 7 minute long one you hear on the album, but the single version. The short and fast one. In glorious Mono.

With the keyboard intro we were off. George loved the song so he rolled up a joint from our 3 pound bag of Vietnamese Marijuana. Having that much Marijuana on you in 1967 was enough to put you in jail for at least 20 years, maybe life. We were lawbreakers for sure. We sped down the highway as Jim Morrison's amazing voice carried us on this journey. Then up head I saw a figure walking along the lonely desert highway. When it saw us, it stopped, and stuck it's thumb out.