Robert Pirsig’s Pre 1959 ~Proposed Road Trip Routes Of Travel, Marked On An Old 1951 National Geographic Wall Map.

There Are TWO DIGITAL MAP VERSIONS #1 & #2 NOW AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING ON FLICKR.com
…These Two Digitized Photo Versions #1 & #2, Were Originally Posted In “Celebration of the 45th Year Anniversary of Robert Pirsig's Original Trek, over the roads and scenes, of what became known as the "ZMM Route", In his book ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

SIDE NOTE: The Following Passages From Robert Pirsig’s Book “Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance” Will Help You Understand Mr. Pirsig’s Thinking About Going West And Experiencing The Ocean. And From This,. Understand Why Pirsig Planned (Chose) These Map Road Travel Routes, To The West To The Pacific Ocean, The Way He Did.

‘‘‘The Following Are Three Passages From the Book “Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance” Which Well Express The Narrator’s (And Author Pirsig’s) Life-Long Goal To Be At the Pacific Ocean.. ‘‘‘ (Dear Reader: If you know of any more of the above such passages, please let me know.)

A) Chapter 22: Narrator and Chris, Have Left Bozeman, and At Lolo Pass Are About To Leave Montana and Enter Idaho.
… “All traces of the East are gone now, at least in my imagination. All the rain here comes from Pacific winds and all the rivers and streams here return it to the Pacific. We should be at the ocean in two or three days.”

B) Chapter 29: Narrator and Chris, Have Finally Arrived At the Long Anticipated Pacific Ocean: But It Is a VERY Cold Wet Let-Down!! .
… “The grey rainy skies and sign-strewn road descend to Crescent City, California, grey and cold and wet, and Chris and I look and see the water, the ocean, in the distance beyond piers and grey buildings. I remember this was our great goal all these days”.

C) Chapter 31: Along the California Pacific Ocean Coast, the Narrator Has a Nagging “Sense of Despair & Defeat”, Despite Having Achieved His Long Sought Goal!!
… “We round a sharp turn up an overhanging cliff. The ocean stretches forever, cold and blue out there, and produces a strange sense of despair. Coastal people never really know what the ocean symbolizes to landlocked inland people—what a great distant dream it is, present but unseen in the deepest levels of sub-consciousness, and when they arrive at the ocean and the conscious images are compared with the subconscious dream there is a sense of defeat at having come so far to be so stopped by a mystery that can never be fathomed. The source of it all.“,

SUMMARY:
…The Above Three ZMM Passages, as well as Mr Pirsig’s 1960’s Map (Next Below) Show His Desire To Travel the Oregon & California, Pacific Coast Highways. ‘‘‘

As stated in ZMM: “It all Goes together”

Now Available => Versions #1 Digitsed Photographic Reproductions of Robert Pirsig’s Pre 1959 ~Proposed Road Trip Routes Of Travel, Marked On An Old National Geographic Wall Map, With Printed Date 1951:

…In This Sept’13 2013, Digital Photo Map Version #1, You Will See added =>
Black Felt Tip Marker Inked-In Travel Routes of what I would presume to be proposed routes from Minneapolis to San Francisco.
You Will See =>

1) Mr Pirsig’s Pre-1959 Felt Marked Proposed Routes Of Travel, To California Pacific Coast, Via Historic Trails: Lewis & Clark, California, & Oregon.

2) As well as, What may be interpreted as Mr Pirsig’s return routes.

(Note: only the portion of the National Geographic Map that shows the routes from Minneapolis to San Francisco has been digitized.)

Explanation Of Digitized Map Version #1:=>
…This Is Very Likely Pirsig’s Own Travel Planning Map, Upon Which he Apparently (some time between ~1951 thru 1959) Added ?His Proposed? Travel Routes Marked In Black Felt-Tip Marker. This Old National Geographic Map, Was Sent To Henry Gurr, By Pirsig’s Cycle Riding Buddy, John Sutherland.

John Sutherland, 7 Sept 2003, mailed to me an old (full size) National Geographic USA Wall Map , With Printed Date 1951: July 1951: John stated that the map had been given to him by Robert Pirsig.

Upon this map was "inked-in" what appeared to be an early version of an idealized Trip West: The ink lines showed a marked route from Pirsig’s Home town of Minneapolis MN, to Yellowstone National Park, continuing via the Snake River Plane and the Columbia River Plane, to the Pacific Ocean at Portland OR, where turning south along the Ocean Coastal Routes to San Francisco. What could have been a return route from California, was mostly by way of the ‘49er’s California Cold Rush Trail thru Nevada, Idaho, & Wyoming, and then angled northeast back to Minneapolis MN.

The "inked-in" included other written notations that look like Pirsig’s handwriting, and using a black felt-tip marker, similar with which Pirsig always hand signed his typed paper letters, to Henry Gurr.

DETAILS RE THE “INKED-IN” TRAVEL ROUTE ON THIS MAP Version #1:

A) The Westward Route showed a trip from Minneapolis, South to US 14, turn west to Rapid City ND, continuing US 14 into Northern Wyoming, and Yellowstone National Park. In YSP, turn South onto US 89, then to US 26 , to Idaho Fall’s ID, and changing routes to Pocatello ID. Whereupon follow US 30 (and the Snake River Plane) thru Boise ID and on thru Pendleton OR. Then continuing (by Columbia River Plane) to Portland OR. Then follow US 99 (Now I-90) south to Grants Pass OR, changing to US 199 to Crescent City CA. Then US 101 and various coastal highways to San Francisco.

A Continued) Be sure to notice that the (above-mentioned westward route), marked on this map after Yellowstone National Park, essentially follows the Route of the Oregon Trail, and / or the Route of Lewis & Clark Trail!!

….((More information re these above Pirsig Marked Routes, are to be found with Henry Gurr’s own photos, as described at D) below. This included, The California 49er’s Gold Rush Trail!! ))

B) The Eastward (a Pirsig planned return trip?),“Inked-In Route showed a trip from San Francisco CA, thru Sacramento CA, and then continued following approximately the Route of the “ ’49 ers California Gold Rush Trail.”, which is closely followed by US 40 ( now paralleled by 1 80), to Reno NV. At Reno, you will see that the "inked-in" route doubled back ~50 miles, then circled around Lake Tahoe, to join US 40 (now also I-80) following the “California ‘49er’s Cold Rush Trail”, as follows: a) First going by-way-of the notorious Donner Pass, & then Donner Lake, and then b) Later following the Truckee River, & later c) The Humboldt River, to d) Wells NV, whereupon turns e) North on US 93 into Idaho, f) To Pick up the Oregon Trail East g) Back into Wyoming.

Thereafter the "inked-in" retraces the already inked-in marked route to Minneapolis MN. ((More information re these Pirsig Marked Routes, are to be found with Henry Gurr’s own photos, as described at D) below.))

C) There is a second additional "inked-in" route from Lake Tahoe, eastward through Nevada: It follows the towns of Fallon, Salt Wells, Carroll Station, Austin, Eureka, Copper Flat to US 93. Whereupon, the "inked-in" route turns north, and follows US 93, where it (as above) joins the above-mentioned US 93 into Idaho.

D) As mentioned at bottom of B) above, here are two links to my (HENRY GURR’s) OWN PHOTOS Re “The California ‘49er’s Cold Rush Trail”: After either of these photo pages come up, scroll down to the indicated Title Lines:

“Photos of “The California Trail”, “The Oregon Trail”,
AND
An Album 360 Degree Panoramas For Return: San Francisco To South Carolina Via California Trail & the Oregon Trail.

NOTE 1: Although the date printed on this National Geographic Map was July 1951, my own operating hypothesis is that routes Felt Tip Marke shown on this map were "inked-in" Estimated Pre- 1959, some 9 to 17 years before the 1968 ZMM Book Trip took place. I assume this partly, because Bozeman is not included in the "inked-in" route. This suggests that the planning on this map predated Mr Pirsig’s teaching at Montana State College Bozeman, which started there in 1959.

NOTE 2: Mr Pirsig says he does not remember this map. (See top of menu for these letters) Mr Sutherland said he had no idea of dates. I vaguely remember him saying he got to map sometime before their 1968 ZMM Book Trip. However, I need to check my paper notes on this.

NOTE 3: Since this National Geographic USA Wall Map dates “way back”, the highway route numbers I have given above, are correct for 1964, from my more available World Book Encyclopedia, With the town names given above, you can easily travel these routes, by looking them up on current day maps. For example, suppose you want to travel the Route of the ‘49er’s California Gold Rush Trail: To find a good map, ask Google Maps for [ Donner Pass Road, Truckee, CA. ] You will know you have the correct map if it shows Donner Pass and Donner Lake. Now, on this map with large enough “zoom in”, you will see, paralleling I-90 a secondary road, which is actually (pretty close) the old road bed of the 49er’s Gold Rush Trail!! Although now a very nice highway, this was once (before I-80) the MAIN road over the High Sierras from Sacramento to Reno. To travel this road, is quite a trip back into history!! To travel this old road where it still exists, is what is recommended by Pirsig, because: => It has curves and vistas, & low traffic, since those in a hurry, ie everyone, are on the parallel interstate!! Also, see the ZMM quote at Note 4 below.)

NOTE 4: On your above mentioned, Google Map look back west ~50 miles at Rollins Reservoir: You see it is called Norton Grade Road, then looking toward the East, Magra Road, and then later, Gold Run School Road: Note that at Ridge Road you will have to follow I-80, until you can get onto Donner Pass Road: At this point the scenery gets FANTASTIC!!! At the summit, you can pull off to right at a ski lift, to wander the bolder fields and see the RR tunnel. You can continue on this road, on by Donner Lake to where you can pick up I-80, the construction of which pretty much has eliminated the older road for most of the next 300 miles.

NOTE 4 CONT: After either of the following pages comes up, scroll down to title indicated:
”My Photos of “The California Trail”, “The Oregon Trail”,
AND
”An Album 360 Degree Panoramas For Return: San Francisco To South Carolina Via California Trail & the Oregon Trail.."

:When Considering What Roads Mr. Pirsig Chooses, We Need To Remember That =>
…In ZMM Chapter 1, Author Robert Pirsig Says: What Is Best And What Roads Are Best!!

“ …[When we travel] Plans are deliberately indefinite, more to travel than to arrive anywhere. We are just vacationing. Secondary roads are preferred. Paved county roads are the best, state highways are next. Freeways are the worst. We want to make good time, but for us now this is measured with emphasis on "good" rather than "time" and when you make that shift in emphasis the whole approach changes. Twisting hilly roads are long in terms of seconds but are much more enjoyable on a cycle where you bank into turns and don’t get swung from side to side in any compartment. Roads with little traffic are more enjoyable, as well as safer. Roads free of drive-ins and billboards are better, roads where groves and meadows and orchards and lawns come almost to the shoulder, where kids wave to you when you ride by, where people look from their porches to see who it is, where when you stop to ask directions or information the answer tends to be longer than you want rather than short, where people ask where you’re from and how long you’ve been riding.

It was some years ago that my wife and I and our friends first began to catch on to these roads. We took them once in a while for variety or for a shortcut to another main highway, and each time the scenery was grand and we left the road with a feeling of relaxation and enjoyment. We did this time after time before realizing what should have been obvious: these roads are truly different from the main ones. The whole pace of life and personality of the people who live along them are different. They’re not going anywhere. They’re not too busy to be courteous. The hereness and nowness of things is something they know all about. It’s the others, the ones who moved to the cities years ago and their lost offspring, who have all but forgotten it. The discovery was a real find.

I’ve wondered why it took us so long to catch on. We saw it and yet we didn’t see it. Or rather we were trained not to see it. Conned, perhaps, into thinking that the real action was metropolitan and all this was just boring hinterland. It was a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I’m looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling. …”

There is the remaining topic as to WHY the ZMM Narrator made an abrupt and major right-angle change of travel direction at Prineville Junction, Oregon.

This is where the ZMM Narrator reports his severe depression and fatigue, where he sat on this “ .. nothing curb, by some nothing gravel, at a nothing intersection…. “ !!

‘‘‘So …. What happened?’‘‘ Mr. Pirsig letter to me dated 13 Feb 07, says this about the abrupt change:
Dear Prof. Gurr .. I think that I remember that the reason for turning south at Prineville Junction is that I wanted Chris to see Crater Lake.

This is an important clue, but, must await a later discussion, when I have more time. When this is done, this will be posted +. Henry Gurr’s new ZMMQ Page “Why Robert Pirsig & Chris, Made An Abrupt Change of Plans, at Prineville Junction, and instead of continuing to travel west (as Felt Tip Marke shown on this Wall Ma, Turned 90 degrees, and went to Crater Lake, and took a shorter route to the Pacific Coast, at ~ the California Northern Border. This will show how map routes,fits other VERY IMPORTANT facts in ZMM, and will posted at URL ~= ProfessorGurr/Documents/ZmmAbruptTurnSouth.

Sincerely

Henry Gurr

Website Master for ZMM Quality
http://VentureArte.org

Click here to View Map Version #1 As Described Above. ATTENTION: You will have to click on the map to get the largest version, and THEN hold down CTRL and press the + Key several times, until you can read the somewhat blurry town names. Captions under the Flickr Map shown are slightly obsolete.

END “In Celebration of 45 Years after Robert Pirsig’s 1968 Original ZMM Trip”

Continued from the above:

DIGITAL MAP VERSION #2 ,NOW AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING ON FLICKR.com

Now Available => A SECOND DIFFERENT Versions #2 Digitized Map An Illustration of Robert Pirsig’s Estimated Pre 1959 Proposed (And Completed) Road Trip Routes Of Travel, Marked On An Old National Geographic Wall Map, With Printed Date 1951. In This Sept’13 2013, Digital Photo Map Version #2.

You Will See =>

1) Mr Pirsig’s Pre-1959 Felt Marked Proposed Routes Of Travel, To California Pacific Coast, Via Historic Trails: Lewis & Clark, California, & Oregon.

2) As well as, What may be interpreted as Mr Pirsig’s return routes.

Note 1) & 2) above are discussed above, & shown on Map Version #1)

B) The Map Version #2 Shows ‘‘‘IN ADDITION’‘‘, The Following =>

1) Mr Pursig’s 1968 ZMM Book Trip, AND

2) Mr Pirsig’s 1968 ZMM Return Trip From North Hollywood, CA,

C) After Pirsig & His Son Chris Had Completed Their ZMM Trek, Their Travel Was Extended a Fiends Home In North Hollywood CA.

Explanation Of Digitized Map Version #1:=>
…This Is Most Probably a Robert Pirsig’s Travel Planning Map Upon Which he, (apparently sometime 1951 thru 1959) Added ?Proposed? Travel Routes Traced In Black Felt-Tip Marker. This Old National Geographic Map, was sent to me, Henry Gurr, By Pirsig’s Cycle Riding Buddy, John Sutherland.

SIDE NOTE1: This explanation is a continuation of the above Version #1 Digitized Photo Copy, of old Felt Tip Marke marked 1951 National Geographic Map, which shows what may have been an early envisioning of what Mr. Pirsig would like to see “Out West”!! These ideas circa mid 1950’s, still circulating in his mind, eventually must have coalesced into what became “The Roads and Scenes”, first actually traveled on his cycle with his son Chris, and then 7 years published as, described in his book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. :!!
;;;Thus it is … The physically traveled routes (which are published in ZMM), were pretty much a re-creation of what was Felt Tip Marked on this 1951 National Geographic Map, some 17 to 9 years,later!!
…And as mentioned in 1) just above, these routes, so illustrated on this Map, are VERY interesting, because much of what was at first envisioned and illustrated there, came to pass, in a most marvelous way, on the roads traveled by Mr. Pirsig and so marvelously described in his book, ’Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’’ !

DUPLICATED FROM ABOVE: SIDE NOTE2: You will discover that it is near impossible to adequately view this map using the Flicker Photo Viewer, Using Your Internet Browser: Therefore, For best viewing, click to download and save this above Photo.jpg into your computer, and then File Open onto your favorite Computer Photo Viewer: For this, I highly recommend you use IrfanViedw.com Photo Viewer & Photo Editor. It’s the nearest you will get to Adobe’s PhotoShop, for free!!! IrfanView is a simple to use, but highly powerful, reliable problem free, internet download, save, & install. Try It! You Will Like It!

DUPLICATED FROM ABOVE::SIDE NOTE3: Since this digital version of the original printed paper map, is not sharp enough to adequately read the Town Names, or see the Road Traces, you should have handy a good up-to-date Paper Road Atlas, which shows the present day existing roads & Interstate Highways, since this digital copy of this 1951 map, does not adequately show them.

PS: There are good reasons to have your own good up-to-date highway map of the USA States illustrated in these two Flickr.com Maps.

!) Due to lack of needed resolution of the Flickr versions, is very hard to read either the town names or road rout numbers.

2) The Town Names I placed in Blue Box along these routes, only partly match those towns actually given in ZMM by Pirsig. You need a good modern map to find those ZMM Route Towns, I was not able to Blue Box on the second Flickr Map versions

3) Highway wise, MUCH has changed since 1951! Highways and Route Numbers given on the Flickr versions have greatly changed: If you want to see what exists now, an up-to-date map is necessary, since this digital copy of this 1951 map, does not adequately show them!

4) The biggest reason for the changes of 3) above, is the USA Road Construction of the Interstate Highway System, starting in 1964, with “The President Dwight Eisenhower Highway Bill.

DUPLICATED FROM ABOVE: SIDE NOTE4: For Above Flickr.jpg, Map Versions #1 & #2, I am planning a “Viewing Help & Details User’s Guide”: It will take quite a while till I can get to doing this, so if you need this sooner please email me.

Sincerely

Henry Gurr, SiteMaster of => http://VentureArete.org
Noon, 12 Sept, 2013 Rev 22 June 2018.

Click here to View Map Version #2 As Described Above. ATTETION: You will have to click on the map to get the largest version, and THEN hold down CTRL and press the + Key several times, until you can read the somewhat blurry town names. Captions under the Flickr Map shown are slightly obsolete..

Composed by Henry Gurr 23 Sept 2013, with major rev’s June 22 2018 & July 2 201. On Jan 18 2024, Henry Gurr Check & See That YES Posted = This Below (at bottom) Saved Version File =>
File = WikiZmmq}PirsigMrkNgMapFmSutherRoadTripsWestFlkrFbCapImpvV24RPG01 HsgRev03.doc
PrevFile = WikiZmmq}PirsigMrkNgMapFmSutherRoadTripsWestFlkrFbCapImpvV24RPG01.doc

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