Summer of 1998

       I remember waking up and the phones were out of service, my car was not in my driveway, and my parents were on to me and my drugs.... they had taken the only thing I had and paid for myself.  That was how my little crazy 16 yr old brain justified stealing $1300 from my parents to flee the state. Somehow I called one of my friends to come get me... I cant remember exactly what was up w the phones being down that day except that it added to how strange this day un-flolded, un-planned.... by that night  another one of my friends and I were on an Am-track train west bound thru the southwest to Santa Barbara, and then north to Seattle.... and ultimately we tried crossing the border three times unsuccessfully to reach Vancouver, where I figured was a pot heads paradise.... North America's own little Amsterdam.