On the Road Again
back to
the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame
and Museum
on the Prankster Bus
Kesey directed
the Bus to the Canadian National Exhibition one last time to set up the
show for a few hours. At the end of the afternoon, Kesey and Mother Merry
discussed the merits and values of the visit and announced... TIME TO GO
BACK TO THE GOOD OL' USA.
Canada is a very civil and wonderful country, but we don't quite
have the same rights up there as we do under the Bill of Rights and the
Constitution. At least we are better connected with lawyers in the lower
forty-eight! The Pranksters packed up the Bus and accompanying vechicles
and headed out into the Toronto rush hour toward the border. Oh no Uncle
Bill... another intrepid border crossing.
Kesey instructed George to pull off at
an exit where we stopped at a restaurant to sit out the heavy Toronto metropolitan
traffic and fuel up for the border. The joint where we ate was a steak and
seafood place appropriately decorated with old farm equipment built into
the walls similiar to the way popular chain restaurants insert 59 Cadillacs
with the large fins sticking out.
The old hay bailing machines, tractors and wheat cutters fit the
mold of our search for the perpetual corn field. Babbs ordered up several
bottles of red and white wine which he promptly relabled with the various
GrandFurthur Tour motif. Shown at the left here is the Intrepid Traveler
himself and his own label showing Uncle Sam with the words, CAN YOU PASS
THE ACID TEST? Our waitress was incredulous at our imbibability and voraciousness!
We could drink red wine till our teeth were purple!
Well fed and our thirsts quenched... we
boarded the Bus and headed for the border about fifty miles away. Just short
of the bridge crossing the Niagra River where customs is located, George
parked adjacent to a duty free shop for a much needed pit stop. Everyone
went inside to use the bathrooms and of course Hagen siezed the opportunity
to purchase some spirits for the ride back to Cleveland. 
Everyone had boarded the
Bus except Hagen and Maria who were apparently stuck in a line to purchase
the Tequila. We waited and waited and waited. Finally Kesey says... WE'VE
WAITED LONG ENOUGH... LET'S GO!!! George fired up the motor and away we
drove into the stop and go traffic up onto the long bridge. We all looked
back waiting for Hagen and Maria to come running up but there was no sign
of them, it was dark outside. As we inched across the mile and a half span,
we kept looking back but they weren't there. We reached the border where
Mother Merry Furthur showed our papers and we were granted re-entry into
the US, minus Hagen and Maria. We pulled off at the first exit in Buffalo
and parked. Mother Merry was driving the support van ahead of the Bus. When
she walked back, Kesey informed her we had a slight problem. In her own
intrepid manner, Mother Merry didn't bat an eye and drove back across the
border in search of the Lost Pranksters... or was that the Lost Bozos?
We waited
in the Bus in a narly Buffalo neighborhood with gangstas from the hood cruising
by and inspecting the artfully painted Bus and its inhabitants. The sentiment
onboard was akin to Hunter Thompson's rule... "when things get weird,
the weird turn pro" so we turned up the volume on the outside speakers
and began riffing and rapping that Pranksta rap! Just to be on the safe
side, we drove further up the street and parked where it appeared to be
a little safer. Mother Merry Furthur was reached by cellular phone who caught
up with us with the late border crossers who explained they had been on
foot across the bridge and made it within five hundred feet of the Bus but
the customs officials would not let them catch up because they had no papers
and why was he running with the gallon of Tequila?
We found a motel in the middle of nowhere and crashed for a well
needed sleep because tommorrow we will be on the road heading right into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for the Grand Finale of the GrandFurthur
Tour!!! The first Prankster order of business was to toilet paper the hall...
the second Prankster order of business was to earmark Eli's room for the
local authorities.
Back Jack to the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
