Monday, July 8, 2024: …After Giving His Well-Organized Photo Slide-Show Presentation, ZMM Enthusiast Mark Richardson, Rests On The Speaker’s Platform, While He Answers Questions, And Participates In The Discussion At Oakes, ND.

..We All Say Thanks To Mark Richardson, For His Excellent Presentation!!

…..ALSO, We All Give Hearty Thanks To Mark For His Excellent, Well-Written Article, With 3 Photos, Of Our July 2024 ZMM Ride!!! … A Description & Link To This Article Is Given Under The => SEVENTH PHOTO ABOVE.

Town Hall, Chamber Of Commerce, Meeting Room, 510 Main Ave, Oakes, ND 58474

NOTE: MORE INFORMATION & 4 PHOTOS CONCERNING THE =>
…7 pm: Oakes Chamber of Commerce, Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Starts At The 30th Photo In For Ian Glendinning's “ZMM50th Anniversary Ride Report”. July 2024. Click Here.
…NOTE: AFTER The Blue Link Above Comes Up, You Will See One Of Mark Richardson’s 4 Photos, Shows Him On Stage, With Microphone In Hand!

File = DSC 0068 PhotoSetOfHGUpldAug29.2025#1 OakesNDChamberCoMtWtZmmRiders Resize3318

Tuesday, July 9, 2024: … Just Before We Come To A Sign For “Moores Lake, ND, We See Another Neat View Of ZMM Riders Stretched Out Along The Road.

23 Travel Miles West Of Oakes, ND, On Rt-11, Near Silverleaf, ND.

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Tuesday, July 9, 2024: …About 1 Minute Later, At The Sign “Moores Lake, ND, We See Yet Another Neat View Of ZMM Riders Stretched Out Along The Road.
…Again We See That The Cycle Riders Are Each Stay On The Opposite Side Of The Cycle Rider Ahead.

23 Travel Miles West Of Oakes, ND, On Rt-11, Near Silverleaf, ND.

I Stopped Here To Photograph A Red-Winged Blackbird On The Green Road Marker Sign.

…A Few Moments Later, Mr. Vern Gebhardt and His Case-International Disk Harrow Rig Arrived & Stopped, For A Friendly Chat.

…"Roads with little traffic are more enjoyable, … 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.“

Luden, ND. After Oakes.ND, I also get back on the road the next morning. I stop to photograph a Red-Winged Blackbird on the green road marker sign. After studying my maps 30 minutes, a huge Case-International tractor rig with disk comes up this side read and stops. Vern Gebhardt (Gephardt? Gephart?), shuts off the engine, and comes over to my car to see if I need help. We have a long & good conversation about the wild life population cycles here. Mr. Gephardt explained his observations on the population increases and disease related population crashes in the fox vs coyote.
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(Photo = 103-0335c ...... ZMM Page = 005 ...... WayPt = 037`|w|' 1384ft)

It Is Easy to Spot a Town On the, ND. Prairie.
"This one, [the narrator’s motorcycle] despite the murderous treatment it got at the hands of those alleged mechanics, seems to have recovered and has been requiring fewer and fewer repairs as time goes on. .. There it is! Ellendale! .. A water tower, groves of trees and buildings among them in the morning sunlight. I’ve just given in to the shivering which has been almost continuous the whole trip. The watch says seven-fifteen.“
Ellendale, ND. is announced by water tower, county courthouse, buildings and trees. All trees you see are those planted for shade and windbreaks. Ellendale, like most towns in the dry dusty western regions, does not run the major highway directly down its main street and business district.
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Here's Where to Go for Breakfast and Lunch.
"A few minutes later we park by some old brick buildings. I turn to John and Sylvia who have pulled up behind us. "That was cold!" I say. .. They just stare at me fish-eyed… "Bracing, what?" I say. No answer. .. I wait until they are completely off, … and we all move toward the restaurant. .. I try again. I’m walking backward in front of them toward the restaurant, feeling a little manic from the ride, wringing my hands and laughing. "Sylvia! Speak to me!" Not a smile.“
Ellendale, ND. figures it is big enough for a stoplight in this, its main business district! Nodak Hotel name is contraction of “North Dakota”. The restaurant has taken over the whole ground floor, but the upstairs appears vacated. The varnished lobby floor reported on ZMM page 040 has apparently been covered up in the expansion of the restaurant.
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(Photo = 103-0339 ...... ZMM Page = 039 ...... WayPt = 041`|k|' 1456ft)

Very Busy, So Get Here Early.
"I guess they really were cold. .. They order breakfast without looking up.
Breakfast ends, and I say finally, "What next?" .. John says slowly and deliberately, "We’re not leaving here until it warms up." He has a sheriff-at-sundown tone in his voice, which I suppose makes it final. .. So John and Sylvia and Chris sit and stay warm in the lobby of the hotel adjoining the restaurant, while I go out for a walk..“
Ellendale, ND. Here the downtown restaurant is popular and busy, so you better come early! As I discovered, there is delayed service for those who look or act like a person trying to sell something!
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(Photo = 103-0343 ...... ZMM Page = 039 ...... WayPt = 041`|u|' 1456ft)

The Town Temperature and Flowers Clean and Fresh.

…"…now that I think of it, I’ve never been cycling with them [John & Sylvia] before one or two o’clock in the afternoon, although for me dawn and early morning is always the greatest time for riding. .. The town is clean and fresh and unlike the one we woke up in this morning. Some people are on the street and are opening stores and saying, "Good morning" and talking and commenting about how cold it is. Two thermometers on the shady side of the street read 42 and 46 degrees. One in the sun reads 65 degrees.“

Main Street Ellendale, ND. Showing the front of the Nodak Hotel and the entrance to the restaurant.
…Now-a-days, the "clean and fresh" includes a park and flowers and the large bank sign, showing the temperature. *************************
(Photo = 103-0342r ...... ZMM Page = 040 ...... WayPt = 041`|m|' 1456ft)

General Overview of Downtown Ellendale.
"After a few blocks the main street goes onto two hard, muddy tracks into a field, past a quonset hut full of farm machinery and repair tools, and then ends in a field. A man standing in the field is looking at me suspiciously, wondering what I am doing, probably, as I look into the Quonset hut. I return down the street, find a chilly bench and stare at the motorcycle. Nothing to do. .. It was cold all right, but not that cold. How do John and Sylvia ever get through Minnesota winters? I wonder. There’s kind of a glaring inconsistency here, that’s almost too obvious to dwell on. If they can’t stand physical discomfort and they can’t stand technology, they’ve got a little compromising to do.“ Ellendale, ND. The town's single remaining "Quonset Hut" (at far right with curved roof) is one block North of Main Street. Nodak Hotel is at far left.
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Its Not Very Far to the Edge of Town. "They [John & Sylvia] depend on technology and condemn it at the same time. … They’re not presenting a logical thesis, … But three farmers are coming into town now, rounding the corner in that brand-new pickup truck. I’ll bet with them it’s just the other way around. They’re going to show off that truck and their tractor and that new washing machine and they’ll have the tools to fix them if they go wrong, and know how to use the tools. They value technology. And they’re the ones who need it the least. If all technology stopped, tomorrow, these people would know how to make out. It would be rough, but they’d survive.“ Ellendale, ND. West Main Street takes the traveler to these two unused RR stations, an electric power substation, and elevator. A second huge elevator is out of view. ************************************ (Photo = 103-0340s ...... ZMM Page = 040 ...... Wept = 042`|w|' 1456ft)

Tuesday, July 9, 2024: …Upper Left, On A Wall Mounted Big Screen, ZMM Riders Watch A Video Presentation, Prepared By Ken Smith, President Of The Ellendale Historical Society.
… We Are In The Coleman Museum, Ellendale, ND.. . .And, As You See, Some Of Us (Henry Gurr Included), Enjoyed A Good Cup Of Coffee!!

…President Ken Smith’s Video, explained a bit about Ellendale’s Nodak Hotel & Café, back in the 1960's. Included were souvenir pictures of the Nodak Hotel & Cafe building as it was then.
(NOTE: The Nodak Café, in July 1968, was the ZMM Breakfast Restaurant, tor Robert Pirsig, Chris, John & Sylvia Sutherland.)

…Here, We All Say Thanks To President Smith, For His Excellent Video Presentation!!

…President Ken Smith said in an Apr 30, 2024 Email aaid =>
Unfortunately, the Nodak Hotel was torn down in 2014, but a picture of the 50th Anniversary riders at the location would be very nice. I would also like to have your group over to our Coleman Museum, it's just across the street, from where the Nodak Hotel used to be.
… Just a note--the Nodak Cafe on Main Street is long defunct and the Nodak Hotel long gone, but just this year the name Nodak Cafe was resurrected when a couple reopened an old cafe on the north side of town just off the highway. So there is still a Nodak Cafe in Ellendale, complete with a full menu, designed to be like the original Nodak Cafe in the 1960's.

…NOTE: Henry Gurr mostly does not appear in these July 2024 Photos, because he is behind the camera.
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The Coleman Museum is in the former Farmers National Bank building, which now houses photographs and artifacts from the town's history from 1882 to the present, revealing the fires, tornadoes, blizzards, agricultural advances, schools, college, military, businesses of the past and railroads.
…A) Click Here, And AFTER This Comes Up, Scroll Down To “Coleman Museum, For An Exterior Photo Of Their Building, And A Good Full Description Of Museum History & Collections & Contact Info .
…B) The Coleman Museum Facebook Photos Page Click Here. This has many photo of what it looks like inside, but you will have to choose which. And for any of the photos, there is not any description of history or persons,

File = DSC_0072 DSC_0068 PhotoStHGUpldAug29.2025#2 EllendaleNDMumZmmRiders Resixe6170.jpg

North Dakota Spring Time. "The tired feeling wears off completely and the wind and sun feel good now, making it real. It’s happening, just from the warming of the sun, the road and green prairie farmland and buffeting wind coming together. And soon it is nothing but beautiful warmth and wind and speed and sun down the empty road. The last chills of the morning are thawed by the warm air. Wind and more sun and more smooth road. .. So green this summer and so fresh. .. There are white and gold daisies among the grass in front of an old wire fence, a meadow with some cows and far in the distance a low rising of the land with something golden on it. Hard to know what it is. No need to know." West of Oakes, ND. Need photos for this area, especially showing above ZMM passage. ************************************ (Photo = 103-0336c ...... ZMM Page = 042 ...... Wept = 042i 1456ft. Photo at 038`|w|' 1413ft) Photo taken ~6 Miles East of Ellendale, ND.

Perfectly Flat Eastern North Dakota Prairie Is Changing To the High Plains. " Where there is a slight rise in the road the drone of the motor becomes heavier. We top the rise, see a new spread of land before us, the road descends and the drone of the engine falls away again. Prairie. Tranquil and detached." … Ellendale, ND. Need better photos for Highway West of here. ZMM Narrator is consistently accurate to the landscape. Need photos for what the Narrator says here, and throughout ZMM. This “undulation” may be discerned in the next five photos, where you will note hills and various aspects of not-flat terrain. Concerning this exact realism, Pirsig said in letters to his editor at Morrow Publishers my book "needs all the help it can get". Exact quote will be found in appendix to Harper-Collins 25th year anniversary edition of ZMM.
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(Photo = ...... 103-0363c ...... ZMM Page = 042 …... WayPt = 042i2 1456ft. Photo at 048`|w|' 1972ft) Photo is actually at 20 Mi West of Ellendale, ND.

House on the Prairie, Empty, Quiet, Lonely.
"Later, when we stop, Sylvia has tears in her eyes from the wind, and she stretches out her arms and says, "It’s so beautiful. It’s so empty." .. I show Chris how to spread his jacket on the ground and use an extra shirt for a pillow. He is not at all sleepy but I tell him to lie down anyway, he’ll need the rest. I open up my own jacket to soak up more heat.“
12Mi West of Ellendale, ND. is where I stopped to photograph a "Windmill & Farmhouse Scene" that may be a prototype of the “house and windmill illuminated by lightning bolt” on ZMM page 026. A photograph true to the “house and windmill with water tower and drainage ditch” is still needed. Also needed are photos to show the "water tower + drainage ditch cross road" that were supposedly after the house. The lightning bolt was on the Narrators way to Oakes, ND.
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(Photo = 103-0350 ...... ZMM Page = 042 ...... WayPt = 045`|w|' 1542ft)

House On The Prairie, Empty, Quiet, Lonely. A Good Place to "Shoot a Panorama".
…. "John gets his camera out. .. After a while he says, "This is the hardest stuff in the world to photograph. You need a three-hundred-and-sixty degree lens, or something. You see it, and then you look down in the ground glass and it’s just nothing. As soon as you put a border on it, it’s gone.".. I say, "That’s what you don’t see in a car, I suppose."
.... Sylvia says, "Once when I was about ten we stopped like this by the road and I used half a roll of film taking pictures. And when the pictures came back I cried. There wasn’t anything there. “

~12Mi West of Ellendale, ND. Having stopped to photograph this Farm House, because it had a Windmill, I Remember John’s statement above, and proceed to capture this scene with an eight shot "360 deg Panorama". John Sutherland has since become a professional photographer, and is very much interested in the Photographic Arts.
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Steps To See Above Mentioned Panorama.
…. Right Click, Select New Tab. THEN AFTER this Gallery Albums Page Comes Up, :Scroll Down To & Read Description Of => “Album 360 Degree Panoramas for Book "Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" THEN Click On The Small Photo, and AFTER this Small Photos Page Comes Up => Click on the Third narrow strip photo. AFTER this Panorama Comes Up, you will have to use the “Click&Drag” sliders at Bottom & Right to see the parts of photo off screen.
…. (Alternate: If you have already viewed a panorama in a second (new browser window), simply switch to it and choose the third Gallery Picture)

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Looking West => What Original Roads Looked Like In Pioneer Days; Just Dirt Ruts In The Deep Grass.

…."All right, tonight we’ll camp out." We had talked about it before. .. So we move down the empty road. I don’t want to own these prairies, or photograph them, or change them, or even stop or even keep going. We are just moving down the empty road. “ [End ZMM Chapter 4.]

12 Mi East of Hague, ND. The /\ Above /\ Photo shows what first original roads must have looked like in pioneer days. Click photo to get largest view and look closely to see the "dirt rut in the grass" leading to the horizon.
….On account of a fairly large “Pothole Lake” Rt-11 => Doesn't here as we might expect, continue straight (West ) ahead,,, AND (as shown /\ Above /\ Photo), go over the crest seen. In distance.
… Rt-11 could here continue straight ahead,. West to Hague, ND, AND could simply enough, curve around the edge of the Pothole. This would give least distance to pave, and far easier, safer driving!
…. .For some strange reason => Instead Rt-11 (as shown /\ Above /\ Photo), here curves 90 deg to the left, and goes an even mile to the next "Section Line", and then follows that Section Line, West for even full four miles, to the next "Section Line", only there to jog an even mile back to the North, and there-upon turn West, where the road should have already been.
…. Crazy! ….These four 90 deg turns, add four dangerous sharp curves, and a lot more road to build and maintain! LOW Quality!
…. If you don't believe me, look at your map just North of Zeeland, ND. Alternatively you could use the Satellite View, Blue Link given on 14th Photo Previous, back at Oakes, ND.

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Looking East, Back Towards Ellendale, ND. =>
….What Original Roads Looked Like In Pioneer Days (Continued)

…. “There’s nothing up ahead that’s any better than it is right here."
8 Mi East of Hague, ND. The /\ Above /\ Photo shows the-other-end-of the pioneer trail, over the crest shown in the previous photo.
….Click photo to get largest view and look closely to see the "dirt rut in the grass" coming this way from the horizon.
….Here is where Rt-11 would have 1) traveled (this way), over the hill straight (West) becoming 2) part of the gravel intersection foreground, and 3) straight line connect with Rt11, and then continuing straight West to Hague ND.
….Here is where I arrived after "jogging" 1mile South and after driving West 4 miles, then "jogged" 1 mile back up North.
….Crazy! These “jogs”, created are four dangerous 90 deg curves, in what could have been a wonderful straight safe road! (The 4th such curve, now paved is to the right of this photo.)
…. At this “dirt rut in the deep grass”, I chose not to follow "the track over the hill" shown in the /\ Above /\ Photo (and Previous) Photo): However, as shown in a Forthcoming Photo, I DID did successfully (and enjoyably) "go straight" on somewhat more promising dirt roads, several places further West, where I saw similar "jogs to the south" on my map.

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Rock Piles And Deep Undulation of the Earth
…. “Thee flatness of the prairie disappears and a deep undulation of the earth begins. Fences are rarer, and the greenness has become paler—all signs that we approach the High Plains."

2 Mi East of Hague ND The /\ Above /\ Photo reveals rock piles and endless high planes. This was one of the many huge rock piles that dot this landscape. They evidently were left all over this land after the last Glacier Age and the North America Glaciers melted back to Canada.
….Similar glacial granite boulder fields were all over my family’s farm, and all over Northern Ohio, where I grew up.
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Professor Robert Nelson Helps Us Understand =>
….How Robert Pirsig’s Writing Of The ZMM Book, Is Guided By Weather & Landscape. => Click Here &AFTER this page comes up scroll down to Article => “Weather & Landscape Serve To Telegraph Ones Inner Thinking.” Professor Robert Nelson says "I was especially intrigued by Pirsig's use of climate and geography as controlling metaphors … [&} by how conveniently changes in weather and landscape serve to telegraph or accompany changes in the drift and direction of the nameless narrator's own thinking.” (Continued next caption)

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