[lumberjim]

Our time in Oakland went by pretty quickly. There were a couple of incidents that stick out, but mostly it was like the last few days of Summer Vacation….fleeting. One night, we were sitting around our blanket behind our car with some friends that were not able to get into the show either. A guy came by and sat at the edge of our blanket, mumbling to himself, and gesticulating. I figured he was drunk, and confused. He would slip in and out of focus, it seemed. He would talk semi coherently for a bit, and then revert to mumbling and half drooling. Just as we got used to him, and Shelby began to lay on her side, resting her head on a backpack, the guy flips out, and grabs her hair. Like it was a pile of snakes, and started screaming really loud and panicking. We all grabbed him and pulled his hands away, and shoved him out of our area. So he began to kick the car next to us and scream some more. We had to chase him down the lane in the parking lot a ways until he recognized his group of friends. Among them was Happy, the bum, and Riley, the dog that had been bit by the snake. Poor Riley.

These were the last planned shows of the tour season. There was talk of a thank you concert for Bill Graham in a few days in San Fran, but there was also talk of a Rainbow gathering in New Mexico. We didn’t want to stay in Oakland any longer than we needed to, and since we didn’t know anyone local, we decide to head to NM. Tony and Rachael again took their leave. Rachael was getting close, and they planned to winter in Tahoe. We didn’t see Gina or Terry again, but we did happen upon Troll, who was also going to the New Mexico Gathering. We traveled separately, agreeing to meet at the gathering.

The gathering was to be held at the Red Rock Canyon on the Gila River, about an hour northwest of Silver City, NM. We went back the way we had come to the bay area, down the 5. Again, we took the 10 through the desert, but this time it was at night. We pulled into Joshua Tree National Monument in the middle of the night, expecting a rest area with bathrooms to use and snack machines, but it was just a little pull off on a small dirt road that had a plaque on a post. I saw all of the stars that night. All of them. Never have I seen even half that many, anywhere else. It’s so goddamn dark out in that desert, and there was no moon, and it was crystal clear. Wow. They were so close.