Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Travels and chronicling

Two interesting travel stories in the paper.
A column about a man who decided, as a teen, to take a cross country road trip to visit a friend who had done something dumb and was in jail across the country. he go together the $100 for the bus fare. He cites Jack Kerouac's book "Holy road" as the impetus for his trip. The author of this article writes :Americans have, or at least once had, for quest-journeys." He says a book by John Bunyann called "Pilgrim's Progress, was second only to the Bible as a best seller pre Civil War. "It redemptive impulse powers Thoreau's perambulations in Walden"

Second: modern quest-Man buys 1984 Volvo on Craig's list to go cross country. People send in suggestions along the way of where to go and what to see. Tried to do it very cheaply-the Frugal Road Trip was the NYT headline.

We are all on journey. Life is a journey with unclear and unsatisfactory end (death). Unfinished work always remains. Think Moses. If so, don't the high Holidays offer our way to chronicling the journey, assessing our progress, enjoying the experience aseven as we strive for holiness on the way?

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