It was fast approaching Spring and Glen, Sid and a few of the mountain boys had suggested we camp up in the backwoods of Lompico. Long held to be a bastion of long forgotten hippie ideals and some other strange corners of the cultural landscape, this part of the Santa Cruz Mountains was vast and seemingly unexplored.
I showed up with Sid and Courtney, and it ended up being one of the funnest camping nights i’d ever had. All of us donning our bombers and boots, drinking cheap beer and probably listening to Judge Dread, while sleeping in a giant teepee.
A few of us were first to rise and decided to venture down trail a bit to what sounded like a stream. On our way we found a strange altar that had been covered with ancient looking catholic objects and molten red candle wax. “Oh shit!! An actual Lompico Satanic Cult altar!!” We felt so lucky! A few of us started throwing these crucifixes and Mother Mary statues at each other, and we decided to haul some back to the camp site.
We thought it d be hilarious to rest them next to the face s of some of our still sleeping camp mates. They’d wake up and shriek , resulting in huge laughs! Joel, still passed out in the teepee woke to find the objects resting next to him. We just heard “Fuckers!!” And saw the objects fly out of the teepee as we all laughed hystericall!
We hiked our way out of the woods, all the while Glen was belting out “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” as loud as could with all of us half heartedly doing the “Wim oh weh!” Part.
I headed to work the afternoon shift at Baskin Robbins ( with my co worker Gardner). The job consisted of us bullshitting and maybe scooping two ice creams an hour. It’s still the best job I ever had! Suddenly, school mate John Kuhry pulls up to show off his brand new 1986 Audi. How in the world a high school Junior ended up with this sort of car was WAY beyond me. He offered to take me on a test drive. I took a break, and we causually sauntered down the side streets of the west side. As soon as we hit Bay Street, John decided to “show the full power of this baby” and we gunned it clocking about 70 in a 35mph zone!
As we were pulling down a curve in the road when a Toyota pulled directly in front of us and we smashed broadside into it, The Toyota was almost bent in half, Johns new Audi was totalled. I could barely open my door as the window shattered next to me. Miraculously, everyone walked away with barely a scratch. I gave John my condolences and walked back to work.
Back at work, I called my Mom to let her know what had happened and that I was ok. She responded strangley with “if this is your idea of a joke Jim, its not very funny!” “Huh? No really i just got into a crazy accident Mom!” She replied “Well, about an hour ago, your step dad and i also got into an accident that almost killed us!” Could these have happened simultaneously??
Either way, possibly one of the strangest days of my life!
-James