After my first set of shows (5/13,14,15/83) I was excited to learn that some pals of mine were heading south to see the boys on the beach at Ventura. They had extra tickets for both days and were driving down in a VW microbus.
On the way through Santa Barbara, the two brothers we were traveling with said they knew a guy who lived in Santa Barbara (who they had meet while in school in Europe), turned out to be the dude's birthday and after hooking up at the gas station he worked at, he invited us to his parents' place for some free food and drink (also he needed to pick up the keg for the party later)
What a place, high up above Santa Barbara with a great patio/pool area and parents who were cool with the Dead/Hippie-types their son had invited home.
Mom even made us take extra food as we looked starved.
After the feast we headed down to the gas station where a bunch of the dudes local pals were waiting for the keg,
many happy moments occured and were augmented by the sweet smells of the dead-show.
However, partying in a gas station with a bunch of under-age drinker in Santa Barbara in 1983 was not the brightest idea.
Of Course the Highway Patrol happened by and quickly put the cork back in the keg, but were unable to locate any other illegal items(stashed quickly in the camper pop top of the bus) and made us promise to cap the keg and go home.
One of the brothers and I spent the night in the dude's VW bus with the keg and the other two spent the night in the bus we were traveling in to the show.
The next morning we left the bus and keg at the station and proceeded down Hwy 101 to Ventura County Fairgrounds.
Very little shakedown street action at this time in the parking lot but we still hung around waiting for show time( I believe it was scheduled to start at 2pm) so we got in line about 1:50pm and of course this is the day the Dead actually started on time and as we approached the gate we were greeted by the opening strains of China Cat.
Hooked up with some cool heads down near the Phil side of the stage and danced the afternoon away.
Spent the night up in the hills at a campground and the next day went to celebrate Jerry's B-day(a day early) very cool experience for my fourth and fifth shows(second run).
On the way back to Santa Cruz, the bus broke down on the hill outside Santa Barbara, and having a class the next day I decided to bail on the boys and hitch my way back,
another great adventure (man if I had known about Black-Throated Wind that would have been my soundtrack),
after three rides I ended up stranded on 101 just north of Paso Robles and waited there for 6 hours(the sun rose and the fog dissappated (weridess thing was that the army was doing helicoter runs up the valley around there and the noise was freaking me out until the fog broke and I saw the 'coters in packs of ten doing runs up and down the valley)).
Finally a dude and his sister moving back to Santa Cruz from Florida stopped and drove me to my place (Dropped me at the front door).
A truly great adventure.
(And that was only the beginning)
The Sky Was Yellow And The Sun Was Blue
People Stopping Strangers Just To Shake Their Hand.