I was recently told of a generational event called Woodstock.
Hearing about it gave me a chill.
Gypsy heritage, random, expressive, all-for-everything sense of adventure. Don’t tell The Man of conventionality and designer couture, but it was the exact link i had been looking for that would build the tie to the other place on Earth I was dying to commune with, The One and Only Great Street of Spiritual Awakening, San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury.
I mean really? Every time I so much as drive by that illustrious neighborhood I want to pitch my tent on their sidewalk in appreciation for all those who took to the road of change on our behalf. A road I now find out went right through a musical avalanche and used the entertainment advancements of the day to communicate and network with thousands of free spirited young souls who yearned to be their very own kind of ArtsyHipCool!
And what’s more? I also learn that it wasn’t just the experience of pre-prescription party favors that made such escapes so delightful. The souls most committed to the change and style of the Woodstock era got their traveling high more often than not with the help of their own decked out Hippie mobiles, the Party Utility Vehicle of these rocked out rollers, the psychedelic (VW) van!!
Perhaps a prehistoric version of the sportier utility buses we like now?
Flash forward to today and here I find myself sitting, outside of course, in a much more subdued place (an organized campground) at a time when an entirely different class of escape artists — the brothers and sisters of the LIPS, us Location Independent Persons — who are in effect creating our own version of Woodstock with the help of a digital universe of escapist routes. All made reachable today because of the natural high that comes from living entirely at the mercy and joy of our own hybrid road master, the truly (US)American mode of transportation to anywhere we please, the SUV. Power to the LIPs!!
On behalf of the Hippies of the past, i’m proud to offer a kiss from the LIPs of today. You chartered an irresistible course. High-speed, hybrid improvements on many fronts have made it possible for us to return to the wide open spaces that were once Woodstock. Today we can return there and help leave a legacy for others who don’t want to be tied down too long.
SUVpacking 