NEAL CASSADY'S MEXICO

To the Editor:

In reading "On the Lam with Kesey" (March 23) about Lawrence Downes's
mostly fruitless search for signs of Kesey in Manzanillo from more
than 40 years ago, I found myself wondering if he had thought of
taking his quest to San Miguel de Allende. True, Kesey had returned to
the United States by the time I dropped out in '67, but Neal Cassady
and friends were well established in this town of expatriate artists
and potheads. Neal was the featured guest at most parties,
entertaining us all with his perpetual-motion silver hammer act and
dazzling us with his washboard abs. (He was always bare-chested,
regardless of the temperature!) We'd all read Kerouac and Burroughs,
but few of us knew that Cassady, too, was something of a poet. By the
time I met him, drugs and booze had taken their toll. In 1968, he was
found dead on the railroad tracks outside of town. At least, that was
the story that made the rounds of our hippie community. Thanks for the
memories.

Linda Martin

Port Townsend, Wash.