The cop approached and told the driver he was speeding and that he was going to get a ticket. I felt a hauntingly familiar wave rush over me when I heard those words as it took me straight back to the day I was originally busted and a panic was slowly rising. I had to keep it cool, I focused on the trees outside and tried to zone out what was going on, after all, it was only a speeding ticket and soon we would be on our way. That illusion was shattered when two more cop cars came rolling up as the first cop came back to our car. He told the driver that there was a warrant for his arrest and that he would have to come with him. He put him in handcuffs and put him in the back of his car. During this time, one of the other troopers had gotten out of his car and was standing outside my door (I was in the passenger seat and the other dude was in the back), this was feeling very wrong indeed. The first cop came back to the drivers window and leaned in and asked for both of our I.D.’s. the guy in the back had a D.L. and I told him that I did not have mine with me, he then asked my name and birthdate. For some reason, at that moment all I could think of was the Grateful Dead and I told him that my name was Robert Hunter and that I was born on August 1st (Jerry’s birthday).
Time seemed frozen as we waited for the cop to return and when he finally exited his car, I was absolutely numb, would this be the end of my journey? He came up to the window and said that we both were clean and that I could not drive but the guy in the back could and that we could come bail the driver out at the local cop shop. I let out a huge sigh of relief as the cop headed back to his car, the dude in the back and I then headed off to the party. There were a bunch of people who offered to help get the driver out and I politely excused myself from the mission saying that I was through dealing with bureaucrats for the day. A couple of hours later, they were back with the driver and he was ready to party hard! The rest of the day was great and the fireworks mixed with some magic mushrooms made it one of the best Independence day’s ever.
The run in with the cops was the final nail in any plans to stay in the mountains, not much work, too small of a community and there were people starting to ask about my situation. The mountains were full of ganja smoking expats from other states so I was not too immediately worried about someone turning me in but if I were to piss of the wrong person, then there might be trouble for me. My friend John was going back to Wisconsin to visit family and I decided I would go with him and maybe end my journey, but we would make it a fun final leg. We got a map of all the disc golf courses in the country and mapped out a route that would take us to as many as possible on the way back. There was also a big rock music festival going on in northern Wisconsin that a bunch of people we knew were attending, so we made that part of our plan as well. Our plan was set, now I had two weeks until we left and I was going to enjoy my time in the mountains as if it would be my last time ever.
My friend Dan knew a guy that had a computer ( back in those days, very few people had one ), he also had a printer and a scanner and was able to take existing I.D.’s and change the information on them. for some unknown reason I was lucky enough to had kept my I.D. so we went over to his place to see if he could help out. As I did not have much money, Dan was going to offer him free drinks at the bar he worked at and we hoped that would be enough. Ii was and he was happy to help, when he found out I was a fugitive for ganja, he was even more stoked to help out and we proceeded to make me a new I.D. He asked me what name I wanted and I figured that Robert Hunter had worked so well previously that I would use that. I also kept Jerry’s birthday. He did not have the ability to get into the database of the state and change it so it was only going to work for bars and such. He was also able to make a fake birth certificate in the same name, I felt a sense of relief knowing I had no documentation linking me to my former self.
I spent the last couple of weeks doing what I had originally intended, getting back into shape and enjoying the mountains. It was a great time and I will always remember it with much fondness. It was during this time that I contacted my parents to fill them in on what was up. My step father informed me that the cops had been harassing them and even pulled him over to intimidate him. I felt bad for them but I was not surprised that thugs would act like thugs, I got the number that the cop gave him and decided to give him a call. I waited until the day we left and was hoping that the call would be traced so he would know I was in Colorado and stop harassing my folks. It worked as for the first few minutes of the call he was completely engaging in conversation and then I heard a beep on the line, the next thing he says is “you’re gonna do what you want anyway” and a sarcastic “good luck” and then he hangs up. That worked so well that I thought maybe I should call my P.O. and give him a piece of my mind. It had been over two months since the raid but when he answered and I asked why he did it? He knew exactly who I was straight away. He told me that he had no choice but that my previous landlord had called the cops to file a complaint because I did not clean the apartment when I left and that it was standard procedure. I told him that the bitch ( My ex-landlord ) had kicked me out and I knew she would keep the security deposit so why should I have cleaned it? Obviously to avoid all this but it was too late for that now, he told me that turning myself in was my best option and asked me what kind of life do you think you can live out there as a fugitive? I told him I didn’t know but that it was better than life in a cage. With that I hung up and loaded the car, I found myself once again saying good-bye and thanks to my friend Dan and also Tony, we did not become great friends or anything but he was very cool in not making a big deal out of it and for that I was grateful.
We headed out north through the mountains, enjoying the breathtaking vistas that the Rockies had to offer. We spent the first night in Cheyenne Wyoming at a cheap little motel, it had been a long day for John as he did all the driving and would for the entire trip, I knew the day I took off that if I wanted to stay off the radar, then my driving days were over and John was in complete agreement as he did not want any trouble either. The next morning we kept going north towards South Dakota, we had one course in Wyoming, two in South Dakota, another two in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin the day the festival began. We played the first course and spent the night at a rest stop in southwestern South Dakota. After playing the first course in South Dakota, we decided that since we were so close that we would go see the Crazy Horse monument. It was a massive structure and only just beginning to take shape, but even then it was quite spectacular to see. After enjoying that we figured we might as well check out Rushmore as well. we did not take the official tour as we felt that the one at Crazy Horse had been a bit pricey so we found a road just down from it and pulled off to enjoy a big fat doobie while staring at a marvel of engineering. I was awestruck by how detailed the faces were and just how incredible it was to have carved them out of a cliff face. The monuments were a nice bonus to an already amazing trip, we spent the night in another cheap motel. We played another course the next day and made our way into Minnesota, a beautiful state to drive through with mostly lakes, rivers and forests. The next two days we spent playing the two courses in Minnesota and even had time to catch a Twins game at the metrodome. The next morning we crossed over into Wisconsin and back to the danger zone, I was still not sure what my plan was but I knew that it would be far worse for them to catch me than if I were to turn myself in, so I was going to be on my best behavior from now on. We played our last course and headed over to Cadott, a small out-of-the-way town that was only on the map because of the two festivals it held each year, Countryfest and Rockfest. We pulled in, got our tickets and camping permit and were on our way to a week-end to never forget!
A Continuing Story About Life On The Run