An excellent suggestion from Hal R., picking up on a thread in another topic: how did you get on the bus? What was that moment that left no room for doubt?
Probably no two stories are the same, but they're all probably pretty interesting, so tell all here!
Locations
... in the late spring of '77. It's my understanding there were some pretty good shows going down about then. I "was just nineteen, with ways like a baby chile'" - I started smoking and fell in lust with a chiquita loca whose entire family of brothers and sisters were into the Dead. The oldest brother was hard-core into Pig and he kinda scared me. He looked a lot like Pig - you know, that picture where he's got that one eyebrow raised - help! My girlfriend, la chiqita loca, loved Donna - especially the Keith & Donna record and she turned me on to the Fire Up! record, too - Jerry, "a foa - Afta midnight ..." And then it was Terrapin, Europe '72, Skull & Roses, and I was going, going, going - ON THE BUS!!!
I took an extended Dead hiatus from '82-ish until Jerry passed. I grabbed "Hundred Year Hall" in '95 and was immediately back on the bus. I have been very fortunate to have been able to associate with those connected closely to sources who could keep me in Dead discs. I can't believe it's been 30 years and I still have the passion for the music. I love most musics but the Dead have a way of pushing all the right buttons and I listen to the shows I have on their anniversary. Awe shucks, by the time I get Road Trips, Vol.1 the anniversay dates will have passed - let's see, I think there's an open date ...
"From day to day, just lettin' it ride,
You get so far away from how it feels inside,
You can't let go, 'cause you're afraid to fall,
But the day may come when you can't feel at all."