I've given a hit of acid to a lot of people in my life. In fact, up until I was about 35, I always carried some with me where ever I went. So when somebody asked me if I knew where they could get some, why I’d just hand them a tab or barrel or micro-dot or windowpane or whatever form it was in and say to them, "If you take it right now then it's free." I don't think anyone ever turned me down. A lot of them even came back for more. I gave it to anyone who asked whether they were first timers or long time users it didn't matter, if you asked you got it.
So this is my favorite turn on tale and it goes like this: Kelly and I had been traveling throughout India and Nepal. We had spent a month in Pokhara high in the Himalayas where every morning I went out to the mushroom fields and picked as many shrooms as I could find then I would bring them back to the hotel and dry all the ones we didn't eat. By the time we left Pokhara we had a big baggie full. From there we traveled by bus to Kathmandu then on to Varanasi where we switched to second class train for the journey to Calcutta, Madras, Mysore, Trivandrum and finally to the southern most point in India, Kanya Kumuri.
By the time we had gotten there we didn’t have many shrooms left, maybe a quarter ounce. We were standing on the beach watching the sun set when a hippie looking dude approaches us and says, "Beautiful, isn't it?"
We agree and start chatting with him. And what do you know? He's from San FranCheeseCo so we spend the evening together swapping stories about the City and it's people then we talk about where we each had been on this journey. When he found out that we'd been to Pokhara he asks if the stories are true about the mushrooms. I tell his not only are they true but that I have some dried one in my pack.
He says, "Far out man. Would you be interested in trading them for some acid?"
I say sure.
We go to Kelly’s and my room where I hand him the shrooms. He checks them out then gives me little piece of paper with four Mickey Mouse Sorcerer’s Apprentice printed on them. He tells me that each hit is a 4-way. I tell him to eat at least 12 shrooms to get off. I stash the LSD and we're both happy with the trade.
Five months later Kelly and I are living on a beach in a coconut wood bungalow on an island in the Philippines. There's only a few other honky’s around so most of the time we have the beach pretty much to ourselves, but then one days we're invaded by about 30 older teenagers both white and native. They're on vacation from their private school in Manila. They decided to get away for a week and come down to the island and hang on the beach, get tan in the day and drink San Mig at night. They have lots of energy and are a lot of fun so we fall in with them drinking and partying.
The night before they have to go back to Manila we're all sitting around a fire drinking and talking when one of the Filipino dudes says that he'd sure like to try some of that LSD that he's heard talk of. And I remember, there's one hit left in with my traveler’s checks. So I take him aside and say, "I have a hit that I'll give you but you have to take it right now."
He smiles saying "Okay."
I get him the hit and he drops. He hangs around the fire for a while then he disappears into the night but everyone is having such a good time that they don't miss him.
Next morning one of the girls who we've become friends with, comes over to out bungalow and asks if we've seen Julio. I tell her not since last night. She tells us that he's missing and she hopes he makes it back here by noon or else he'll miss the boat back.
About 11 a.m. here comes Julio walking up the beach. He comes over to me then says, "Man, that was the best thing that's ever happen to me in my whole life! Thank you so much. I would have never believed it could be like that. It was so wonderful. Thank you man, thank you."
I tell him he didn’t have to thank me, after all someone had turned me on. It was all just part of the tripp and that I was very happy for him that he had a good one.
He says, "I couldn't believe it could be like that." then shakes my hand and walks away. His friends asked him where he had been all night but he just brushed them off and went to pack his things. When it was time to go he told us good bye and that he would always remember us. And I'm sure that he still does because I can still remember my first acid tripp as if it just happened yesterday.