Although he has drawn inspiration from his youth and the mindless wandering so often associated with adolescence, it was during his teenage years that “hitting the road” became his obsession. He would hitchhike at age 13 to the next town to see a girl he met at the skating rink. Right out of church he would walk up to Waukegan Road and hitch to Morton Grove, often picked up by church goers, just to spend some time on the swings of the playground with her.
And then later in college he discovered that his formal education, though taught all things cerebral by those Jesuits, was predominantly a “receiving of education” and he desired to see firsthand what others had to say.
And of course there was the music.
It’s knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk…..
that lets me keep my sleeping bag stashed behind your couch/
Gentle on my Mind by Glen Campbell.
It was Truckin’ by the Grateful Dead, Ramblin’ Man and Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers….
Walk along the river ... sweet lullaby
It just keeps on flowin' ... it don't worry 'bout where it's going ... no, no
Don't fly Mister blue bird I'm just walkin' down the road
Early mornin' sunshine tells me all I need to know
Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and the Blues….seeds planted by his next up older brother, with whom he shared early quarters, were responsible for all of this wonderful musical mind play, instilling dreams of more…….
And the books….
It was and still is Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” coming out of the beat and hippie generation as if he was timeless, an instilling in him a cultural celebration of movement, travel, and the road. And then he was drawn in to Walt Whitman and his “Song of the Open Road,” where he:
“inhales the great draughts of space. The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.”
The escape of travel on the road has rarely even been a physical change, but rather a mindful exercise. This became more rooted in Pirsig’s classic “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” where time and travel can be manipulated to promote deep and meaningful reflection.
So what is it that he has been searching for, or perhaps running from, all these years? Chasing the centerline has been the search for his self.
Please feel free to e-mail a comment to chasingthecenterline@gmail.com
