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Hitching to NY With Cyndi I t was the summer of '75 and Cyndi and I had been traveling across the country with Connie and Andy in their VW micro-bus. Cyndi was now visiting with her parents in Barrington, Illinois and I was visiting with my friends from Valparaiso, Bill and Maryann, who lived in Indiana. Connie and Andy had continued on to Connie's family in New York, out on Long Island. Cyndi and I were going to hitch the rest of the way to my parents' home on Long Island. We all planned to eventually meet back up on Long Island for a return trip to Eugene. I managed to get up to Barrington once during this time to meet Cyndi for a concert. We saw Corky Siegel in a small venue with one of Cyndi's old high school teachers and I think his wife. I can't recall how I got there but I remember the concert well. It was a one man show and Corky delighted the crowd singing and playing harmonica and piano. A few days later Cyndi and I met back up and Bi...

What Will I Be When I Grow Up? Me after shaving my beard I t was 1975. In 1975 Microsoft starts, or rather is trademarked, New York City is bankrupt, Spain's General Francisco Franco dies and a new late night comedy show “Saturday Night Live” debuts with a running gag about Franco's death. Gerald Ford is president, Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese, and Jimmy Hoffa disappears. It's the year of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham join Fleetwood Mac and The Captain and Tennille's “Love Will Keep Us Together” will be Billboard's number one song of the year. Me, I'm living in Eugene, Oregon with my girlfriend Cyndi while attending the University there. The kind of music I'm mostly listening to is Reggae, Blues, singer/songwriter and something called Progressive or Outlaw Country. I was in college with a plan to major in education and become a teacher. I liked working wi...

A Cross Country Trip, Long Hair and an Ashtray Not Welcome in Montana I n the summer of 1975 Cyndi and I decided to take a trip back east together. Our friends Connie and Andy were planning to go back east as well. Andy had a Volkswagen Micro Bus that we could all travel in. Cyndi planned to ride along until Chicago where she would then visit with her parents. I planned to ride into Indiana where I would visit with my friends Bill and Maryann. After that Cyndi and I would meet back up and hitch-hike to New York and visit my family. I don't remember if Cyndi's parents had met me at this juncture but I think they probably knew about me. Cyndi didn't think it was too good of an idea for me to show up with her. She felt the idea of us traveling together would not go over well especially since our plan included hitch-hiking to New York. In New York we were planning to meet back up with Connie and Andy for a return trip to Eugene. I n early June we packed ...