Looking For America

And we walked off to look for America
Cathy I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America

The above prose is from ‘America’ by Paul Simon, one of my favorite songs of that era.  I think of the line ‘I’ve gone to look for America’ a lot when we’re on our road trips! 

This could be the inspiration of my love of traveling but I have to believe the major inspiration of my traveling jones was my parents taking my brother and me all over the country on one two- week vacation a year. 

These days we’re not boarding a Greyhound, or hitchhiking.  We’re either camping or going the cheap motel route and looking for America.  This trip is already turning out to be an incredible verification of the great American way of life.  The way we prefer to travel is to drive the back roads through small towns and cities as much as possible and not stay on thruways and interstates.  Of course we hit the main roads some times and even traveling the main arteries we see glimpses of a beautiful country and its people.

So far, we’re only a couple of days into our trip to Maine but I have already been stunned by the beauty and the majesty of this land and its people.  Northern New York and Vermont are so beautiful, heavily wooded or far reaching farm land which reminds me of northern Michigan.  Of course Vermont also has the incredible mountains.

Chatting with fellow road warriors and people we meet, we find people with like values.  No I am not speaking about the news establishment and political establishment shrilly pushed values (liberal, conservative, right, left, social caste, race, etc).  I am speaking of people that are polite, respectful, considerate and helpful.  Here in Vermont the people are so friendly, and the little towns so picturesque it’s hard not to want to live here and it was that way in New York.  It will be the same in Maine.

It’s great to observe older people (like MaryAlice and me) and younger people excitedly talking about kayaking or hiking or visiting an area of great interest (MaryAlice and I today are headed to tour King Arthur Flour!) instead of complaining about insignificant matters or things over which they have no control.  Maybe it’s the type of people that are on the road that are more open-minded and active; maybe it’s just getting out of the routine of life that we have fallen into that forces the interactions that we normally would not have had.

Whatever it is, Bring It ON!   As Bilbo said:  “The Road Goes Ever On.”

D