We were two girls from a small town in California , my best friend Janet and I were both 20 had been to San Francisco at the Haight/ Ashbury in February of 69 to check it out , but our main reason for going to San Francisco was to visit one of our class mates who was almost killed in the Viet Nam, he had finally been transferred to the Presidio Hospital. At that time we had never been far from home . Now hearing about Woodstock we decided we needed a new big adventure.. Wow what an adventure it was. We giggles and discussed going to Woodstock, at first it was just a pipe dream but I said, Let's go!! OMG. We started figuring out how we could do it..Janet worked for oil company and made good money! She pretty much financed the trip.. Thanks Jan! We started out on the 9 th of August(40 years ago today), we knew we could stay in Arkansas with relatives .(when we pulled in there in the middle of the night , they woke to us sleeping in the beetle, they thought us crazy of course all except my one old darling Aunt Sybil.. I think she would have come with us if she could. She was excited with us. )I had a VW beetle, Janet had one of those Opal Cadets! we decided on the VW and we both saved money for gas. The fact that the VW would break a clutch cable or blow an engine on a regular basis did not deter us. We set off against the strong opposition of our mothers and Janet's dad was just livid! . Giggling and singing off we went. I had and still have long straight blond hair and Janet had long curly brown hair, We took a bag full of jerky and dried fruit and nuts at the insistence of mother. It was a life saver! We hit the road.. we slept in the beetle and laughed about how uncomfortable we were.. I don't remember where it was but we were wanting a bath so we parked and went to this hotel , we went down into a door that held the air conditioner and put on your bikinis and went to the pool like we were guests.. Refreshed we started off again. We talked to some guys and a gal That were on their way at a gas station,,Jim ,Kathy and Roger were their names,, I don't know why I remembered that.. gas was 25 cents a gallon and under .They gave us a joint as we did not have drugs and did not use them often either and so gave them some homemade jerky . The VW gave out just as I figured it would ,,so we pulled it off the road as far as we could and started hitching, Jan was a bit freaked but that was just Jan. I figured I would never see it again. Getting a ride right away from this Mexican family .. Oh that was so funny.. they had kids and Chihuahua's all over the car and we would hardly fit in.. they did not speak English so we all just smiled and laughed . We were stoned and so it was extra funny.. They took us as far as they could and we started hitching again.. Got another ride from a group of kids in a VW van..I remember they were from San Fran and the roof of the van was upholstered in a wild floral fabric. You know I only remember one of the guys names as it was Guy and he as gorgeous, green eyes, with long hair that fell in ringlets and curly eyelashes ! We hit the traffic.. omg.. could not go any further so we all walked and eventually parted.. Jan and I walked for hours . I had never in my life seen so many people. It was exciting and frightening at the same time. There was talking and commotions everywhere..dancing,drugs,laughing and singing..Us two small town girls must have had that deer in the headlights look in our glazed eyes. I remember looking at Janet and she was just looking around sort of in shock..LOL. It made us start to laugh uncontrollably.. It broke the spell and we were fine from there on in.... We still had some of food and thank Mother for that...I wore a skirt I have made from a piece of gauze I had tie dyed.. and had an off the shoulder top on..Jan had jeans and bell bottom pants with a tie shirt and vest. We hit the water to freshen up clothes and all..
We wondered around until we were so tired we found a piece of ground to sit down on .. . People were everywhere.. My eyes were actually tired from looking at so much and so many things.. tee hee.. When the music finally started it was like we were in a dream.. Here are all these people here to gather..to see and hear music.. and what music it was! The rain.. Oh that was God's joke to see how well his children could endure a bucket of water dumped on them.. to tell you the truth the rain sucked! Thanks a lot God! We did not worry about getting home..we did not worry about anything.. . Janet and I are still close friend and when we talk.. we still sing .. With a Little Help from My Friends.. and If You're Going to San Francisco...It was an adventure of a life time for two small town girls. We have relived it and shared the experience over and over.. Don't even ask how we got home..but thank you and God Bless you Daddy for coming to our rescue.. and having a AAA card! Janet just survived breast cancer .. and to think back and look back on all the wonderful memories.,thank you Janet for all the years of fun and laughter. Woodstock being was such a gift to us all. Thank you Michael Lang!!