We had been tripping for a couple of hours and ever since side two of Revolver, the visuals had ceased and I could tell that the amazing body-buzz I had would soon fade away too. Why? Well, because there is a time line to such fun but also because we had run out of pot.
Anyone that has taken LSD knows how vital pot is to sustaining its effects.
We were camping on the Potowatamy Trail, heralded by mountain bikers worldwide as one of the most technical trails out there. We were off the trail a bit, at the lip of Crooked Lake and all night long I could summon the lakes waters to me and I could speak to the trees and have them speak back, it was an amazing trip.
But the trip was coming to an end and I felt as though I were drifting back towards normalcy. We sat around the fire pining for some marijuana -It really can revitalize a trip. We had planned for everything, but we didn't realize how much we would smoke....
Just as we were all saying how we would do anything for some pot we saw a light bouncing down the dark trail. It was well within the late hours, passed midnight. The light bounced closer and closer to our campfire. Eventually we realized it was a headlamp worn by a mountain biker. He rode right up to our campfire and said five magic words:
want to smoke a joint?
He joined us for maybe ten minutes and smoked a huge spliff with us all. He wished us well and then as soon as he arrived, he was gone.
That night and ever since we have always referred to him as The Midnight Rider and to this day I cannot hear that song and not think of that awesome moment when some random stranger gave me another hour of one of the best trips I've ever, or will ever have.
The first time I ever really heard Pepperby the Butthole Surfers was at the end of a roll while I was riding around in the car with my brother. I knew I'd heard the song before because it sounded a little familiar but I certainly hadn't heard it in a very long time. My brother and I were riding around waiting for the last of the drug to wear off and, of course, also smoking a bowl. I just remember hearing the song and jacking it up and listening so so so intently because this was way before iTunes and I wanted to remember the lyrics so that I could find out what the song was later, because it was so brilliant to me at the time. I still love this song, and whenever I listen to it, I think about that moment: we were cruising on back country roads in PA, very relaxed, just kind of talking about nothing and wondering if our dad would still be up when we were home. My brother knew this song and was rocking out to it too; he was surprised I didn't recognize it. So anyway, that was my introduction to that song. Another song that is very meaningful to me is The Band's The Weightwhich I'm given to understand is a pretty popular song to get attached to in college, but whatever. I was on the outskirts of a very cool, very close-knit group of (mostly) guys who had weekly poetry readings at their house for two years. It was great...although the weekly poetry readings slowly turned into ragers. Anyway, they'd all get drunk and there were several musicians in the group and at some point this song would get trotted out and everyone in the room would sing along. it became a song that encapsulated a lot of my experience with that group (that, and Semi-Charmed Kind of Life I can't listen to either without immediately hearkening back to those days and those people. I never was able to be as close with them as I wanted, for various reasons like they were cliquey and, well, social awkwardness on my part, but nonetheless that group and those nights were among the most important parts of my college experience and I'm so glad I was a part of that. Even if it was the outskirts.
God, Pepper is such a good song. It kind of hits me like Loser by Beck does. Both of those songs came on back to back on a road trip with my dad when we moved from New England. No weed which is too bad, but that long-ass ride in a big-ass moving truck and that musical choice...it was nice.
I wish I had a group of friends that held poetry readings every week. That's awesome. As for the song "The Weight", it was definitely a big part of my collegiate experience. The band The Band was a giant part of my college experience. We used to watch The Last Waltz a few times a week. -Not kidding. If you've not seen the Last Waltz and you are reading this. Stop what you are doing and fix this. Now.