"Quality is the parent, the source of all subjects and objects." - Robert Pirsig |
MY 2002 ZMM BOOK RESEARCH TRIP, FROM MONTANA TO CALIFORNIA, AND HOW IT TURNED OUT. (JUST IN CASE YOU WANTED TO KNOW!!)During my visit to Montana State University Bozeman, I met a Film Producer, Dennis Davis, who is interested in my Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZMM) research results. He asked me 7 questions =>: I wondered how your trip turned out?
What did you learn?
Was the pilgrimage about what you expected?
Did you gain insights or inspirations?
Did you encounter surprises both pleasant and unpleasant?
Most of all did it deepen your appreciation for [Robert Pirsig’s] work on Quality?
Would your do the trip again, on a [motor] cycle?
My replies to his questions follow. (Page numbers are for the Bantam New Age Paperback edition of ZMM by Robert Pirsig.) I WONDERED HOW YOUR TRIP TURNED OUT?It was a fantastic odyssey! A true adventure! I met many wonderful people and I now have a whole new world of friends! There was much awe inspiring scenery and clean fresh air. It was a very successful and safe trip overall. There were no accidents, no disasters, no mishaps of any consequence! I returned with lots of great memories, lots of great pictures, and lots of ZMM research information collected. My automobile, camera, GPS, laptop computer, and e-mail all worked perfectly. Technology is indeed powerful! I am filled with wonder and gratitude! Pirsig's route-of-travel, outlined in ZMM, is just incredible for back-country scenery and vistas! There were many natural and human social-cultural lessons to be learned, as well as many new and different plants and animals to be discovered and learned about. The traveler along the ZMM route experiences a tremendous range of climates and biological habitats. It is just amazing to see the huge range of plant and animal adaptations to these different living conditions. As I was driving, I kept thinking: "Whole complete university courses in geology, biology, ecology, history, and sociology could be taught around the facts and experiences encountered along this route." WHAT DID YOU LEARN?I gained an appreciation for how large and rich and productive our country actually is. The sheer energy and ingenious productivity of the people along that route helped me to understand just how and why our country is so stable and durable. The healthy "can-do" and "get-it-done" attitudes of those people that live the land and the cities instilled in me a new sense of hope and trust in humanity. I learned why so many of my acquaintances are so thrilled with Montana, Big Sky Country! I learned that there were many, many fantastic tourist attractions not even hinted at in ZMM: For example => The Walker Gallery of Art (Minneapolis, MN), John Day Fossil Beds (Dayville, ID), California Giant Redwood Forests (Crescent City, CA), and a large, very interesting Oregon Trail Interpretive Center (Baker, OR). At the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, just before Baker, OR. I discovered a number of maps and books which enabled me to fulfill a long standing desire to see the ruts left behind by the thousands of covered wagons on that trail. This Oregon Trail Interpretive Center also had maps and books of how to find the historical locations of the Oregon Trail over its entire length. So on my way back, I had the information needed to travel (in reverse direction) the California Trail, and then the Oregon Trail.
I saw grain elevators (grain stores) and associated railroads in practically every town along the ZMM route. As a matter of fact, railroads ran along a surprisingly large portion of the ZMM route. Often the tip of a grain elevator on the horizon signaled my approach to the next town. It was only the most dry & arid areas, where irrigation water was essentially unavailable, that had no grain stores. People in this country must consume a lot of grain! These, as well as a host of other interesting observations, of course, could not be included in ZMM. Earlier in my life, I have traveled to California by auto four times, and by air about 12 times. I thought I had seen what I needed to see of our country.
I learned that not having relaxed ample free time defeats the joy & very purpose of traveling. Every mile, every stopping place, has its own rewards. To repeat => Travelers need to go slow, stop, and talk to everyone, no matter where you are.
I learned that Pirsig's town and landscape descriptions in ZMM were accurate to a remarkable degree. In most cases, his descriptions in ZMM were sufficient to find with reasonable certainty well over 80% of physical locations mentioned in ZMM. Remarkable, especially since 34 years have passed since his original trip on that route. I think this is a credit to his resolve to "hold on to good old reality" (ZMM Page 246.8). It was Pirsig’s purpose to be factual. He felt this was necessary for what I would call fundamental foundation support for his whole novel.
Of course, this success in finding so many of the ZMM sites, may be attributed the fact, that the greatest portion of ZMM Route is in areas of our country (rural and/or mountainous) where the population has remained steady or obviously and sadly in decline. There hasn't been enough progress to erase the history that was. I photographed many of the physical locations Pirsig described and in cases where uncertainty arose; I photographed the alternates I happened to discover. I also photographed typical landscape scenes, birds and wild flowers along the route. I was able to photograph scenes of Hyalite Canyon and the location of the "ZMM Ocean Cliff Edge Climax Scene" on the California Coast using information sent by Mr. Pirsig himself. (See this ZMM Quality WebSite for more information). A lot more very productive research could be done using city directories, more interviews, etc depending on the need. WAS THE PILGRIMAGE ABOUT WHAT YOU EXPECTED?I expected that in traveling ZMM, I would gain a greatly increased appreciation of Pirsig's landscape descriptions, and from that an increased understanding of his Chautauqua lessons. Although this did not happen, other rewards were abundant. I found that my landscape "visualizations" (as I originally read the book) were perfectly adequate for my correct reading of ZMM, albeit they were idealized and lacked reality. For example, I had visualized the different mountain towns described ZMM as being in narrow, V-shaped canyons. Towns in the West do not need to be like that, and likely could not survive that way. From the trip, I realized that towns in the West are usually in fairly wide flat valleys that can support a practical combination of extensive farm land, with room for industry, commerce, roads, etc. I still have my original "visualizations”. However, now, when in my research I go back to check a certain page in ZMM, I also have the real, non-idealized, actual historical landscape mental pictures. My experience thus verifies what Dennis Davis said in a recent email: "One interesting thing for me is that when I first read it [ZMM] many years ago, when it first came out, I was not at all familiar with any of the places Pirsig describes. So they were just names for me. Now I am familiar with many places, from South Dakota through Montana, and on. I have since my first reading visited or driven through many of the places named, so I can easily visualize these places. It made re-reading it more enjoyable." Professor Davis's statement fits my experience when I go back to re-read portions of ZMM. I had a second expectation. I expected that the actual "right now" experience of the ZMM sights, scenes, landscapes, etc would reveal new meanings, even new poetic feelings, for the major points emphasized in ZMM. For example, I expected the trip to amplify specific book scenes as I was traveling along. I even tried reading and re-reading certain of the ZMM passages that specifically corresponded to my present moment or upcoming travel surroundings. Although I had many great experiences, this second expectation did not happen. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that I went on the trip; consequently, this disappointment becomes minor. In addition to these rewards, I gained a new understanding of author Pirsig! My research objective was to travel the route described in Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and find each of the sights and scenes depicted therein. As I traveled and searched, I actually found in turn The Giant Cottonwoods along Main Street in Oaks, ND (ZMM Page 27.5), the camping area at the Shadehill Reservoir south of Lemon, ND (ZMM Page 50.5), Bill's Cycle Shop in Miles City, MT (ZMM Page 89.6), the narrow highway where Pirsig's deadly accident almost happened (ZMM Page 96.8), the motel with the long hallway and washroom in Laurel, MT (ZMM Page 104.0), the restaurant with the huge photograph Red Lodge, MT (ZMM Page 109.1), Beartooth Pass twisty roads and turnout on the way to Yellowstone National Park (ZMM Page 111.1), and the high-quality owner-built motel in Gardiner, MT (ZMM Page 127.6). The list could go on and on. I was able to find upwards to an estimated 80% of the specific physical sites described in ZMM. As I was experiencing these hotels, motels, restaurants, highways, etc that were so accurately described in ZMM, I gradually gained the sense that he, Pirsig, had actually been here! This feeling came on slowly, but eventually the feeling gripped me: I was traveling the same highways and curves Pirsig had traveled! I was pulling open the very doors he had opened (ZMM Page 157.3)! I was looking out the same windows he had looked out (ZMM Page 158.1)! I was standing where he had stood...RIGHT HERE! Again and again, I had this feeling especially as I walked up the steps and pulled open the big heavy oak door of Montana Hall (ZMM Page 157.2). In this Old Main of Montana State University Bozeman, I became so aware that I was experiencing much of what Pirsig had experienced! It felt like he was there! His ghost was present! It was just like Pirsig's ghosts mentioned throughout ZMM, particularly on ZMM Page 28.4. This made Pirsig more immediate and human to me. From these accumulated experiences, I gradually shifted away from my feelings of Pirsig as author idealized-remote-inaccessible-way-up-there-some-place. Although Pirsig accomplished a heroic job, I now saw him as another person much like myself. Pirsig himself recognizes the problem of idolization: "The trouble is that essays always have to sound like God talking for eternity, and that isn't the way it ever is. People should see that it's never been anything else, ever, but you can't get that across in an essay" (ZMM Page 153.4). My point is that I, Henry Gurr, had been doing exactly this kind of idealization, for over 15 years and some 6 readings of ZMM. Indeed, Pirsig's above statement was read, understood, and agreed with, each of the 6 times. But only as a consequence of my travel to the ZMM sites, did I began to pull back from my former idolization of Pirsig. Clearly, this is important progress and insight. DID YOU GAIN INSIGHTS OR INSPIRATIONS?The ZMM insights that happen to me are, similar to that of the narrator in ZMM. While I was driving, various thoughts would come to me during the more relaxed times. Some of these were triggered by the passing scenery, such as physics teaching applications, geology illustrations or examples of social-cultural processes. But most important were the major points from ZMM, that would come spontaneously to mind, again and again: For example, my spontaneous thoughts repeatedly returned to what in essence, Pirsig says, throughout ZMM and even at the very beginning: Be in the scene right now! Be present! Absorb the now! Be present in the now! I would think of Pirsig's explanation: "I don't want to hurry it. That itself is a poisonous twentieth-century attitude. When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things. I just want to get at it [the ZMM narrative] slowly, but carefully and thoroughly with the same attitude I remember was present just before I found that sheared pin. It was that attitude that found it and nothing else. The sheared pin was caused by a previous mechanic's ‘don't care’ attitude” (ZMM Page 25.4). Slow down is one of the major themes in ZMM. The words “slow down” are used 13 times in ZMM! Pirsig’s narrator says that persons who are in a hurry don't care about what they are doing. The virtue of slowing down gradually became a primary insight during my trip. I began to see that a person in a hurry can't really enjoy what they are doing! Nor can they really do anything well if they are in a hurry. Again and again, the following ZMM words came to my mind as I was driving: “Slow down. You are going to have to deliberately slow down.” (ZMM Page 280). I repeatedly remembered and applied this statement when I found myself allowing my driving speed to creep up over 40 mph on two lane roads. I also applied this statement to the endless list of tasks I was trying to accomplish on my trip. The same theme is stressed in ZMM where the narrator asks "What's your hurry?” Chris says "I just want to get going." ...The Narrator explains "There is nothing up ahead that's any better than it is right here" (ZMM Page 42.9). A similar exchange happens between Chris and the narrator on their mountain climb (ZMM Page 189.9-190.5 & 197). Pirsig's "slow down" Produced Two Positive Results For Me:I discovered for myself, the joys of avoiding, if at all possible, the faster interstate highways and instead followed the older two lane roads. I confirmed what Pirsig says, "The older roads, parallel to the Interstates, are empty and quiet". You really do have the highway to yourself. Here you can go slowly, to enjoy being there. I discovered that over 70% of the ZMM route follows these, quiet, enjoyable, older highways. And this contributes to making the ZMM route such a fantastic experience!! Clearly, Pirsig was following his own advice when he chose these highways for his original 1968 trip. Subsequently, the very same highways were written into ZMM. My slow down produced a corollary discovery (insight). In the mountain country of Western Oregon, and Western California, the ZMM route's fantastic views are now in the isolated, hard to reach rugged mountains! Here the ZMM route follows good but twisty-windy, relatively narrow, canyon roads. In these very scenic but very remote regions, there are no parallel interstates! Here the ZMM route is the only main road through this rough back to nature area. This would be ok except for two big problems. These highways, contrary to North Dakota and Montana, have heavy traffic that wants to go at the fastest possible speed. In these mountains of Western OR and CA, my slow-down resulted in a nearly constant pile up of I'm-on-your-tail cars behind me. Passing lanes were rare, so my solution was to find the next wide spot, click right turn signal, brake hard, and come to a stop off the highway. I did this even if it was only a mile between stops.
Still, you must be aware that slow down has enemies! My ability to achieve a slow relaxed travel was always destroyed by scheduling myself to arrive somewhere at a fixed time. Whenever I told someone I would arrive on a certain date, it was inevitable that I would get into a time crunch. Despite all efforts to the contrary, I would always find unexpected, interesting important discoveries that over-used all available time. It did not seem to matter how much extra time I would allow. I ended up compromising between well-planned peaceful travel and breaking my promise to a scheduled arrival time. Those parts of my trip where I had to rush to keep on schedule were less than enjoyable. Moreover, my research records here are incomplete and what I did and saw are absent from my memory! My hard won lesson: If at all possible ... don't commit to an arrival time! Another insight, emphasized ZMM, comes from the virtues of regular mindful machinery maintenance. While driving, my thoughts often would be prompted by actual road conditions. A low gas tank is a good example:
1) "Even though you don't want to interrupt the scenery, you must get gas.”
” before you are way-out in the desert where there is no gasoline!"
2) "Even though you are stressed, tired, and just don't feel like it, DO YOUR
MAINTENANCE!”
3) "You must check engine sounds, all oil levels, radiator fluid, visually
”Inspect and carefully feel each tire all the way around. Carefully look for
”blisters, cuts, and correct pressure.”
4) "Like the narrator in ZMM, Henry, you must be mindfully and actively on
”the lookout for evidence of other potential disaster problems”.
“BE ALERT! Don't let car break-down, bring you to a halt, away from help”
“or supply of repair parts."
Two Very Real Experiences Illustrate My Actual Application Of The Maintenance Lessons Of ZMM:1) While driving the isolated California desert, 200 miles from anywhere, I heard a faint but gradually increasing grinding noise from the right front wheel area of my car. This sound indicated the onset of a potentially very serious mechanical problem. Although this problem was absolutely new to me and required every trouble shooting resource I possessed, it was resolved without serious delay or cost. Despite the threat of serious problems, I determined that my automobile still could be driven, over 300 miles, to where I could, at my convenience, ask for help. A mechanic said the grinding front wheel noise was a harmless shifting/sliding noise of my plastic front wheel hubcaps! Eight-year-old Plymouth Acclaims start doing this. 2) Later in very rural Idaho, a horrible loud persistent shrieking sound came from one of the bearings under the hood. An obviously experienced & good mechanic pointed to this shrieking bearing and told me it would soon grind itself to pieces! No large towns were anywhere close and since no Saturday PM replacement for this bearing could be found locally, I tried the only thing that was available to me: Replace the alternator/fan belt. I completed the replacement myself and the shrieking sound went away. The mechanic was reluctant to believe that the problem was solved. With repeated checks under the hood, I drove over 2000 miles home. All the bearings under the hood are still just fine. Perfectly quiet and running cool! Clearly maintenance skills helped me avoid unnecessary work, delays and cost! Messages straight out of ZMM! Also, increased “peace of mind!” Principles of Right Living are evident throughout ZMM. Clearly, Pirsig is urging us all to perform our ordinary everyday tasks as a positive enjoyable part of our life. What we do, even drudgery, must contribute to “peace of mind!” , or we are not living right.
DID YOU ENCOUNTER SURPRISES BOTH PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT?My greatest surprise was the fantastic scenery! I was astonished by the huge diversity of climates and life forms. Directly on the ZMM route, I found a whole new world of very enjoyable mind expanding experiences, practically unmentioned in ZMM such as traveling through and studying the territory of the Lewis and Clark expedition, seeing the John Day Fossil Beds, discovering a huge very nice Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, visiting, traveling through, and camping in, several of the California Giant Redwood Forests, climbing a volcanic cinder cone at Lava Butte National Park, and studying the old pioneer migration and commerce route in Southern Oregon. This was at the Corral Springs Meadow & National Forest Campground south of Lapine, OR. The list could go on and on. Just fantastic! Just full of wonder! My fantastic voyage was not at all expected! I have traveled to California by southern routes three times now and I expected this trip to be both similar and ordinary. True to ordinary expectation, North American 20th Century Culture was pervasive in every town and city I encountered. And true to ordinary expectation, cities and respective state borders were all found (ordinary) as I expected based on my map study and previous trips. And so, in these ways, my ordinary expectations were correct. Because I expected that my travel experiences, plus ZMM research job would be ordinary, I thought my primary enjoyment on this trip would be limited to my increased understanding of the ZMM book as discussed in an earlier email. Thus, I was surprised when my ZMM trip had additional thrilling outcomes. The fact that I had more time (I'm retired) and I had decided this was to be a research trip were my own mundane routes of arrival that ultimately lead me into this fantastic voyage! I must explain another surprise. On most of my travels, as in my normal daily life, I usually avoid human contact, except when necessary to purchase supplies or get travel information. I especially avoid conversations. Like Pirsig, I am a "loner." But this research trip was different. Contrary to my shy loner personality, I had to force myself to constantly talk to every person I encountered. This is because my goal was to find the actual restaurants, gas stations, motels, hotels, etc mentioned in ZMM. It thus was necessary to talk to everyone about local history, so as to determine which were the likely candidates for scenes mentioned in the ZMM book. So, the research effort, and what I found out, itself changed a ordinary trip in to vastly more challenging and interesting mode of living. Because of my ZMM research efforts, I found all kinds of friendly helpful people! This made the trip even more challenging and interesting. Experiencing the whole DeWeese family in Bozeman was a high point. Here is an email I received from Tina DeWeese. In the process, I experienced what Pirsig said in ZMM concerning people along the ZMM route: "In the heartland away from the big cities, people are different. They will take the time stop and talk and be helpful. They are not rushed to 'get some where'. " They have time". I mentioned this ZMM passage to a woman in Cook City on the Montana-Wyoming border. She agreed and said in reply, "What's the hurry. What is it that people are going to so fast for?" I also experienced the rapid pace, “too much of a hurry” ( ZMM Page 24.7), of what Pirsig calls in ZMM "Primary America” (p332.1). He found these people to have a "we’re all strangers” attitude similar to all North America Big-City People (ZMM Page 294.1). And surprise, he is correct, especially on the highways! On the western half of Oregon & California to the Pacific Coast, the pace is a much faster. I found the impatient "I'm in a hurry. I don't have time for you. I will be 'riding your tail, till you get out of my way.” While traveling on the narrow mountain highways, I felt the "I'll push you ahead or push you out of the way" from the cars behind me. MOST OF ALL, DID IT DEEPEN YOUR APPRECIATION FOR PIRSIG'S WORK ON QUALITY?Yes indeed! Quality is what keeps you going. Quality helps you improve your actions, despite trials, wherever you are. I was able to maintain interest and enthusiasm despite the heavy demands I placed on myself. I did successfully complete my goals. This in itself indicates the action of Quality and I began to appreciate this fact. This being a research trip, I was constantly looking for the real world realizations of the physical and metaphoric sights and scenes described in ZMM. I was constantly writing notes concerning the tie-ins I found. I was constantly reading and re-reading ZMM to make sure I did not overlook any of the specific detailed physical descriptions worked into ZMM's every page. Consequently, the messages of ZMM were never very far from my conscious awareness. And I could see these messages acting on me in my moment to moment activities, especially mundane ordinary activities. I consciously tried to let Pirsig's messages guide my actions. After all, I would be pretty foolish to do otherwise when I was so closely involved working with the book. And I was pleased to see the success of these very ideas at every turn of the road. I certainly thought about Pirsig's Quality the whole way. In addition to this being a research trip, I was also on kind of a ZMM Pilgrimage. This was a fact. I have already discussed "Henry, you must do your maintenance," and "go slow so you can do it mindfully and enjoy each moment of doing and being!” Quality was surely there in those times. It had to be, because I could see Quality at work.
On this trip, the external demand was the ZMM research itself. While on the trip, I had to learn how to use a digital camera; specifically, I had to gain mastery over my brand new Canon S30, learn how to download the digital camera to a totally different computer, figure out how to achieve computer internet service on the road, find every ZMM sight or scene, photograph all ZMM historical scenes, get the GPS coordinates for all ZMM scenes, make sure I don't miss a button push, make sure I read my road map correctly, make sure all my data is placed in a computer back-up, and send lots of emails to people I needed to contact. Plan ahead, Plan ahead, Plan ahead, Plan ahead! On this trip, I worked to hold in check the pressure of these external demands and counter my old habits. Also I worked on the “be here, be present in the now” .
WOULD YOU DO THE TRIP AGAIN, ON A CYCLE?As I was traveling the ZMM route, the thrilling vistas, joys, and discoveries were constantly on my mind. I repeatedly found myself thinking of ways in which the ZMM route experience could be shared with other people. As I mentioned above, whole university courses could be built around the ZMM route experience. The learning on the trip like this, would be ever so much more potent than sitting in a classroom. I have this re-occurring idea of => Leading a group of university students along the ZMM Route. Students traveling in a motorcycle group along that route would be fantastic! Right now, it is a pure fantasy! John Halbert, in a Miles City (Montana) Star Newspaper article quoted me accurately and correct to my ZMM route experience as, follows => "Both the book and the trip stand alone. The trip by itself is great. The book by itself is great. The book did amplify the trip." To this I add: The trip does amplify the book. But this only happens upon re-reading it, after I have returned home. I saw for myself the importance of Pirsig’s “slow down.” … It doesn’t matter whether you are doing your job, reading a book, building a house, or trouble-shooting a mechanics maintenance problem, “slow down!” For me, this trip is one more step in a continuing confirmation of the value and validity of the overall messages in Pirsig's book. Quality is to be applied and found in everyday life, through everyday experiences. That is what happened to me every mile & moment, of my ZMM route travel. END
HsgCompose&Post3Mar05.MinorEdits6july05,2Apr07. Minor revision by DavidM20Oct12 RevHsg2401118.
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