The Adventures of Superfreak My Childhood on the Hippie Trail

In 1970, Caleb’ s family hit the Hippie Trail from Amsterdam to India in search of nirvana and/or hash— whatever came first. Caleb’ s disabled parents, Sam (a paraplegic professor who used a wheelchair) and Carol (a frustrated feminist with an undiagnosed bipolar disorder) dropped out of mainstream society to travel overland in a VW bus with three little kids. Caleb was the oldest at five. Sam and Carol promised the journey would be a great adventure. But familial unity was not something Caleb took for granted. He trusted his rock of a dad, but braced himself for Mom’ s swinging moods and sudden disappearances as their wild 20,000-mile ride took the family through Europe, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to India. To cope with constant changes, Caleb transformed into “ Superfreak.” He donned his Superman costume and summoned all his hippie-in-training bravery to survive a chaotic family life of abundant psychedelics and free love, cross-border drug smuggling and jail breaks, sages and charlatans. The Adventures of Superfreak is a family drama revealing the complexities of attachment and abandonment amid a period of tumultuous cultural change.

Caleb Dardick is a writer, storyteller, and leadership coach. Raised by activist parents with disabilities, Caleb grew up as part of the Counterculture back-to-the-land movement. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, he lives with his wife in Northern California.