How I Got To Woodstock Music Festival

Well I had some good friends who said they were going to Woodstock but I never was able to hook up with them and get a ride. So somehow I convinced my parents that I could get there on my own (actually I’m not sure what excuse I used because that doesn’t sound like something my parents would fall for). I told them I’d just hook up with my friends when I got there. I figured they’d be easy to find. Sure Rick.

Plus I didn’t have any tickets. It was a last minute decision so I figured I’d just get them when I got there… or something. Typical teenage thinking.

Anyway, I stuck out my thumb and hitchhiked from just south of Boston (Avon), across the Mass Pike, and then headed south when I got to Interstate 87 (I think). Actually I don’t remember how I got there. I didn’t really have directions and someone else was driving anyways. And honestly I don’t remember much about the ride there. Hmm… not sure why.

Of course hitchhiking was common back then. Everyone did it and if you wanted to go long distances it was a great way to travel. I hitchhiked back from California and back and forth to Florida several times around that time. Mostly by myself by the way. Seems funny to think about that now. We just put a lot of faith in our fellow man back then. Or we were just naive. But we didn’t care and Woodstock proved our faith was right.

Too bad our kids will never be able to experience that freedom and adventure that hitchiking offered. I sure get to meet some cool people when I was hitchhiking.

Anyway, after many hours and lots of walking, I finally got there on Friday evening (did I say after a lot of walking). I was all by myself and soon realized after seeing the crowd that I was going to have a hard time finding my friends. So what I was going to make 450,000 new ones.

I guess the first think I noticed was that all the fences were down and no one was taking tickets so it was going to be a free concert. Now that was cool! Great way to start my weekend.

So I trugged in the rest of the way to the check things out.

I got there just in time to catch a little of Arlo Guthrie’s show. The energy was high and so was most of the crowd.

But I was getting tired after a long day of hitchhiking so I settled into my sleeping bag and took a little rest as Joan Baez was doing her set at around 1:30 in the morning. Nice music to chill out and relax on… and fall asleep.

Next… I’ll tell you what happened on Day 2 of Woodstock.