In the first book I covered the beginning of my adventure up to where I cool my heels for a little while in Ojai, California. What had begun as a conceptual art-work had evolved naturally into a whole new life. I'd escaped the art-world as I knew it and entered a new world of a new art-form, rock'n'roll and in the process freed myself from a lot of the past. I'd literally left the old world, Europe, for the new-world, America, experiencing freedom in a way I never expected.
With an idea I'd gotten from Jackson Pollock where he let the wind that blew through the walls of his Long Island studio move the paint that he was dripping, thus engaging nature in his creative process, I allowed the 'wind', outside circumstances, to move me around, to an extent. This led to the journey across country from New York to San Francisco and the pivotal events in Colorado that opened the door to this new art world of rock'n'roll for me. In the same spirit I went from San Francisco to Ojai on my way to LA. I never got to LA. After a few weeks stay in Ojai, I headed North to Canada, its at this point that we re-enter the story.
Chapter One
"Canada"
Things had gotten pretty weird in Butch's household. Not only was he having trouble with his two girlfriends but his kid brother was relentless in his opposition to Butch getting a band going with me. In the midst of all this, he was evicted.
It was the end of a long scene, time to move on. The first high point of my adventure was behind me. This second part of the journey was the beginning of everyday life in the new world of my recent realizations and where the second high-point happened.
Su, my ex-girlfriend, was a strong influence which meant putting the Jackson Pollock thing on hold for the time being. Although I was a complete fool for taking her back after her cheating on me again, The Universe had my back because she'd soon cheat on me up in Canada and I'd finally be free of her. I was then able to belong to myself again.
I'd been on my way to Los Angeles when I stopped in Ojai. I most likely would've kept going after leaving Butch's place but when Su showed up and wanted to get back together, I began to feel more responsible and decided I should have some goal and a plan. A friend in British Columbia had recently invited me to come visit, so that was the plan, go to Canada, visit Don and who knows what then.
For while it was fun. I'd accepted the offer of some money from my aunt and bought a 1956 Ford pick-up truck that was on sale cheap at a gas-station in Ojai. I found a 'covered-wagon' style canopy for the back, complete with a canvas cover. I'd never seen anything like it before on a truck. It'd been custom-made but fit my truck perfectly. Cosmic! It'd been sitting out in someone's front yard with a 'for sale' sign just waiting for me to come along. Now I felt like a true pioneer, on my way North to Canada with a 'wife', a new start, forgiveness.
I built a couple of boxes that went the length of both sides of the pick-up bed, leaving a space between them. These were storage for our things. On top of them I placed a sheet of plywood and a foam mattress. This was going to be our home on our journey North. We stocked up on food and camping supplies and headed out early, taking the coast-road for a while.
Except for the radiator giving out near King City, we had a smooth ride. Even the radiator thing was easy to deal with. 'It just so happened' that we broke down about half a mile from a radiator repair shop. It didn't take me long to find it. They fixed it and we were back on our way. The heat of the day didn't bother me, it was all part of the adventure. I thought that breaking down so near a repair shop was another cosmic event but Su was getting agitated.
We camped out as planned, sleeping in the truck. Su mellowed out and began to enjoy herself. The rest of the journey was easy. Oddly enough, as we approached the Canadian border, I began to feel very uneasy, the sky ahead was black with storm clouds as if to externalize how I felt, a foreboding. It wasn't the best of signs, I wondered if I'd made the right decision in coming here.
Don was expecting us as I'd called ahead. He lived in a communal house in Burnaby, which is right next to Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It wasn't far from the university where he was studying. It was a nice place, a two-story Victorian style house with a big back-yard and a huge cherry tree right in the middle of the lawn. Across the driveway from the kitchen window, there was a small, windowless wooden dome that looked a bit Hobbitish. In it lived one of the household, a hermit-like character by the name of Joseph. He had a beard and long hair, was soft-spoken and tended to keep himself to himself. He reminded me of a monk.
Don was also into the George Harrison All Things Must Pass album cover look, like my mysterious mountain guide in Colorado. Long, dark, straight hair and long beard. He was a wiry, super-smart guy, a Beatles freak who analyzed every lyric for secret messages. It seems he found quite a few. His room was too small to accommodate us, so we stayed sleeping in the truck out in the driveway. It was on a bit of a slope but it wasn't too bad. We were running out of money so I began looking for work. The idea came to post a notice up at the university that I had a pick-up truck and would do local hauling. It turned out to be a good idea and began bringing in some income almost right away. The only big hassle about it was that I had to pull out my bed and the big boxes from the pick-up bed every time I had a call. These were full of things, food, clothing, cooking utensils. So that meant emptying them to a great extent. I also had to take off the canopy for some jobs.
Every day many Americans came up here seeking safety because of the war, mostly those escaping the draft. Kindly, magnanimous Grandmother Canada took them all in.
One day a different kind of refugee appeared on the doorstep. Joy and her little girl of about five years. They had driven up directly from Southern California in a white VW bug. She said was on the run from an abusive husband and needed a place to stay. She seemed to know someone who lived at the house. It was a big surprise when she and Joseph, our resident hermit, hooked up. She moved into the dome with him almost right away. What was an additional surprise was how sexually active Joseph became. I don't think he knew how thin the walls of his room were. Joy was a pretty, petite, California beach-girl with platinum blonde, shoulder length hair. She was friendly and frail, though she had a tough veneer. Her little girl looked a lot like her, I don't remember her name.
A few days after we arrived Su left me again. This time time it was for a college professor with a house in the hills. She moved in right away. I was devastated. All my plans were shot. I'd invested all my emotional energy into getting back with her and it was for nothing! I didn't know what to do or where to go. I thought about going back to England but that idea wasn't too appealing. A friend of Don's was visiting at this time, Neil was his name. He lived out of the city in a little shack by some railroad tracks that were still in use. He invited me to come and visit for a few days, thinking it might help. I was encouraged to go and so I went.
What was supposed to be a healing visit to the countryside turned out to be a bummer. There was a cleared-out chicken house next to the sack, I slept there. It was sparse and smelled of chickens. There was no road to the place, not even much of a trail. The place would shake every time a train went by. Maybe a place like this is where the phrase 'shake, rattle and roll' came from. The shack would shake and rattle as the train rolled by. It reminded me of where Johnny B. Good played his guitar.
To get drinking water, I had to climb down a steep gully to a little creek. It was there that I hit my lowest. It was no coincidence that it was a low place in the earth. A little bird, a Robin, came and sat across from me where I sat by the creek and began singing a beautiful, sweet and simple song, as if to me. This raised my spirits. I'll never forget that little angel.
Soon after I returned to the city to find that Don had moved to a bigger place and there was a room waiting there for me if I wanted it. I accepted it gladly and began a new chapter in my life-adventure.
An eBook of the first part of this account - A TASTE OF FREEDOM -
is at - http://amazon.com/dp/B00GTE110E
