The week the universe came together part II

So...anyway, my three friends were in the woods cold, starving, no vehicle, no money. They lived like this for nearly a month. Often they walked or hitched into town where there was a "free box" where the ultra rich townsfolk and tourists would leave unwanted items like warm clothes, tents camping gear etc...

There were a lot of homeless hippies who didn't exactly live in Telluride. There was a love hate relationship going on between the wealthy townsfolk and the penniless, unwashed masses that wandered the town. Telluride needed these people as temporary workers, to scrub the toilets, serve the food and wash dishes.

They did not want these people living in town. There were strict habitation rules and normal rent for an 8x10 bedroom in one of the local houses was over $2000 per month. On the outskirts of town going toward Montrose were little villages of cars, vans and tents where these people lived, did their dope and slept. The police were pragmatic about the whole thing. As long as the hippies did their drugs inside their tents and didn't cause trouble, no one was hassled, searched or arrested. The town needed these people or there would be no summer tourism.

My emaciated friends were eating berries on the side of the highway when three girls drove up. The girls picked up these hapless guys, camped with them, fed them and fucked them for a week then left with a vague promise to return. Paul has severe attachment issues so he immediately fell in love with the girl that picked him up, the other two had been around more and were just enjoying the ride.

By the time I got there all Paul could talk about was his new soul mate and the wonderful life they would have together. We were sitting there discussing this on the courthouse steps, in the town square when the Mushroom festival began.

People began filtering into the town, mostly normal folks with an interest in mycology. there were scientists, retired people, college kids etc... I didn't want to pay the $250 admission so I just hung around and watched.

"Christie" the girl Paul was supposedly in love with walked into town with one of her friends. Paul jumped up to do the stereotypical long lost lovers reunion but she walked right by and barely acknowledged him. He started making excuses, and turning red in the face. He ran up to her and asked when she would be coming up to the camp and etc... It was sad to watch, but she basically said, "we might hang out sometime" but the rejection still didn't register. I tried to explain it to him but there is no talking to a lovestruck hormone factory.

Paul went off to his pizza job and I was left alone with the mushroom festival organizers. They were making a big pot of brown liquid in front of the courthouse and setting up registration. They asked if I wanted some. I accepted a Styrofoam cup. It tasted pretty good. I wandered into town to look around and soon realized that this was no ordinary shittake.

The world started to sway and turn rose colored. I became relaxed and didn't feel the cold anymore. I was having trouble walking straight so I sat down on a park bench and zoned out for a while. The sensation was euphoric but it only lasted about 45 minutes or so. I figured I needed to be more careful what I ate and drank around here, no harm done though.

At night my friends and I would sit around the campfire up in the mountains eat leftover pizza from their jobs and drink beer. For some reason at this altitude it only took me three beers to get totally wasted. The mountain air made sleeping easy and restful. Each morning I had to wake up early and take my friends to their jobs then spend the rest of the day entertaining myself.

One morning, I decided to walk up to the bear falls. It was about two miles up a trail that ran behind the town.

The scenery and waterfalls were breathtaking. I hadn't been around this kind of environment before. I was by myself up in the forest, chilling out and meditating when I spotted a large black bear approaching. I calmly began walking back down the trail. There was mountain to one side of me and a steep drop off on the other. I kept walking, pretending I didn't notice the bear that was following me. I could tell it was closing in from behind so I began to jog. A couple of people were jogging up the trail as I was coming back down. When they saw the bear chasing Jesus they didn't say a word but turned around and began running too.

The bear must have been after food or territory because once I got to the edge of town the bear gave up and trotted back up the trail. I ran the two miles in about 12 minutes but it seemed like an eternity with a 400Lb bear breathing down my neck. I really didn't feel that afraid. It was like I was just avoiding the unpleasant aggravation of being eaten alive.

The mushroom festival people often talked to us, we knew some mycology ourselves, had picked and eaten edible mushrooms for quite some time. They were dissapointed that the Amanita's that they normally find were not around this particular year. We asked where they normally found them and they told us the mountains of Northern New Mexico normally had the most. Chip and Chance were off work for a few days so we grabbed our mushroom book and headed for New Mexico. We arrived at about 5 AM, pulled off the side of the road and started exploring. We wandered around for several hours in the woods, drove on to several spots and found the motherlode. At the time all of these mushrooms were legal and could be mail-ordered from herbalist catalogs, so we weren't worried about any issues relating to that.

I had to be careful not to get the death caps. the only way to tell was to look for the white chunks on top of the cap. That meant it was safe to eat.

These mushrooms were supposed to cause drunkenness and stupor. I wasn't really interested but I figured everyone at the festival would like them.

We headed back to Telluride with several baskets full of amanitas. We picked up some hitchhikers along the way as was the custom around those parts. They ate some of our mushrooms and were wildly intoxicated once we pulled into town.

We didn't eat any, we were too tired and didn't want to experiment with these unknown substances in the middle of town.

It sounds crazy but we drove around Telluride handing out mushrooms to people on the street. This made for some happy hippies. We gave a bunch to the festival organizers that had lamented their shortage.

The Festival organizers invited us to the closing day celebration. I chose not to go because I didn't want to become inebriated in public again. It was funny to watch though. About three hundred people were given a baggie of mushrooms as a parting gift. There were people of all ages and walks of life marching down the street, tripping their balls off. I have never seen anything that surreal before or since.

Stay tuned for part III