Truckin'

Some people spend their college spring breaks in Florida or Texas or Mexico. My freshman year in college, I spent the time being a Dead Head, and traveling around the East Coast with some friends following the Dead. We started out from New Hampshire, with friends from other New England colleges-there were a few from both Bennington and Middlebury in Vermont, a few from Bowdoin in Maine and of course, our contingent from New Hampshire. I drove down with a group of 4 girls in a friend’s mother’s Volvo station wagon, and we headed south to Atlanta for the first of 4 shows in Georgia and North Carolina. One thing about Dead shows-you could see them on back to back nights and never see the same show twice.

We were the fortunate ones-between all of us, we had a network of friends and family all over the east coast and we could couch surf and not have to camp out or anything. A unique feature of the Dead fan base was the community (traveling circus?) that followed the Dead from show to show. They had folks selling food from the trunk of their cars and back of vans. Some were energy healers, others sold handmade goods and clothing. There were entire families, sometimes multigenerational, that spent their lives on the road with the band. I remember at one Dead show at the Meadowlands, there were folks teaching yoga and aromatherapy, selling falafel, jewelery, woven pieces and doing laundry in a wading pool in the same row in the parking lot.

It was around this time that Touch of Grey had come out, and the Grateful Dead was morphing from being a subculture to mainstream. As a result, there were quite a few Southern frat boys and their dates in this sea of tie dyes and patchouli oiled folks. One thing that made the Dead unique back in the day was the fact that they encouraged their fans to tape their shows, and to trade the tapes all around. There are shows that were more rare than others, and of course a bootleg from one of those shows is a prized possession.

We made it to Atlanta for the show at the Omni, and actually had a day or so to go sightseeing and visit. There is an incredible amount of history in Atlanta, and we were able to spend some time exploring it. We visited the Botanical Gardens. The Fuqua Conservatory was brand new. It was interesting to see the winter gardens and especially the hydrangeas (my favorite flower overall). Me being a Gone with the Wind buff had to go see the Margaret Mitchell house. It was the home she wrote her masterpiece in back in the 1920’s. In the late 80’s, it was in the early stages of restoration and was not open to the public to admire as it is today. We also had a chance to picnic in Piedmont Park, but this was prior to the restoration. Another park we visited was Grant Park. We may have been a bunch of hippies, but we were also interested in culture and nature.

The set lists between the two Atlanta shows were incredibly different. The first night it seemed as if the band was catering to their new found fame and fans. The music was less jam band-y, and more oriented to the casual fan. The next night was more for the Dead Head. They did some of my favorite Dead songs including Wharf Rat and Box of Rain. The vibe was different the second night, and it was more a communal experience.

We had stayed with a friend’s sister and her family in Atlanta and after brunch, we took off for Greensboro, NC for our next stop on our tour. It was about a 6 or so hour ride from Atlanta to there. We had friends that were attending Greensboro College, so we were going to crash with them, and all go to the concert together.

During our time in Greensboro, my friends and I visited the Bicentenniel Park, Blandwood Manor and the Courthouse National Military Park. What is significant about the Battle of Greensboro is the losses sustained by the British troops at this battle were directly responsible for the surrender at the Battle of Yorktown months later. We also went hiking in a nature preserve near town, and ate in a really good somewhat vegetarian restaurant.

The shows in Greensboro were more like the stereotypical Dead shows. The first night was almost a greatest hits retrospective, including Bertha, Sugar Magnolia and an amazing cover of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Night number 2 featured Terrapin Station, Me and My Uncle, Trucki’ and a new song Hell in a Bucket. They also did another blistering cover of All Along the Watchtower and Good Lovin’ which actually are my preferred versions of the songs.

We left after the show on Saturday morning and drove northward, taking 81 up through Virginia then East to I-95. From there it was a straight shot up to I-91 to Vermont. Driving through western Massachusetts anytime of year is lovely, and early spring it is particulary charming. The trees are budding, it looks lush, green and new throughout the Connecticut River Valley.

Robert Frost, who once taught at my college, must have envisioned that region when he wrote a Prayer in Spring:



Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.



Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.



And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still.



For this is love and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.