So it was during the UK ‘Where's Merlin?’ tour of 1999. 25 years ago already. Wow!
After our triumphant visit to Swansea, South Wales (you can watch it on YouTube), the bus was chained to the deck of a ferry boat for the trip across the water to Dublin, Ireland. Rough seas – people were hurling over the deck rails. I stayed in the bar down below.
The show was in a huge pub in the middle of Dublin, and a guy at the bar happened to own a liquor store next door. He said, ‘Wait here!' (Like, duh!). He brought us boxes of bottles and said, ‘Cheers!’ Fantastic. Prankster magic. That stash lasted us for days! (Ha ha)
I remember that the wall around the St James’ Gate Guinness Brewery went on for miles, literally. We never did find the end of it, and turned around.
Back in Manchester, England, we took a couple of days to spruce up (for which read: recover), before heading North for a huge banquet in our honor at a real-live castle, somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow (I think).
The road to the castle was about 10 miles covered in arbors. It looked like the Old South. The castle was surrounded by lawns, now all covered in parked cars. This was a major event.
There was a bench seat behind the driver's seat in the Bus, sideways against the wall, as opposed to the normal seats in a school bus. I referred the driver duties to George Walker, except for a few photo opps for the press. It was a Cassady thing. George was a master mechanic, and had rebuilt the engine and transmission in the old girl. He used to own an Indy car team, so I would say, ‘You drive’. Ya think?
So Kesey, who sat right behind George on the bench seat, pulled out an Altoids tin. You won't believe what happened next, but I don't want to run out of room and lose my story.
To be continued...!
John Allen Cassady
Coming soon: On the bus#6, An acid test, a touch of Mozart and a draft of Ray Charles