Editing Ken Kesey (section)

=== Merry Pranksters ===
{{Main|Merry Pranksters}}
When the 1964 publication of his second novel, ''[[Sometimes a Great Notion (novel)|Sometimes a Great Notion]]'', required his presence in New York, Kesey, [[Neal Cassady]], and others in a group of friends they called the Merry Pranksters took a cross-country trip in [[Furthur (bus)|a school bus nicknamed ''Furthur'']].<ref name="si">{{cite web |url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1275835 |title=National Museum of American History Collections: Signboard, Pass the Acid Test |publisher=americanhistory.si.edu |access-date=April 8, 2015}}</ref> This trip, described in Tom Wolfe's ''[[The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test]]'' (and later in Kesey's unproduced screenplay, ''The Furthur Inquiry''), was the group's attempt to create art out of everyday life and to experience roadway America while high on LSD.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;titlesAZ=k;idT=170301 |title=Ken Kesey Merry Pranksters collection, (bulk 1964–1969). |website=oac.cdlib.org}}</ref> In an interview after arriving in New York, Kesey said, "The sense of communication in this country has damn near atrophied. But we found as we went along it got easier to make contact with people. If people could just understand it is possible to be different without being a threat."<ref name="NYTobit" /> A huge amount of footage was filmed on [[16 mm film]] during the trip, which remained largely unseen until the release of [[Alex Gibney]] and [[Alison Elwood]]'s 2011 film ''[[Magic Trip]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Magic Trip': High Times With The Merry Pranksters |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/08/05/138902712/magic-trip-high-times-with-the-merry-pranksters |access-date=2021-08-20 |website=NPR |date=2011-08-04 |language=en |last1=Jenkins |first1=Mark }}</ref>

After the bus trip, the Pranksters threw parties they called Acid Tests around the San Francisco Bay Area from 1965 to 1966. Many of the Pranksters lived at Kesey's residence in La Honda. In New York, Cassady introduced Kesey to [[Jack Kerouac]] and [[Allen Ginsberg]], who turned them on to [[Timothy Leary]]. ''[[Sometimes a Great Notion (film)|Sometimes a Great Notion]]'' inspired a 1970 film starring and directed by [[Paul Newman]]; it was nominated for two [[Academy Awards]], and in 1972 was the first film shown by the new television network [[Home Box Office|HBO]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Tim |date=2012-11-18 |title=HBO celebrates forty years of sex, violence and... Fraggles |work=[[The Independent]] |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/hbo-celebrates-forty-years-of-sex-violence-and-fraggles-8327215.html |access-date=2018-03-27 }}</ref> in [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite news |date=November 3, 2013 |title=Local History: NEPA put HBO on the dial |work=[[The Scranton Times-Tribune]] |url=http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/local-history-nepa-put-hbo-on-the-dial-1.1579237 |access-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref>

In 1965, Kesey was arrested in La Honda for [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]] possession. In an attempt to mislead police, he faked suicide by having friends leave his truck on a cliffside road near [[Eureka, California|Eureka]], along with an elaborate suicide note written by the Pranksters. Kesey fled to Mexico in the back of a friend's car. He returned to the U.S. eight months later. On January 17, 1966, Kesey was sentenced to six months at the San Mateo County jail in [[Redwood City]], California.<ref>[http://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/1-000-arrested-protesting-Iraq-war-1991-6758662.php 1,000 arrested protesting Iraq war], ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', Johnny Miller, January 16, 2016.</ref> Two nights later, he was arrested again, this time with Carolyn Adams, while smoking marijuana on the rooftop of [[Stewart Brand]]'s [[Telegraph Hill, San Francisco|Telegraph Hill]] home in San Francisco.<ref name="ergaiba">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wuVVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6787%2C4255835 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Ken Kesey, novelist, arrested in Bay Area |date=October 21, 1966 |page=3A}}</ref><ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/from-eternity-to-here-19760226 From eternity to here], ''[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]'', Charles Perry, February 26, 1976. Retrieved January 16, 2016.</ref> On his release, he moved back to the family farm in [[Pleasant Hill, Oregon]], in the [[Willamette Valley]], where he spent the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/11/nyregion/ken-kesey-author-of-cuckoo-s-nest-who-defined-the-psychedelic-era-dies-at-66.html |work=The New York Times |title=Ken Kesey, Author of 'Cuckoo's Nest,' Who Defined the Psychedelic Era, Dies at 66 |first=Christopher |last=Lehmann-Haupt |date=November 11, 2001}}</ref> He wrote many articles, books (mostly collections of his articles), and short stories during that time.