The DEA has dismissed the charges against me,
personally! Hemphry, unfortunately is still
facing the wrath of U.S. Customs, who are
reviewing the case and are trying to seize the
Canna-bus. Officials in Madawska have told me
several times that the things inside the van are
not being seized. We could have taken more stuff
when we left, but the fact is that we hitch-hiked
away, and it was raining when we last saw Hemphry.
The U.S. Customs people are trying to seize the bus on the following grounds:
- I did not declare the Hempseeds at the time of entry.
- The papers were undervalued on the invoice.
- The following items were found in the van and are in direct contravention to the law: 3.5g of Marijuana, a toke-stone, some pipe screens and a hash knife.
We have responded to these claims with the following arguments:
a) I did not declare the hempseeds because I did not perceive the need to. They were not a commercial good, I was planning on eating and sharing them only. It was to my understanding that sterilized roasted and salted hempseeds are not illegal in America. This is the case and is due to the appeal on the DEA hemp ban which has taken place in the Ninth circuit of appeals.
b) The papers were not undervalued on the invoice. Due to the fact that Natural Emphasis is the sole North American importer of Pure Hemp Cigarette Papers, we get a really good deal on the per pack price. Customs simply could not believe our rock bottom prices on papers!
c) The bag of 3.5g of Marijuana is actually
patchouli. It tested positive for THC, so they
think it's weed. I told them what it was, but
they still think it's weed. Somehow it tested
positive for THC. My only thought is that it may
have been put into a baggie that used to have
weed in it. If customs concludes it's marijuana,
my only hope is that they use a Pure Hemp Paper
when they roll it up to smoke their spoils. I
tell ya, that brown leafy substance with its
thick, pungent smoke gives quite a kick. 
The toke
stone is a toke stone. They got me on that, aside
from the fact that it wasn't mine. I'd seen it in
the van shortly before crossing, but it wasn't
mine, so I didn't pay it too much attention. I
thought it was a bead. The pipe screens were
donated to the Hemp Treasury eons ago, and I
never thought twice about them. The hash knife
befuddles me. I lost my pocket knife at the
Tweeter Center, and since then had been getting
by without a knife at all. My only guess is that
they found an X-acto knife that I keep in my
creativity crate. I've never used it to smoke hash.
Edmundston, N.B. was a neat place to spend some time nonetheless. The people, who live in the
capital of the Legendary region of Madawaska are
primarily Francophone, but also speak English.
"Frenglish", as one Edmundstonian jokingly put it.
We'd arrived in Edmundston August 2nd after being
turned back that day in St. Leonard. Edmundston
was rocking, during the culmination of La Foire
Broyenne, which is the big festival celebrating
Madawaskan Culture. 
Our first night in town, we
heard a French Metalica coverband, that did some
other covers like Floyd and even Tool. We just
kind of hung out by the van playing drums and
stuff. We had periodic visitors, and even made
cool friends who turned out to be really cool
later on. It was during this period that we
decided to return to the border the next day.
Long Story shortend,
we ended up walking back to Canada after our next
attempted border-crossing. We took up residence
in the tent-like bandshell in the middle of Town. The front was
closed off and there was a velcro-closing back to
the tent. It was dry and rather cozy, and we were
totally stoked to be there, especially since we
never got hassled once. Try that in free U.S.A.
The cops would be on to us in no time.
Kerrie was feeling antsy, so she split the next day, hitch-hiking off toward Montreal. Dominique and I stayed in town until Wednesday,
when we split around 4:20 or so. Edmundston had
been kind to us, feeding us, clothing us and
keeping our spirits lifted. Thanks to Luke, and
Francoise, and all the other local kids who were
around during our visit.
I read somewhere that one in six Madawaskans
are directly employed by the Logging industry.
There's a huge pulp mill in Edmundston. It goes
through loads and loads of pulp wood every single
day. The wood is pulped in Edmundston, then piped
to Madawaska, Maine 
where the pulp is made into paper. Seeing trees
hauled through downtown Edmundston to the mill is
a part of life for people here. So is the fact
that the Madawaska River is totally devastated by
dioxins and acids that are associated with the
wood pulping industry. People will tell you that
it's a lot better now, than it was before. My
question is: If we know it was bad before, and
that the effects of these actions sucked, why do
we still continue to destroy the environment at a
slightly less atrocious rate. If we know there's
a problem, why don't we address the issue with
real solutions?
I ask myself the same question. I am mostly water, so I take personal offence to those
actions that defile a part of myself. For
instance, I can't stand the idea of drinking
chlorinated water, although I do it all the time.
Logging in the name of God.
The Hitch-hike back was a piece of cake. The red
carpet was rolled out from the start, with a
perfectly timed traffic slowdown for blasting,
as soon as we got on the road. We stood, with
traffic at a standstill, holding our sign and
wondering who would be the first ride. As the
wheels rolled, the woman who was right beside us
just decided to pull over and give us a ride. Her
front seat was full of stuff, so we both jumped
in back. She turned out to be interesting, and
down for the long haul past Montreal.
Dave Marcus (the bossman) had wired me some travel money, so we got a hotel room and had a nice comfy sleep in a warm bed. The next day was pretty smooth, with us arriving in Toronto around Sundown. We opted to take a bus to Niagara Falls that night, because the Dead were playing in Buffalo the next night. Once in the falls, we bumped into a good friend of mine, Jim and his buddy Kevin. We sat on a Patio with them and then went up the street to a place that had Karaoke. Dominique persuaded me to sing Get Up, Stand Up and it was lots of fun!
Mormor is my Mother's Mother, and she is Danish. She and Shanti, my cousin came and picked us up in the Falls the next day. We had lunch out at Mormor's and then she dropped us off at the Peace Bridge so we could hitch to the show. Mormor isn't too keen on such modes of travel, but she begrudgingly let us go. I'd called all my friends who I knew were going, but they'd all left already. I've never gone to the bridge to hitch to a show before, although I'd wanted to before.
This time, the border was a breeze. Dominique and I soon found ourselves at the entrance to the 190-S, looking back at the whole production that constitutes the U.S. Port of Entry from behind the scenes. We were there at shift change, so no less than Fifteen or Twenty Officers drove past us before the two dudes from the Folk'n Blues pulled over and stuffed us into the back of their hatch-back. Folk'n Blues is a band, Loose yer shoes is a festival they host in Ontario every year. I'd have been there, but I had obligations to visit with my Mormor at the same time. My parents were on vacation.
After retrieving some well stashed glass from a spot near Darien, and after sitting in lots of traffic, we parked in the lot as Bob Dylan was playing his set. Walking toward the show, we saw my neighbour Dave, while I could hear that Dylan was playing Rainy Day Women. As we neared the gates, we met a guy with two tickets. He'd come for Dylan who'd just ended, so we got the pair for $40.00. We were stoked!
I didn't bring the camera into the show, and I left my backpack under an RV of some kids I knew from tour. I just wanted to go in and Dominique had already gone in. I could hear Tangled up in Blue and I started getting antsy. I really wanted to be in there, to be seeing the show, dancing with Dylan and the Dead.
I made it down to Dominique during West L.A. Fade Away with Dylan. All at once I saw Erin and then Dave and it was really cool... Kinda. I could feel my worlds colliding. My travel life, with my home life. I still feel strongly towards Erin, although, I'm trying to let go and not hold on to the past, my heart always jumps when I see her. Dominique was lots of fun to travel with, but I wasn't sure how much I wanted to bring her home, because right after this show, my plan has been to spend some time with my Mormor while my parents went on vacation. Now I don't have the van, but a new friend who is nice, but what will my Grandma think? Oh my god, what am I doing? And what if Erin and I were going to get back together this fall? Am I blowing that by bringing my new friend along? Oh jeeese. No wonder Erin can't be with me. I'm such an idiot! And what if Dominique can't get back into Canada because of that DUI that she's been paying for ever since? Then what? She'll be stuck in Buffalo and Tour will have left and I don't even have enough cash for her to ride a bus back to Woodstock (she left her car behind when we met). Holy Smokes! This is crazy. The Fungus was amungus and they were kicking in, and I could tell it was gonna be a doozie.
My backpack! Oh my backpack! The Digital Camera! My Passport! Oh my god! What was I thinking? I can't believe I just left it there under the RV. What a bonehead! And all those people who saw me stashing it there. One of them would have nothing to loose by taking it. That's crazy! And I had my glass right in the top of it. There it goes. Maybe they'll let me out so I can get it. No I can't go all the way over there. I better go. I won't be able to enjoy the show while all that stuff might be getting swiped. I said bye to Dominique and started walking to my backpack, but no sooner had I left before I saw Erin and she talked to me for a bit, and got me to follow her away from the exit. I felt so whipped, in a good way, as I followed her over to the grass on the far side. There she sat me down and got me to feel the energy of the Earth.
I stayed sitting with my eyes closed until I realized I was dancing on my bum. Erin helped me to get up and then she was dancing around me and she made me feel good. I saw Tim, Erin's friend, and mine too, and my buddy Dave. He took one look at me and just smiled. He's seen me like that before, and I tell ya it's a trip. I didn't know what to do about Dominique. I didn't even know what to do about myself, much less anyone else. My cousin was there from Calgary, here to help with Mormor. What would she think about me bringing Dominique over? Will Dominique even make it over? And the money, she has no money. I should just tell her she better go. How do I do that? I can't just send her off just like that. That's not cool. Hey thanks for the good times, see ya later. Don't get in the wrong dude's car, cause we wanna see you again. How do I get her back to Woodstock so she can get her car? What's she gonna do for money? I can't believe they have Hemphry. I wonder what's going to happen with my case. Do I even want Dominique to go? I wish she could come back to Canada. Maybe she can. If she does what will we do? What if they turn her back?
I explained to Dave what was going on in my head and he had some good ideas. We'd get a ride back in the back of his truck, and he'd lend me money to buy her a bus ticket if she got turned back. That idea made me feel better. By now it was setbreak and I figured I better go find her. Oh my god my backpack!
Needless to say, my company was not too desirable on this particular evening. Dominique kept me company nonetheless. I had a hard time talking to her or looking at her, because I was loosing my shit. I'd let all sorts of fear come in and just freak me out and cloud my judgement. Sometimes that happens to me, and I wonder if it's me or what? But then other times, I'm all smiles and dancy, and you get that butt-wiggle, with the occasional yawn, and that's lots of fun. Anyway, I started to come around through Space into Throwing Stones, and by the time the Help>Slip> Frank encore happened, I was feeling good. We went up to find Dave, but he'd left the spot I'd seen him, so I figured we'd meet on Shakedown.
My backpack was the next priority. We went over to the RV and back to where it was and sure enough, it was there with the contents intact! Give thanks! All that worry for nothing. Worrying sucks. Why create non-existent problems in life?
Things were coming back together for me. The lot rocked that night in Darien. I saw no A-hole security or cops shutting down the vending. Although someone was saying that they'd been busting people all afternoon for stupid stuff. N.Y. isn't the worst to get popped for possession, though, because they decriminalized possession back in 1977 during the Carter administration when he gave States the choice of decriminalization. Carter, by the way, is quoted as saying "The penalties against possession of a drug should be no more damaging than the use of the drug itself." You only get a fine for possessing Weed in New York State. Interestingly, that's exactly what Canada is proposing to do with our pot laws. Funny, America doesn't seem to be trying to boycott New York State. I sense a bit of a double standard here. Oh wait, what about California?
We couldn't find Dave in the Shakedown, so we walked to where he said he was parked. Along the
way, we noticed that the guys who drove us there
were gone. We walked until we didn't see Dave's
truck either. We walked back and still didn't see
it. Oh well. Looks like we're thumbing it again?
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