#3 The Hippy Hitchhikers' Guide to the Canadian Rockies

As I think about it, I know I'm lucky to have made it through gestation! About a year ago, my Dad published a work of fiction loosely based on his own life during the Vietnam war era. During the early 1970's, there was a mass exodus of Army deserters and draft dodgers who fled to Canada so they could avoid being shipped overseas to fight a war they didn't believe in. After I read his book, I suddenly realized my time spent baking in mama's womb -all warm and cozy inside- wasn't all "fun in the sun" for either of them. Mama and me, well we were lucky to be alive, actually.

To make a long story short, daddy refused a second tour to Vietnam as a CIA covert operative and skipped town with his bride in tow. They hadn't been married more than two years when daddy got reassigned, especially since his track record as a drill sergeant left his superiors suspicious of his behavior -both on and off duty. And thus began their life on the run.
Picture this: My young mama (Annie Day) -six months pregnant but barely showing, and my proud daddy (Charlie Day) gone AWOL, poor and paranoid; Both mapping out a new course for their lives called, "The Hippy Hitchhikers' Guide to the Canadian Rockies."

So, Charlie and Annie found themselves laying low at a vegetarian, hippy commune high up in the mountains of British Columbia. The "communists" there were peaceful but hungry, trying to live off the land. Daddy was cravin' some meat and butted heads about it with "Popcorn," the frizzy-haired hippy leader. A day before mama was due to return from hitching a ride on a Volkswagen bus to Vancouver, (for a pregnancy check up) daddy and a fellow Vietnam vet buddy took off hiking on a quest for blood and protein.

They headed up a nearby cliff which overlooked the community campground. And from what I gather, the guys dropped acid up there and made a stake out, forgetting all about where they really were. The powerful drugs induced flashbacks from their war experiences and caused them to mass hallucinate that they were back in the jungles, spying on the Viet Cong. They both had loaded weapons and somehow mistook the Canadian hippy commune for the enemy. At sunrise the next morning, daddy was about to do the unthinkable when he saw mama (and me) walking up the long gravel road toward the campground below.

He realized he and his buddy were just about to open fire on a whole bunch of innocent people when he saw his pregnant wife approaching. This shocked him back into his right mind and he freaked out, jolting the other guy out of the violent mind trip they both were on.
I can't help but think, What IF? What if they had shot everyone down there? Would I be here today? Would mama? Thankfully, my parents' personal "Hippy Hitchhikers' Guide" was about to direct them back to America where I could be born in peace.
Sort of.