Hey Mikey, You Awake?

1976.4.11

Today was our first day back in Denver after being on the road for a few days.

We went to Pueblo but ran out of gas on the way. I had to hitchhike into Colorado Springs, but HF was with us and I made the entire trip in 12 minutes. Pikes Peak was extremely brilliant, with fresh snow in the sun.

I got dropped off in Rocky Ford. It was the first time I had ever had a whole town to myself. I started out good, but sometime around 11 o'clock the police caught up with me. They said I needed a permit from the Chamber of Commerce, but that it would take a long time and would I just leave town and go to La Junta or someplace else? I insisted I was within my right to get a permit and within an hour I was out on the street again with a permit in my pocket.

Around 5 o'clock I solicited a ride for La Junta using the method the sisters had taught me when we ran out of gas, which involves jumping wildly up and down, frantically waving the hands. It really works.

Captain picked us up in La Junta. As a couple of sisters had fundraised La Junta that day and night, we drove to Trinidad. Basil and Kate got large donations. The next day Kate and I stayed in Trinidad while the others went to small towns in the mountains. We were to take a bus to Walsenberg that night and Captain would pick us up there.

When we started out in the morning, after we prayed, three big black shiny limousines pulled out of a side street and drove by us. The sight of those luxury cars -- especially three of them together -- seemed totally out of keeping with the modest surroundings. Kate found out later from some Children of God, who were also fundraising in town, that Trinidad was a Mafia town. Kate believes the man who made the large donation to her the night before was involved in the Mafia because of things he said.

I did pretty poorly until I started going house to house. In the evening, about 8:30, I rang the bell to this one house three times. The people looked out their window but wouldn't answer the door. I was getting angry and thinking of chastising them if they did come to the door. But they never did. Instead they called the police.

The officer stopped me at the next house. At first he just took my name and was going to let me go. Then another cop came and said I was breaking the law, soliciting after dark in a residential area. They took me down to the station, but they finally let me go, provided I didn't fundraise anymore and would leave town on the bus as I promised.

So I walked back to the Ramada Inn, wondering what I should do and wishing I could find Kate. It turned out she was in the lounge and had sold out her flowers to some guy from Utah with a chapter two problem. He gave us a ride to Walsenberg in his pickup truck, complete with CB radio, which we talked about most of the ride. In Walsenberg we met up with Susan, who had had the town to herself. Then Captain came and we made plans to go get product in Denver and then head for the hills.

But on the way back to Denver we had a bad accident on the highway just south of Pueblo. Mike, who was driving, fell asleep and slammed into the concrete divider. It nearly flipped the van over. It was really smashed up. I was sleeping all the way in the back underneath some shelves that held our product and had no idea what had happened. Incredibly, no one was hurt except Kate, who injured her back. They took her away in an ambulance.

The next day I rented a car and we fundraised Pueblo, then drove back to Denver this morning. Tomorrow I must try to lease a van until we can get ours repaired.