11am...the Bus telephones Are We Really?, your intrepid reporter, to say they were running late due to a headwind and would not make the promised 1pm arrival at the Palace of Fine Arts, an artistic place created in celebration of San Francisco rebounding from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. They will stop in Marin County to pick up a few passengers. The Art Police spring into immediate action and created a ten foot tall Bus Stop sign with purple metallic streamers and red and green dayglo lettering to alert the waiting throngs and media that... they're not here yet... but they'll be here soon! At the Palace of Fine Arts, an enthusiastic entourage patiently awaited the arrival. 2pm... no bus in sight, they don't answer the cell phone. The Associated Press photographer heads over to the Golden Gate Bridge when told the Bus would be coming in from Marin County.
2:30pm... the
Art Police cell phone rings...they're in El Cerrito... El Cerrito? They
have bypassed Marin and will come in via the Bay Bridge. 3pm... are they
stuck in traffic? This is typical... it is called "Bus Time".
Meanwhile, the Associated Press photographer is still standing on the Golden
Gate Bridge apparently learning the meaning of the word - PRANK.
3:37pm - someone speaks up..."There is the Bus... at the end of the lagoon". Sure enough, in all its colorful glory, people on top... the riffs coming through the speakers, Kesey playing the CDs, the Bus slowly pulls up to the where the dayglo Bus Stop sign is and gracefully parks as the greeting committee wishes everyone onboard a hearty welcome. They're here!!!
In the background is the newest US National Park... the Presidio. Overlooking
the Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio was an Army base for 100 years. Obviously
it was very effective because not once in those hundred years did an enemy
of the US make it through the Golden Gate! The US did however steal the
Presidio from the Mexican government who in turn stole it from the Indians.
This day... it was an invasion of Prankster proportions. Several weddings
on the lawn were affected.
Juke,
your IntrepidTrips co-web conspirator, in cacaphonyish Santa Claus hat
on top of the Bus. The dome of the Palace of Fine Arts is in the background.
There were originally fifteen of these domes with accompanying monuments
and pavilions in 1915. Only this one remains. The Palace of Fine Arts is
now home to a theater and the Exploratorium which is a marvelous exhibit
of science founded by J. Robert Oppenheimer, co-creator of the atomic bomb!
He created the Exploratorium to teach children about science. It is a marvelous
place to meet with family and friends, to learn and enjoy, to experience,
to trip out!
Following the Bus are two support vans, one with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame contingent, the other with the Eugene based video crew. It's showtime folks... it's showtime.
The Pranksters
pour out of the Bus and greet everyone... Mountain
Girl, wearing a pink hat that reads THE NUT HOUSE, crosses the street and
joins a young mother on the lawn and starts blowing bubbles at her two
year old. Babbs donned a Captain's hat presented to him by a friend. Kesey,
dressed as Uncle Sam, disembarks the Bus... an omibus off the Bus!
Kesey and the Pranksters spend a half an hour saying hello and getting adjusted to the motionless in San Francisco's Marina district... then the bell rings and about twenty people board, half inside, half on the top... "WHO'S ON TOP?" Kesey queries through the headphones as the Bus heads toward the Virgin Records store for a media blitz. "WHO'S ON TOP?" Juke answers through the headphones... "I'm up here chief, everything is cool". Kesey always wants to know who is manning the deck on the roof of the Bus. The roof is a strategic place for conducting pranks and determining the maneuverability of the Bus. When the Bus is in cruising mode, Kesey depends on the guidance and assistance of a Prankster on the roof communicating through the headphones.
So far so what...
impeccably handled by George Walker, the Bus maneuvers
through the Marina, past Ghiradelli Square, the San Francisco Art Institute...
did I say Art? On board is a San Francico Art Institute alumna like her
father, Trixie Garcia. Mountain Girl is doting because after all these
years, Trixie has never ridden the Bus! Mother and daughter on the Bus
together... your intrepid reporter was moved.
The adage remains intact that Bus directions are indeterminate... after traversing
San Francisco's waterfront along the Embarcadero, a right turn was made
and a couple of lefts and another right and the Bus made its way to Market
Street and eventuallllllllllllllllly to the Virgin Record Store where Kesey,
Babbs and Mountain Girl happily signed books for a large crowd of seekers
for several hours. After the book signing, Kesey and Babbs discovered that
Prankster Hagen could be found at Jack's Bar across the street. Several
martinis were consumed in celebration of the San Francisco arrival.
We all boarded and headed back to the Palace of Fine Arts on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge heading to Marin County for the evening. Several passengers disembarked there and Kesey left us all with the following message before retiring to Rosana's famous Lasagna dinner.
The sign Kesey is holding is a parody that reads
HIGH PRIDE.
