| Subject: Watkins Glen |
Author:
Michael (Elated)
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Date Posted: 20:28:57 01/30/08 Wed
I remember Watkins Glen. I was hitching back to Indiana after visiting a friend in Pennsylvania when someone stopped and asked if I was going to the outdoor rock concert in New York. I immediately changed my sign from "Indiana" to "Watkins Glen". After several rides (It was safer to hitchhike then.), I arrived outside a small town near the race track and walked the rest of the way in. The local police stopped me once and checked my ID. After finding out I was a veteran, they let me go on my way. I had no concert tickets and only $10, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and some carrots on me; so I thought I might jump a fence along the road where the cars were lined up to get in. A young farmer on a motorcycle with a gun strapped to his belt rode up on the other side of the fence. He said that someone had stolen a couple of his pigs the night before, and that he was not letting anyone on his land. As I was walking backwards, some kids yelled at me to get in their car. With me in the car, they were one ticket shy of getting past the gate to the campground. But, when we got there, the driver just waved the tickets at the guard person, and we were in. We all parted company sometime afterwards. I wanted to create my own experience there. I thanked them and remember sleeping under an RV from Illinois that night. The next day, I walked around the campground, and had some more adventures. Later, I was in awe as I saw the mass of people walking down to the entrance to the concert area. It was a never-ending, solid wave of people, six or seven across, walking down the road to the gate. I sold a wooden flute I had brought with me for a ticket to get inside the chain-link fence. The Allman Brothers were playing "Lord, I was born a ramblin' man". After that, I was pretty much in Heaven. I had never seen so many people in one place. I walked into the 'sea of people' as far as I could and sat down. While I was there, I met a girl, some guy tried to steal my sleeping bag (He thought it was his 'mother'.), and a helicopter sat down a pallet of bottled water right near us. Everyone grabbed about a third of the gallon jugs before some people got there and started charging for the water. It rained like hell for awhile, but someone had brought a huge plastic tarp; and my new girlfriend and I were under one edge of it. That night, I was able to move closer to the stage. Do you remember the big lights? At first white, and then the rainbow? Awesome. The next morning (or afternoon), I woke up in my sleeping bag, surrounded by trash and garbage, and headed home.
Michael
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