Dylan Road Trip

We had talked about the Bob Dylan show all summer, eagerly anticipating our journey to Seattle. It wasn't that we didn't already attend some shows all summer, but this was the big one. This was a legend that was in all of our top favorites that neither of us had been to see before. It was also the first show my friend and former host G. had been able to attend with us in the Karma van. I had spirited his wife away a couple of times to see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and Ringo Starr. We were all thrilled to have G. along and he had a fabulous time, as did we all.

The journey began when we all piled into the Karma van at 5 in the morning following our pre-trip `meeting`. Game plan set, off we roared like a house on fire, well, not quite but we putted through the quiet streets of Victoria in the ripening dawn, heading for the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles. We dropped the men off at the terminal to walk-on, given Karma only has 4 seat-belts and we didn`t want any snags or fines. We met up on the ferry and we dragged our still sleepy and slugging bodies to the lounge, overcome by occasional cat naps as we sailed across the strait to Washington. The men hopped in the van again with us and we wove through Port Angeles to our usual stop - Safeway for cheap gas and liquor, as well as some food for the weekend. We are always in awe of how cheap beer is - I bought an 18-pack of Coors Light for $13.49...

After putting the beers on ice, we hit the road again and headed for Renton, where Jimi Hendrix is buried, and his family erected a beautiful monument in his memory. This is where we met `Jolly Roger`who was a local who liked to hang out at the memorial. Interesting choice, considering it`s in the middle of a graveyard. The carving is gorgeous, and there are many lovely pieces. Many of them have lipstick kisses where adoring fans have left their mark. We left a note on some leftover art paper, not wanting to deface the monument. We also toasted Jimi with a drink, and as I read the lyrics inscribed, I could almost hear the guitar chords. Thanks Jimi, for the beautiful music you made in the years you walked the earth with us.

We headed into the city of Seattle next and found our hostel after a bit of searching. They don`t have a sign on the building, so we had to look for the address behind the overhung trees. I managed to find parking just around the corner where we could pay up until 6pm and leave the van overnight for free after that. We were short one hostel bed, so I offered to sleep in the van, which was fine with me as I know I can sleep in that bed. The streets were busy that night, but I was able to catch a few winks for sure before the mariachi band started up at the Mexican restaurant across the street, and the gas powered leaf blower buzzed around the dog park next to the restaurant at the bright hour of 8am on a Sunday morning. Then the crackheads started to surface, scuffling by barefoot and filthy, bumming for money, and twitching out of their skin and we hit the road after that.

The show was awesome. We were within a short walk to the festival and after tossing back a few beers at the hostel, we headed out and joined the masses that moved about the busy park. The space needle is right in the middle of the park, and loomed prominently over the festival, showing up in many photos. We hung out in the beer garden before the show began, which oddly enough was not within the main stage area. No drinking in there...WTF...the beer garden was interesting and the corner we chose to squat in for an hour or so came with a drunk passed out on the other side of the fence. Oddly enough I snapped a photo of him directly after snapping one earlier of the `no pass outs`sign in the main stage area. The police were eventually called and the police wagon came with one sorry looking cop who managed to get him roused, but let him stumble all over the place unassisted so the dude fell down a few times on the concrete, and at one point, stumbled over an 18 inch drop from the raised lawn to the sidewalk. Some time later, a white van showed up and two guys jumped out, gloved up and assisted the dude into the van. It wasn`t an ambulance, but appeared to be some kind of social agency. The guy looked pretty clean cut so likely spent too much time in the beer garden that day.

We headed into the masses about an hour before Bob hit the stage and caught some of Neko Case`s opening show. And then Bob was on…and it was magic. He was a little gravely at first but then slipped into his groove. It was a very bluesy show, and Bob changed it up a fair bit, enough that unless you could hear and understand the lyrics (which is not always easy with Bob) it took a bit to recognize the song. I’m sure he has to get tired of playing them the same way after all these years. The crowd was lively, and I saw some ignorant parents with small children in the mosh pit, far too close to the speakers that could so very easily puncture their tiny eardrums…I’m all for sharing Bob with the kiddies, but 20 feet from the stage in a crowded mosh area with drunk and stoned fans is not where I would carry my 7 month old baby…there was a guy right in front of me with his little one in the backpack carrier. She was asleep for a bit of Neko but once Bob Dylan came on, she was screaming. They eventually left the area, wisely. Dumb parents. There was tons of space farther back, and lots of empty seats in the bleachers, so I’m sure they were serving themselves and not the wee one by pushing their way to the front like they did.

We all had a magical time, and rode the show glow back to the Karma van where we had a few more drinks before turning into bed for the night. We had to rise early in order to make the ferry crossing in good time. I decided to head north on the I-5 to the Canadian border and grab the Tsawassen ferry instead of Port Angeles as on Sundays they only have a few crossings, and if we didn’t make the 12:45pm ferry, the next one was at 5:15pm. We had no hassle at the border, dropping the men at the park before the border again, and made it to the 1:00pm ferry with just minutes to spare. The men had a close call with three officers who walked over to them as they were squat on the grass for a brew while we inched toward the gates. They managed to hide their brews, and come up with a plausible explanation as to why they were walking across an obviously primarily vehicular crossing…that they were with friends who didn’t allow smoking in the van so thought they would walk across the border, giving them time to have a few smokes…it worked, we picked them up at the visitor’s plaza and we were off like a Jewish foreskin, bound for home.

Next concert – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Hollywood Bowl on October 1^st.