A Strange Trip

One day, a girl showed up in the house and stayed in the room at the top of the stairs. I don't really know how she came to be there, or remember how long she stayed. I don't know her real name, but she styled herself as "Kit Karson" and I think she may have been an exotic dancer.

I don't really think we spent any time together, at least I don't recall. But I do remember that she had designs on going up to Reno and working as a showgirl.

One night I visited Sunset Strip, and around the corner from the Whiskey A Go Go, I found a person who was selling trips. Very powerful trips. I was told only to take one dot, but of course, I took two. I made my way back to the house on Palmero and found a comfortable chair in the little sitting room opposite the kitchen (at least that's where I think I was).

Kit (we shall call her that), came in and announced that she was going to leave that night for Reno and asked if I wanted to come along. Of course, I said yes. It would have been a 7 hour trip, but I think it lasted much longer.

The first stop we made was at her mother's house to pick up some personal items she needed. I stayed in the car, since that was about all I could do.

Then we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway. At Big Sur, we picked up a hitchhiker who was coming back from the Esalon Institute for human studies. He was headed up to San Francisco and I think he got the idea that we were a couple. For all I know, we were. I remember him offering lots of good advice on how we could shore up our relationship (none of which I remember today). I don't think he had much confidence that we would last.

Typical Haight Ashbury

We made our way up to the Haight Ashbury district. That was the first time I had ever been there. She went in to do some shopping and I sat on the curb, watching the pavement make gentle swirls and pondering the cosmos. I have imagined that if I looked through photos of the late 60's in the Haight, that I would see a guy, dressed in a blue embroidered shirt, sitting on a curb looking very intently at the ground..... for possibly hours.

I remember we were talking lots and lots during the trip. She thought I could get a job as a dealer and together we would make good money.

Towards nightfall, a little ways out of Reno, we stopped and got a hotel room. The next morning she went into town to meet up with some contacts she had. When she returned, she brought a guy back who worked at the casino and was going to help her get a job. I was apologetically invited to spend the night in the car, while they worked out the details.

Anyway, the next morning, when I awoke, I dropped by the room, and told her I would be heading back to Hollywood. And I headed out to the road, stuck my thumb out and never saw her again. I imagine she got the gig and who knows where Kit Karson is today?