Vietnam Protest

I Know What You're Doing. Think There's Trouble Brewing


More Protest
Austin, Texas
Nov. 7 '70

After breakfast, we joined the march down Austin's main street.
There were many protest activities scheduled throughout the day. I
didn't get too excited. I had seen it all before, and it didn't
accomplish much then either. Even though this was a scaled down
protest (approximately 7000 participants), I was witnessing the same
kind of political maneuverings and rhetoric. The protest speakers
were using the crowd to drum up support for their own partisan
interests. I saw very little energy applied to unifying the effort
to stop the war. I was getting sick of listening to political
peacocks espouse the merits of causes that had nothing to do with
stopping the war. The protesters had gathered for one reason: to
tell America to get the hell of Vietnam.

I was glad I had other things on my mind besides protesting wars.
Jolynn had never experienced anything like this before, and it
appeared that she was happy to be taking part. I hoped I was part of
the reason she was having a good time also. After almost a day of
listening to speeches, we went to get ice-cream cones. Walking down
Guadalupe Street for the first time, I allowed myself to think about
a long-term relationship with her. It was getting dark when we went
into a restaurant and ordered pizza and beer, the best pizza and
beer ever. Jolynn thought so too.

Back at Mike's place we continued to act like lovers. Mike and his
chick came home tripping on acid, but that didn't bother us. They
were in their world, and we were in ours. We watched some TV before
turning in. It was morning before we got to sleep. Waking up around
3 p.m., we got in Jo's car and drove to another restaurant where she
bought my lunch/breakfast. This was our last meal together. After a
very sad good-bye, I told Jo I would see her again, and I really
wanted to believe it, but the reality was that going to California
was not in my plans. Getting a ride back to Padre Island was.

Since Mike was driving his chick back to McAllen, he told me I could
ride with him as far as Corpus. It was a long ride to McAllen (more
than 300 miles), and it was late when we left. My separation from
Jolynn left me depressed (as did the thought of returning to the
beach), so I wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere. I volunteered to
drive Mike and his girlfriend to McAllen. Padre Island was about
halfway, and I told him I would get out on the way back. He happily
accepted my offer. After that I hunkered down for the long, boring
ride to the Texas bottoms while Mike and his chick slept in the
backseat.