It has been a long time since I read diary entries from CA when I was out traveling and singing, pre-marriage 70s stuff. I was a very busy gal! I can’t say I lacked passion and enthusiasm, but I seem so naïve in my chronicles. I read alone in my office and still get embarrassed!

I think my heart was in the right place, but I was ignorant about human nature, particularly the male variety. That’s another blog!

I had a little bit of knowledge, but felt 110% sure of my doctrine, eschatology, and evangelism methods. Maybe it was okay, because, hey, it was the Jesus revolution hippiedom era, but when I read my thoughts and actions now over 50 years removed, I wish I had had a bit more solid mentoring. And perhaps a bit more common sense.

Then there is the danger thing. Good grief! I was taking rides from strangers in order to meet more strangers in places where often I had no directional sense of where I even was. All with my trusty guitar and my boatload of Jesus songs. I believe we have guardian angels, but mine at times must have had to work overtime.

Once, I hired a gal to drive me from Hollywood to a gig in El Centro by the Mexican border. It was raining and her windshield wiper broke, so we had to stop at a gas station to get it fixed. Then hurtling down the road at 70-80 mph in her Volkswagen bug, which is amazing for a bug at all, the front hood popped open and slammed up obscuring the windshield. Amazingly, we got back on the road and made it to the gig. On the way home, somewhere near LA, she had a flat tire. No jack, spare had a hole, and there we stood on the side of the road in the middle of the night. Nobody stopped to help until 5 a.m. when two guys coming home from their massage parlor, stopped to lend us a hand. We went with them to a gas station, got the tire patched, and then they took us back to the car and replaced our tire. A kindness for sure, but what in the world were we doing!

Finally made it home, and I never booked her for a ride ever again!

I’m glad I recorded all my adventures because it makes me very grateful that I survived . . . and that I grew up!