Teens Hit Road For Alice’s Restaurant Folkie ‘60s Fans Split For A Taste Of Guthrie

Forget about Hanson or the Spice Girls. Four star-struck teens who hit the road in search of their musical hero, without telling their parents, have a special taste for the rebellious 1960s folk music of Arlo Guthrie.

The four boys were reported missing Wednesday when they didn’t show up at school. An anxious 48 hours passed before two of them contacted their parents.

They hadn’t run away from home; they were just taking a long, strange trip to Massachusetts in search of places mentioned in Guthrie tunes like “Alice’s Restaurant” and “City of New Orleans.” They were trying to reach Stockbridge, Mass., where Guthrie grew up.

Two of the four boys, ages 17 and 16, contacted their parents from Worcester, Mass., on Friday, said policeman Wesley Hite.

The boys had several hundred dollars in their pockets when they had a friend drive them to a Greyhound terminal, said Hite, adding that the traveling teens weren’t considered chronic troublemakers.

“From what I hear, they are pretty gifted students,” Hite said.