The 'Chalice' Marijuana Expo: Welcome To California!

I’m so glad you got here today, because we have a unique opportunity.”
“What are you scheming Bill?”
“OK. Today is the last day of a festival called ‘Chalice’. You ever heard of it, Manny?”
“Nope” I reply.
“OK, the marijuana scene in California is pretty sophisticated. As well as an enormously wide range of different plant varieties to choose from, users can now also select different delivery formats like resin, hash, tinctures, oils, wax, and a product called ‘shatter’, which is a solid format derived from purified oil. The thing is, it’s all on display at this festival, so you’ll be able to learn all about it.”
“Wow. OK. We only have one sort of marijuana in Australia. It’s called ‘dope’, and it’s illegal.”
Bill smiles. “This is another world my friend. Welcome to California…”

Flashback:
November 2013, Morocco.

Five days crossing The Atlas Mountains and camping together in the Sahara Desert; that’s a bonding experience. Bill and I have become great buddies. He’s daring, funny, and just a tiny bit mad. My kinda guy.

Now it’s time to say goodbye.
Bill and I hug and he gets in his dusty little rental car.
“If you’re ever in California, remember to go visit me” he calls out as he pulls away.

I’m that type of person, if you invite me to come stay with you, you better believe I am gonna show up on your doorstep one day.

(Below: this is a photo of Bill I took in 2013, when we were “location scouting” in Morocco.)

Now.
July 2016, Monterey California.

It’s almost three years since Bill dropped me off the side on the road in Morocco. Now I’m on my way to visit him in Los Angeles.

There are two highways that lead south to LA from Monterey; the 1 and the 101. I’m on the side of the 101, which is a major interstate road and has more traffic.

I wait on the side of the 101 for more than an hour, and when a car finally stops, it’s the highway patrol.

The cop climbs out of his car, hand on his holster.
“Take your hand out of your pocket, sir” he tells me.
“G’day mate, no problem” I smile, working the Aussie accent hard.
I see his face relax.
“Where are you going sir?”
“I’m hitching down to LA to visit a friend of mine” I tell the cop.
“Who’s your friend?” he asks me.
“A guy I met a few years ago when I was hitchhiking in Morocco.”
“You Hitchhiking round the world?” the cop asks me, with raised eyebrows.
“Some of it” I tell him.
“OK. Here’s the deal” he tells me. “You can’t hitchhike here on the interstate. It’s illegal. What you’re going to do is get in the patrol car and I’ll drive you over to a better road for you to get a ride. OK?”
“Sounds good mate” I tell him.

The cop drops me off on the edge of Highway 1.
“It’s a straight shot from here to LA” he tells me.
“Thanks so much mate. My name’s Manny.”
“I’m Sebastian.”
Sebastian shakes my hand.
“Can I get a selfie with you?” I ask him. “I like to get photos with all the cops who give me rides.”

The Christian.

Half an hour after Sebastian the highway cop drops me off, I get a ride with Kevin, who is going all the way to LA. Lucked out again.

The road along the coast is beautiful. One stunning beach after another. I see pelicans circling overhead, and elephant seals wrestling on the rocks.

Kevin is going to be a pastor. He is a Christian summer camp counsellor.
We talk animatedly about faith, skepticism and Star Wars Canon as we drive along the highways where George Lucas had his divine visions.
Kevin and I agree kindness is the only future for humans.

I tell Kevin about the uniquely Californian experience I had the previous day with my friend Michele in Monteray.
“Michele and me went to the Mall in Monterey. I dumpster-dived Wholefoods, and then we watched ‘Finding Dory’ at the theatre. Then after the movie, we went around the corner to the aquarium where the movie is set, and saw the animals that were in the film. It was such a seminal Californian experience. A movie studio founded by Steve Jobs for fucks sake. This is a field-to-table movie experience. Also, the aquarium has a seafood restaurant.”

Bill 2.

Kevin takes me all the way to Bill’s house in Torrance.

I knock on Bill’s front door, and a familiar grin appears.
“You’re here!” Bill tells me.
“I know. Can you believe it?”
“I can’t believe it. The last time I saw you was in the Sahara, and here you are on my front step.”
I hug him.
“I told you I’d come visit you, mate.”

Chalice.

“I’m so glad you got here today, because we have a unique opportunity.”
Bill has the same light of excitement in his eyes that I remember from Morocco.
“What are you scheming Bill?”
“OK. Today is the last day of a festival called ‘Chalice’. You ever heard of it, Manny?”
“Nope” I reply.
“It’s a huge thing. As you may or may not know, medical marijuana is now legal in the state of California. Chalice is one of the biggest marijuana festivals of the year. As well as growers of premium bud, there are glass artists displaying their work, extract companies and makers of extracts like resin, and shatter.”
“Shatter? What’s shatter?” I ask Bill.
“OK, the marijuana scene in California is pretty sophisticated. As well as an enormously wide range of different plant varieties to choose from, users can now also select different delivery formats like resin, hash, tinctures, oils, wax, and a product called ‘shatter’, which is a solid format derived from purified oil. The thing is, it’s all on display at this festival, so you’ll be able to learn all about it.”
“Wow. OK. We only have one sort of marijuana in Australia. It’s called ‘dope’, and it’s illegal.”
Bill smiles. “This is another world my friend. Welcome to California.”

We drive west, through the vast sprawl of the LA burbs, under countless concrete overpasses, along ten lane highways, under the blazing blue California sky.
Ihop. McDonalds. Wendy’s. Arby’s. In ‘n’ Out. The burger joints flash past us, as we climb the gargantuan expressways into the hills of San Bernardino.

We arrive at the San Bernardino fairgrounds and Angie, Bill’s wife, meets us outside the festival gates. She hugs us warmly, tells me I’m tall, and slips VIP passes onto our wrists.

We are processed through the security check, and step into the world of the Chalice Festival.

For a country boy from Australia, this is a culture shock scenario.
Chalice Festival is a gigantic celebration of capitalism and legal weed. It’s like a trade show, an agricultural fair and a rave party blended together, shaken, poured over ice and spiked with THC.

There are thousands of young, hip Californians, strolling around, talking about hydroponics, shopping for lab equipment, admiring glassware and, of course, getting high as fuck.

What Chalice is really all about is sampling hundreds of different varieties of high grade, Californian, organically produced, sustainably grown, vegan, gluten free weed.

In case unlimited free marijuana samples, thousands of beautiful people, spectacular Californian weather, and gourmet pop-up restaurants aren’t enough to entice the punters, Chalice also presents a massive line-up of live music on the main stage. Wu-Tang headlined this year.

Because this is a legal marijuana festival there are cops patrolling the site, to keep things orderly and make sure nobody smokes cigarettes in public areas, which is strictly forbidden under Californian law.

Free sample?
Everyone at Chalice is looking for attention on their product. Lots of stands are giving out cookies, or THC candy. The vendors offering resins and shatter give punters a hit of their stuff from special pipes set up for smoking concentrates. It’s called dabbing, because apparently you only need a dab of these highly purified, concentrated products to get the effect.

Ever intrepid, Bill is on a mission to try every product, and talk to every single vendor at the fair. Here he is, in the photo above, discussing the relative merits of hash, oil, resin and shatter, with one of the stallholders from a company called ‘Honeysuckle Lotus’ who make something that has the innocent appearance of maple syrup, but affects you like drinking three bottles of rum and then binge-watching Sesame Street.

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I haven’t seen this many beautiful pieces of glass art together since I visited the British Museum.

Bill asked one artist what the most expensive pipe in his range cost.
“$42,000.00”
You would not want to leave that thing sitting on the coffee table with the kids running around.

Still Got Guns.

Quick sidebar.

The backdrop to this visit to LA is the unfolding drama of yet another mass shooting. This time it was in Texas. This time the victims were police officers.

The feeling I get from Americans I meet is this massive outpouring of grief about the rash of violence sweeping across their culture.

Bill tells me the Black Panthers have reformed.

I watched Obama’s speech at the memorial service for the slain police on TV. He talked a lot about unity. He talked a lot about what being American is, and emphasised that it was time to set aside the arguments and focus on being a unified culture.

Anyone can be an American. I like that idea.

OK, Back To Chalice…

Bill really likes rosin , which is a sticky resin extract you smoke in a vape pipe.

For the friend who really has everything; A Wizard-of-Oz-Artisan-Glass-Pipe-Thing…

My mind is swimming. Not in a general clichéd sort of way, but in a specific breast-stroke-through-a-fog-of-custard-thick-pink-mist sort of way.

I entered this place feeling like a foreigner in a strange land. Now I feel like a boiled lollie in a skate-punk salad.

I love it when I find a new tribe I feel at home in.

I love it when I sit under a tree…
I find a tree and sit under it. I’m having trouble standing up.

You don’t have to sign a permission slip to get high at Challis. The sidestream in the sheds will knock you out.

Burgers.

Around 11:30 Bill and I slide our butts into a burger joint booth. I sit patiently and wait for my torso and head to arrive. When my body is fully reassembled in the booth, I pick up my burger and eat hungrily. Big day.

Bill seems completely unaffected by the day’s activities. He has the insatiable energy of a child, and the athleticism of a gangster rapper. He’s like a gore-tex-clad Hunter S Thompson.

“OK. We need to make some notes about what we’re going to do while you’re here” Bill says.
“You mean here in the restaurant?”
“No. While you are here in the United States. There are some must-do things. We have got to take you to Disneyland. Also, have you heard of the Getty Museum? What is your schedule like?”
“Well, you got me on retainer, so I’ll work around your schedule. But, as your attorney, I feel it is my responsibility to advise you to pace yourself. We have to be careful not to burn ourselves out.”
Bill clicks his fingers.
“Of course. I almost forgot. We got to do Vegas.”

Thank You.

I really enjoyed myself at this festival.
Big thanks to the people who got me there.

Big thanks to Dave + StuckUp Extracts.

Big thanks to the man who has now guided me to the Sahara Desert and also to Chalice: Bill.
Love your work mate. A friend who consistently enables your craziest ideas, and then tops them, is a good friend indeed.

Futurism.

Part of my love for hitchhiking is the love of meeting and engaging with strangers who become new friends.

A person like Bill only comes into my life if I open my stranger-meeting opportunities to a bigger world, a world beyond my own village, beyond my own time, even. Being an Australian in America feels like traveling to the future for me sometimes.

When I go back to Australia I’m totally going to fake being psychic.

This post had a structure at an earlier time to this time.
I refuse to apologise for my digressions and… shit.

Got to get some sleep. Bill is in the kitchen making barbecue and talking about going to Vegas tomorrow. It probably won’t happen but with Bill you never know.

That’s all I got time to write for now. I’ll catch up with you again soon.
I’ve got to go fill my client’s trunk with medications and make sure there are no giant bats in the carport.

BTW: the guy holding the trophy in the photo below won the Challis competition.