G
Guest
Earlier this year, a cousin, knowing how well I love the open road, suggested I read William Least Heat-Moon's _Blue Highways_. Late last week, I finished reading it. I'm glad I read it...& wish I hadn't.
I'm glad because some of the quotes (as you'll see shortly) are, in my opinion, profound/cool; I wish I hadn't because I'm jealous that I haven't had the opportunity to take such an extended road trip as I've been wanting to do for a number of years.... But, maybe someday....
Some of the quotes....
A rule of the blue road: Be careful going in search of adventure -- it's ridiculously easy to find. (p179)
A car whipped past, the driver eating and a passenger clicking a camera. Moving without going anywhere, taking a trip instead of making one. I laughed at the absurdity of the photographs and then realized I, too, was rolling effortlessly along, turning the windshield into a movie screen in which I, the viewer, did the moving while the subject held still. That was the temptation of the American highway, of the American vacation.... (p188)
"I've been bawled out, balled up, help up, held down, hung up, bulldozed, blackjacked, walked on, cheated, squeezed and mooched; stuck for war tax, excess profits tax, sales tax, dog tax and syntax, Liberty bonds, baby bonds, and the bonds of matrimony, Red Cross, Blue Cross, and the double cross; I've worked like hell, worked others like hell, have got drunk and got others drunk, lost all I had, and now because I won't spend or lend what little I earn, beg, borrow, or steal, I've been cussed, discussed, boycotted, talked to, talked about, lied to, lied about, worked over, pushed under, robbed, and damn near ruined. The only reason I'm sticking around now is to see WHAT THE HELL IS NEXT." (p212)
The annals of scientific discovery are full of errors that opened new worlds: Bell was working on an apparatus to aid the deaf when he invented the telephone; Edison was tinkering with the telephone when he invented the phonograph. If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are part of the same process, and he is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring. (p215-6)
The biggest hindrance to learning is fear of showing one's self a fool. (p220)
On the road, where change is continuous and visible, time is not; rather it is something the rider only infers. Time is not the traveler's fourth dimension -- change is. (p343)
There was no point staying on; what I'd come for was gone, replaced by things available all over the United States. (p362)
The photograph showed one other change: what had been a spacious room of several bent-steel chairs and tables was now top to bottom with merchandise. What had been a place of community was now a stuffed retail outlet. Across the nation, that change was the history of the soda fountain pharmacy. (p408)
What is the blue road anyway but an opportunity to poke at the unseen and a hoping the unseen will poke back? (p409)
Perhaps it's in our blood, maybe it's just in our history, but surely it's in the American vein to head out for some other place when home becomes intolerable, or merely even when the distant side of the beyond seems a lure we can't resist. (p417)
*sighs*
This time of year always gets me a wonderin' and a dreamin'....lol.
Ssssooo...comments/discussion on these? Or, do you have quotes from this or other books that struck you?
Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 31swm/pig valve/pacemaker
'72/'6/'9/'81/'7, train/models = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/
MC Guide = http://www.chevyasylum.com/mcspotter/main.html
I'm glad because some of the quotes (as you'll see shortly) are, in my opinion, profound/cool; I wish I hadn't because I'm jealous that I haven't had the opportunity to take such an extended road trip as I've been wanting to do for a number of years.... But, maybe someday....
Some of the quotes....
A rule of the blue road: Be careful going in search of adventure -- it's ridiculously easy to find. (p179)
A car whipped past, the driver eating and a passenger clicking a camera. Moving without going anywhere, taking a trip instead of making one. I laughed at the absurdity of the photographs and then realized I, too, was rolling effortlessly along, turning the windshield into a movie screen in which I, the viewer, did the moving while the subject held still. That was the temptation of the American highway, of the American vacation.... (p188)
"I've been bawled out, balled up, help up, held down, hung up, bulldozed, blackjacked, walked on, cheated, squeezed and mooched; stuck for war tax, excess profits tax, sales tax, dog tax and syntax, Liberty bonds, baby bonds, and the bonds of matrimony, Red Cross, Blue Cross, and the double cross; I've worked like hell, worked others like hell, have got drunk and got others drunk, lost all I had, and now because I won't spend or lend what little I earn, beg, borrow, or steal, I've been cussed, discussed, boycotted, talked to, talked about, lied to, lied about, worked over, pushed under, robbed, and damn near ruined. The only reason I'm sticking around now is to see WHAT THE HELL IS NEXT." (p212)
The annals of scientific discovery are full of errors that opened new worlds: Bell was working on an apparatus to aid the deaf when he invented the telephone; Edison was tinkering with the telephone when he invented the phonograph. If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are part of the same process, and he is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring. (p215-6)
The biggest hindrance to learning is fear of showing one's self a fool. (p220)
On the road, where change is continuous and visible, time is not; rather it is something the rider only infers. Time is not the traveler's fourth dimension -- change is. (p343)
There was no point staying on; what I'd come for was gone, replaced by things available all over the United States. (p362)
The photograph showed one other change: what had been a spacious room of several bent-steel chairs and tables was now top to bottom with merchandise. What had been a place of community was now a stuffed retail outlet. Across the nation, that change was the history of the soda fountain pharmacy. (p408)
What is the blue road anyway but an opportunity to poke at the unseen and a hoping the unseen will poke back? (p409)
Perhaps it's in our blood, maybe it's just in our history, but surely it's in the American vein to head out for some other place when home becomes intolerable, or merely even when the distant side of the beyond seems a lure we can't resist. (p417)
*sighs*
This time of year always gets me a wonderin' and a dreamin'....lol.
Ssssooo...comments/discussion on these? Or, do you have quotes from this or other books that struck you?
Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 31swm/pig valve/pacemaker
'72/'6/'9/'81/'7, train/models = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/
MC Guide = http://www.chevyasylum.com/mcspotter/main.html
!
