Hitchhiking Adventures – Part 6

“O.k., I’m now going in the wrong direction, but a hotel for free sounds good.” While driving he asked me where I had been before during my journey. I told him about New York, Montreal, the Mohawk people I stayed with, and Woodstock.

He interrupted me: “You’ve been to Woodstock? I’ve been to Wooooodstock. I went to the Woodstock Festival in 1969. When I went there, I was 16, when I came home from the festival, I was already 18, and in between I completely forgot to call my parents. You know Woodstock changed my life and the life of so many other people. When the festival ended, some people said: ‘We need to support the movement of the black people in the South’, and thousands of us somehow travelled south to protest against racism. In the South somebody said after some time: ‘We need to support the gay movement in California’. And many of us went to California.” He explained: “We worked on farms along the way and spent time in alternative communities. Our goal was to protest, to make love, to try out drugs, to discuss how to make the world a better place.”

I thought to myself... “And now you’re rich, you spent your money on an expensive car, you lost all your beliefs. You’re now a manager of a hotel.” I, a 24-year-old hippie and eco-activist, felt superior.

We arrived at his hotel. It was already late, but some employees were still there. The hotel restaurant and bar were already closed, though. The first thing I recognized was how nice my driver was to his employees and how friendly their attitude was towards him. He said good night to his employees. Now it was just him and me. He opened the bar and offered me a beer. He asked me if I was hungry and disappeared. A little while later, he came out of the kitchen with a little dinner he made for me. We sat in the bar, I ate, and we had a few beers together. He started talking about his life. He told me that he was working for a big hotel company and that, every one or two years or sometimes just after a few months, he would change location or even country. His job was to help open up new hotels. He told me that in each new place he would offer courses to adults in order to teach them how to read and write. He explained to me how much it changed the life of people when they learned to read and write. He then also told me he was an active member of an organization that fulfilled the wishes of very sick children. Flying in a helicopter, swimming with dolphins, meeting Michael Jackson, things like that. He organized all that. When it was time to go to bed, he asked me for my dirty clothes. He showed me my room and then left to wash my clothes. After knowing his story, after seeing how respectful he was when speaking with his team and how he treated me, I felt ashamed. When we were in the car, I looked down on him, thinking I was a rebel. That was really a life lesson for me.

Don’t judge too quickly… Don’t judge at all.

The next morning, I was dressed in my old clothes, and my hair was a bit long, but I had breakfast with the hotel manager in the hotel restaurant. And we had a wonderful conversation. He told me about the novel he was writing. During breakfast, he told me I could stay in the hotel as long as I wanted. The room, the food, the drinks, everything was for free for as long as I wanted. I really liked my hotel room, the food and the drinks and, most of all, my host. But the hotel was located next to the highway and there wasn’t much to do around, save for a golf course. It was a really boring place and the hotel manager had to work, as far as I knew. What would I do all day? And I was so curious about what would happen next. I decided to leave.