The Dharma Bums (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

by Jack Kerouac

Contributed by NobleBibliophile506

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Diamond Sutra

I reminded myself of the line in the Diamond Sutra that says, "Practice charity without holding in mind any conceptions about charity, for charity after all is just a word.

Lankavatara Scripture

I hadn't yet digested the Lankavatara Scripture which eventually shows you that there's nothing in the world but the mind itself, and therefore all's possible including the suppression of suffering.

Diamond Sutra

I sat in every morning to read my Diamond Sutra.

The Complete Works of D. T. Suzuki

a slew of orange crates all filled with beautiful scholarly books, some of them in Oriental languages, all the great sutras, comments on sutras, the complete works of D. T. Suzuki and a fine quadruple‐volume edition of Japanese haikus.

Book of Tea

“Did you ever read the Book of Tea?” said he.

Cold Mountain

Translating Han Shan's great poem called 'Cold Mountain' written a thousand years ago some of it scribbled on the sides of cliffs hundreds of miles away from any other living beings.

American poetry

Japhy looked up from his cross-legged study over a book, American poetry this time, glasses on, and said nothing but "Ah" in a strangely cultured tone.

Ray's new book of poems

Haven't you seen Ray's new book of poems he just wrote in Mexico—"the wheel of the quivering meat conception turns in the void expelling tics, porcupines, elephants, people, stardusts, fools, nonsense . . .

The Bible

I thought, "What a strange thing is man . . . like in the Bible it says, Who knoweth the spirit of man that looketh upward?

Diamond Sutra

what difference does it make, Diamond Sutra says 'Make no formed conceptions about the realness of existence nor about the unrealness of existence,' or words like that.

Bible

Oh you, oh man, don't be like that. You know what it says in the Bible, 'even unto the least of these . . .

Romans 8:18

Bless both you boys for listenin to what I have to say. Remember that we know that all things work together for good to them that loves God, to them who are the called accordin to His purpose. Romans eight eighteen, younguns. And there's a new field a-waitin for ya, and be sure you live up to every one of your obligations. Hear now?

Digha Nikaya

I looked at it. It was a quotation from the Digha Nikaya, the words of Buddha.

Don Quixote

I was started on my new life with my new equipment: a regular Don Quixote of tenderness.

Bible

I took out the Bible and read a little Saint Paul by the warm stove and the light of the tree, "Let him become a fool, that he may become wise," and I thought of good dear Japhy and wished he was enjoying the Christmas Eve with me.

Diamond Sutra

White-crowned sparrows make tremendous singings in the trees, the rooster down the valley crows and crows. Sean Monahan outside, behind my back, reads the Diamond Sutra in the sun.

Migration of Birds

Yesterday I read Migration of Birds. The Golden Plover and the Arctic Tern, today that big abstraction's at my door, for juncoes and the robins soon will leave, and nesting scrabblers will pick up all the string, and soon in hazy day of April summer heat across the hill, without a book I'll know, the seabirds'll chase spring north along the coast: they'll be nesting in Alaska in six weeks.

Chinese Book of Changes

In the Chinese Book of Changes a year ago I had tossed a couple of pennies to see what the prediction of my fortune was and it had come out, 'You will feed others.

Rivers and Mountains Without End

“Know what I'm gonna do? I'll do a new long poem called 'Rivers and Mountains Without End' and just write it on and on on a scroll and unfold on and on with new surprises and always what went before forgotten, see, like a river, or like one of them real long Chinese silk paintings…”

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Places Referenced

Ryoanji rock garden, Kyoto, Japan
"interested in the famous Ryoanji rock garden of Shokokuji monastery in Kyoto."
Japan, Asia
"discuss his coming trip to Japan."
Los Angeles, California
"Hopping a freight out of Los Angeles at high noon one day in late September 1955 I got on a gondola and lay down with my duffel bag under my head..."
Santa Barbara, California
"It was a local and I intended to sleep on the beach at Santa Barbara that night and catch either another local to San Luis Obispo the next morning..."
San Luis Obispo, California
"…sleep on the beach at Santa Barbara that night and catch either another local to San Luis Obispo the next morning or the first class freight all the way to San Francisco at seven p.m."
San Francisco, California
"…or the first class freight all the way to San Francisco at seven p.m."
Camarillo, California
"Somewhere near Camarillo where Charlie Parker'd been mad and relaxed back to normal health, a thin old little bum climbed into my gondola…"
Mexico City, Mexico
"I’d bought the cheese three days ago in Mexico City before the long cheap bus trip across Zacatecas and Durango and Chihuahua two thousand long miles to the border at El Paso."
Zacatecas, Mexico
"…before the long cheap bus trip across Zacatecas and Durango and Chihuahua two thousand long miles to the border at El Paso."
Chihuahua, Mexico
"…before the long cheap bus trip across Zacatecas and Durango and Chihuahua two thousand long miles to the border at El Paso."
El Paso, Texas
"…and I ran back to my freight train which had another fifteen minutes to wait in the now warm sunny scene. But it was late afternoon and bound to get cold soon… to the border at El Paso."
New York, New York
"…in order to turn the wheel of the True Meaning, or Dharma, and gain merit for myself as a future Buddha (Awakener) and as a future Hero in Paradise. I was wandering the world (usually the immense triangular arc of New York to Mexico City to San Francisco)…"
Ohio, United States
"“How many years been since you've been home?” … “More years than I care to count I guess. Ohio was where I was from.”"
New England, United States
"And I dreamed of home long ago in New England, my little kitkats trying to go a thousand miles following me on the road across America…"
Skid Row, Los Angeles, California
"He is the kind of thin quiet little bum nobody pays much attention to even in Skid Row, let alone Main Street."
Highway 101, Santa Barbara, California
"I jumped over the side and ran across Highway 101 to the store, and bought, besides wine, a little bread and candy."
Gaviota, California
"That's right but it gits mighty cold at night when you're flyin up that coast north of Gavioty and up around Surf."
Eastern Oregon, Oregon
"Japhy Ryder was a kid from eastern Oregon brought up in a log cabin deep in the woods with his father and mother and sister"
Santa Barbara, California
"after hitchhiking the rest of the way from Santa Barbara in one long zipping ride"
San Francisco, California
"I first saw him walking down the street in San Francisco the following week (after hitchhiking the rest of the way from Santa Barbara..."
The Place, San Francisco, California
"“Where did you meet Ray Smith?” they asked him when we walked into The Place, the favorite bar of the hep cats around the Beach."
Gallery Six, San Francisco, California
"He and some other poets (he also wrote poetry and translated Chinese and Japanese poetry into English) were scheduled to give a poetry reading at the Gallery Six in town."
Nam Yuen, San Francisco, California
"This happened to be Japhy's favorite Chinese restaurant, Nam Yuen, and he showed me how to order and how to eat with chopsticks"
China, Asia
"…and became an Oriental scholar and discovered the greatest Dharma Bums of them all, the Zen Lunatics of China and Japan."
Japan, Asia
"…and became an Oriental scholar and discovered the greatest Dharma Bums of them all, the Zen Lunatics of China and Japan."
Tibet, China
"…even on to Hsuan Tsung the great Chinese monk who walked from China to Tibet, Lanchow to Kashgar and Mongolia carrying a stick of incense in his hand."
Lanchow, China
"…even on to Hsuan Tsung the great Chinese monk who walked from China to Tibet, Lanchow to Kashgar and Mongolia carrying a stick of incense in his hand."
Mongolia, Asia
"…even on to Hsuan Tsung the great Chinese monk who walked from China to Tibet, Lanchow to Kashgar and Mongolia carrying a stick of incense in his hand."
Berkeley, California
"In Berkeley I was living with Alvah Goldbook in his little rose‐covered cottage in the backyard."
Milvia Street, Berkeley
"in the backyard of a bigger house on Milvia Street."
Hillegass, Berkeley
"behind another big old house on a quiet street (Hillegass)."
California, United States
"meditate on those cool perfect starry California October nights unmatched anywhere in the world."
High Sierras, California
"in the cold mountain nights of the High Sierras in California."
High Cascades, Washington, United States
"in the cold mountain nights of the High Sierras in California and the High Cascades of Washington and Oregon on the long incredible jaunts."
North Carolina, United States
"I never forgot what you told me about how you made it in the woods meditating in North Carolina."
Kashgar, Xinjiang, China
"…even on to Hsuan Tsung the great Chinese monk who walked from China to Tibet, Lanchow to Kashgar and Mongolia carrying a stick of incense in his hand."
Durango, Durango, Mexico
"…before the long cheap bus trip across Zacatecas and Durango and Chihuahua two thousand long miles to the border at El Paso."
University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California
"then upslope toward the campus of the University of California."
High Cascades, Washington, United States
"in the cold mountain nights of the High Sierras in California and the High Cascades of Washington and Oregon on the long incredible jaunts."
Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California
"We bought the jug on Shattuck Avenue way down and went over and once more I saw his pitiful English bicycle on the lawn."
Berkeley, California
"Japhy travels around on that bicycle with his little knapsack on his back all up and down Berkeley all day,"
Reed College, Oregon
"He used to do the same thing at Reed College in Oregon."
Mount Matterhorn, Switzerland
"…in the general talk she'd inquired about our plan to climb Mount Matterhorn and said 'Can I come with ya?"
Tibet, China
"This is what they do in the temples of Tibet. It's a holy ceremony, it's done just like this in front of chanting priests."
Oregon, United States
"You know when I was a little kid in Oregon I didn't feel that I was an American at all, with all that suburban ideal and sex repression and general dreary newspaper gray censorship of all our real human values"
Everett, Washington, United States
"like anarchism in the Northwest, the old‐time heroes of Everett Massacre and all"
India, South Asia
"The Bodhisattva women of Tibet and parts of ancient India, were taken and used as holy concubines in temples and sometimes in ritual caves"
West Coast, United States
"And what I love about him is he's the big hero of the West Coast, do you realize I've been out here for two years now and hadn't met anybody worth knowing really"
Market Street, San Francisco, California
"Well as for food, I went down to Market Street to the Crystal Palace market and bought my favorite dry cereal, bulgur, which is a kind of a Bulgarian cracked rough wheat and I'm going to stick pieces of bacon in it, little square chunks, that'll make a fine supper for all three of us, Morley and us."
Oakland, California
"I went and spent sixteen dollars on it in the wilderness of Oakland Army Navy stores and drove around all day wondering if with roller-skates or suction cups you can technically call yourself a vehicle"
Berkeley, California
"His own little one-room cottage in a back lawn of Berkeley was filled with books and pictures of mountain climbing and scattered all over with rucksacks, climbing boots, skis."
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
"I'm going to be the possessor of a pale blue French sleeping bag, light weight, goose down, good buy I think, find 'em in Vancouver—good for Daisy Mae."
Tracy, California
"we drove away, about ten o'clock, toward Tracy and up to Bridgeport from where we would drive another eight miles to the foot of the trail at the lake."
Bridgeport, California
"we drove away, about ten o'clock, toward Tracy and up to Bridgeport from where we would drive another eight miles to the foot of the trail at the lake."
British Columbia, Canada
"You know, there in Canada they got them, over in British Columbia, I used to meet some on the trail."
Japan, Asia
"And then I'm going to Japan and walk all over that hilly country finding ancient little temples hidden and forgotten in the mountains and old Sages a hundred and nine years old praying to Kwannon in huts and meditating so much that when they come out of meditation they laugh at everything that moves."
Cascade Range, Washington
"I climbed some pretty big mountains up there, including a long haul up Rainier almost to the top where you sign your name. I finally made it one year. And I climbed all around the Cascades, off season and in season..."
Sierra Nevada, California
"they're boarding reindeer Greyhound specials for a pre-season heart-to-heart Happiness Conference deep in Sierra wilderness ten thousand five hundred and sixty yards from a primitive motel."
Ethiopia, Africa
"the little Moorish kingdom that was sold round to Ethiopia for seventeen thousand camels and sixteen hundred foot soldiers when Caesar was sucking on his mammy's teat"
Contra Costa, California
"I had further Three Stooges adventures with him going out to his house in Contra Costa (which he owned and rented)"
Corte Madera, California
"The black bread was good, it had been baked by Sean Monahan's wife, Sean who had a shack in Corte Madera we could all go live in free of rent some day."
Bridgeport, California
"Bridgeport is a little sleepy town, curiously New England-like, on that plain. Two restaurants, two gas stations, a school, all sidewalking Highway 395 as it comes through there running from down Bishop way up to Carson City Nevada."
Bishop, California
"Two restaurants, two gas stations, a school, all sidewalking Highway 395 as it comes through there running from down Bishop way up to Carson City Nevada."
Carson City, Nevada
"Two restaurants, two gas stations, a school, all sidewalking Highway 395 as it comes through there running from down Bishop way up to Carson City Nevada."
Highway 395, Bridgeport, California
"Bridgeport is a little sleepy town, curiously New England-like, on that plain. Two restaurants, two gas stations, a school, all sidewalking Highway 395 as it comes through there running from down Bishop way up to Carson City Nevada."
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"Or maybe he'll go to Hollywood and be a movie star, you know he said that the other day"
Mexico City, Mexico
"whenever I'd had to turn my head around involuntarily to stare at the incomparable pretties of Indian Mexico"
Berkeley, California
"the rooftops of Berkeley looked like pitiful living meat sheltering grieving phantoms from the eternality of the heavens which they feared to face"
Mount Rainier, Washington, United States
"I climbed some pretty big mountains up there, including a long haul up Rainier almost to the top where you sign your name."
University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California
"It was a cool clear Arabian Night dusk with the tower clock of University of Cal a clean black shadow against a backdrop of cypress and eucalyptus and all kinds of trees, bells ringing somewhere, and the air crisp."
Matterhorn, Switzerland
"and came out on a plain which clearly showed Matterhorn rising the highest most awful looking of the jagged peaks to the south. 'There she is,' said Morley really proud."
Bridgeport, California
"Now another incredible delay was caused as Mr. Morley decided to see if he could find a store open in Bridgeport and buy a sleeping bag or at least a canvas cover or tarpaulin of some kind for tonight's sleep at nine thousand feet and judging from last night's sleep at four thousand it was bound to be pretty cold."
U.S. Route 395, California
"The Indian wasn't very talkative but not unfriendly and told us he'd been making pretty slow time on 395."
Eastern Oregon, Oregon
"I saw all Japhy's boyhood in those eastern Oregon forests the way he went about it."
Sierra Nevada, California
"I see the picture of him alone in the mountains in that outfit: the vision: it's pure morning in the high dry Sierras, far off clean firs can be seen shadowing the sides of rocky hills, further yet snowcapped pinpoints, nearer the big bushy forms of pines..."
Forest of Arden, Warwickshire, England
"Our beautiful trail‐top park was like a little glen of the Forest of Arden."
Berkeley, California
"Ray when you're up here you're not sittin in a Berkeley tea room."
California, United States
"…the final climb over one thousand feet almost straight up boy to the top of the world where you'll see all California and parts of Nevada and the wind'll blow right through your pants."
Nevada, United States
"…the final climb over one thousand feet almost straight up boy to the top of the world where you'll see all California and parts of Nevada and the wind'll blow right through your pants."
Japan, Asia
"I'm going to teach this prayer to the monks I meet in Japan."
Houston, Texas
"I had a guy, an oil rig driver, truck, picked me up in Houston Texas one night round about midnight after some little motel courts called Dandy Courts had left me off..."
East Texas, Texas
"…I left my mammy's cabin before you knew the smell of the river and came west to drive myself mad in the East Texas oil field…"
Skagit County, Washington
"You oughta hear old Burnie Byers talk up that talk up in the Skagit country, Ray you just gotta go up there."
Berkeley, California
"Solemnly a day later he'd bring me a little bouquet of flowers picked in the street plots of Berkeley."
Matterhorn, Switzerland
"Well Morley you ready to climb Matterhorn?"
Middle East, West Asia
"You think they'll investigate the source of that recent trouble in the Mid-East, or learn appreciate coffee better."
California, United States
"Now we were at about eleven thousand feet and it was cold and there was a lot of snow and to the east we could see immense snowcapped ranges and whooee levels of valley land below them, we were already practically on top of California."
Matterhorn, Switzerland
"We finally got to the foot of Matterhorn where there was a most beautiful small lake unknown to the eyes of most men in this world, seen by only a handful of mountain-climbers, a small lake at eleven thousand some odd feet with snow on the edges of it and beautiful flowers and a beautiful meadow, an alpine meadow, upon which I immediately threw myself and took my shoes off."
Nevada, United States
"I looked back and see all of the state of California it would seem stretching out in three directions under huge blue skies with frightening planetary space clouds and immense vistas of distant valleys and even plateaus and for all I knew whole Nevadas out there."
Tibet, China
"Now the wind began to howl like the wind in movies about the Shroud of Tibet."
Swiss Alps, Switzerland
"I really was amazed by the wisdom of Morley now: "Him with all his goddamn pictures of snowcapped Swiss Alps" I thought."
San Francisco, California
"We got in the car and drove back to San Francisco drinking and laughing and telling long stories and Morley really drove beautifully that night and wheeled us silently through the graying dawn streets of Berkeley as Japhy and I slept dead to the world in the seats."
Berkeley, California
"We got in the car and drove back to San Francisco drinking and laughing and telling long stories and Morley really drove beautifully that night and wheeled us silently through the graying dawn streets of Berkeley as Japhy and I slept dead to the world in the seats."
Bridgeport, California
"I said "Let's go to Bridgeport and go in one of those lunch carts there boy and eat hamburg and potatoes and hot coffee."
Russian River, California
"like little Indian boys must feel when they follow their striding fathers from Russian River to Shasta two hundred years ago"
Shasta, California
"like little Indian boys must feel when they follow their striding fathers from Russian River to Shasta two hundred years ago"
Oakland, California
"…I said to Japhy "Well I've learned everything now, I'm ready. How about driving me to Oakland tomorrow and helping me buy all my rucksack and gear and stuff so I can take off for the desert?"
New York, New York
"…Japhy started telling his later life story, like when he was a merchant seaman in New York port and went around with a dagger on his hip…"
Marin County, California
"…"Good, I'll get Morley's car and be over to get you first thing in the morning, but right now how about some of that wine?" …"I'm goin to Marin County in a few weeks," said Japhy, "go walk a hunnerd times around Tamalpais and help purify the atmosphere…"
Tamalpais, Marin County, California
"…"I'm goin to Marin County in a few weeks," said Japhy, "go walk a hunnerd times around Tamalpais and help purify the atmosphere…"
Twin Lakes, Colorado, United States
"We drove along beautiful Twin Lakes and came to the lake lodge, which was a big white frame house inn, Morley went in and deposited five dollars for the use of two blankets for one night."
Madison Avenue, New York City, New York
"Usually I don't wash my dishes, I just wrap 'em up in my blue bandana, cause it really doesn't matter . . though they don't appreciate this little bit of wisdom in the horse‐soap building that on Madison Avenue, what you call it, that English firm, Urber and Urber, whatall, damn hell and upside‐down boy I'll be as tight as Dick's hatband if I don't feel like takin out my star map and seein what the lay of the pack is tonight."
Yuma, Arizona
"…"Now listen to me, and when you have learned the Dharma of the Buddhas of old and yearned, to sit down with the truth, under a lonesome tree, in Yuma Arizony, or anywhere you be,"
Yokohama, Japan
"…wanna live in golden pavilion temples, drink beer, say goodbye, go Yokahama big buzz Asia port full of vassals and vessels, hope, work around, come back, go, go to Japan, come back to U.S.A., read Hakuin…"
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California
"…"The Golden Gate is creaking with sunset rust," says Alvah. "And anchovies will turn to dust," insists Coughlin."
Adirondack, New York
"To be in some river bottom somewhere, or in a desert, or in mountains, or in some hut in Mexico or shack in Adirondack, and rest and be kind, and do nothing else, practice what the Chinese call "do-nothing."
Oakland, California
"He and I and Alvah drove to Oakland in Morley's car and went first to some Goodwill stores and Salvation Army stores to buy various flannel shirts (at fifty cents a crack) and undershirts."
Skid Row, Los Angeles, California
"just a minute after walking across the street in the clean morning sun Japhy'd said, "You know, the earth is a fresh planet, why worry about anything?" (which is true) now we were foraging with bemused countenances among all kinds of dusty old bins filled with the washed and mended shirts of all the old bums in the Skid Row universe."
Oakland, California
"Then we drove to the huge Army Navy store in Oakland and went way in the back where sleeping bags were hanging from hooks and all kinds of equipment, including Morley's famous air mattress, water cans, flashlights, tents, rifles, canteens, rubber boots, incredible doodas for hunters and fishermen, out of which Japhy and I found a lot of useful little things for bhikkus."
Berkeley, California
"Then we drove from the Oakland store to Berkeley again to the Ski Shop, where, as we walked in and the clerk came over, Japhy said in his lumberjack voice "Outfittin me friends for the Apocalypse."
San Francisco, California
"I was all outfitted for the Apocalypse indeed, no joke about that; if an atom bomb should have hit San Francisco that night all I'd have to do is hike on out of there, if possible, and with my dried foods all packed tight and my bedroom and kitchen on my head, no trouble in the world."
Mission Street, San Francisco, California
"I walked down Mission Street singing merrily."
Skid Row Third Street, San Francisco, California
"I went to Skid Row Third Street to enjoy my favorite fresh doughnuts and coffee and the bums in there were all fascinated and wanted to know if I was going uranium hunting."
Van Ness, San Francisco, California
"He drove me to the cafeteria on Van Ness where I got Rosie a bunch of sandwiches with his money and I went back alone and tried to make her eat."
North Beach, San Francisco, California
"The police are going to swoop down and arrest us all and not only that but we're all going to be questioned for weeks and weeks and maybe even years till they find out all the crimes and sins that have been committed, it's a network, it runs in every direction, finally they'll arrest everybody in North Beach and even everybody in Greenwich Village and then Paris and then finally they'll have everybody in jail, you don't know, it's only the beginning."
Greenwich Village, New York City
"The police are going to swoop down and arrest us all and not only that but we're all going to be questioned for weeks and weeks and maybe even years till they find out all the crimes and sins that have been committed, it's a network, it runs in every direction, finally they'll arrest everybody in North Beach and even everybody in Greenwich Village and then Paris and then finally they'll have everybody in jail, you don't know, it's only the beginning."
Paris, France
"The police are going to swoop down and arrest us all and not only that but we're all going to be questioned for weeks and weeks and maybe even years till they find out all the crimes and sins that have been committed, it's a network, it runs in every direction, finally they'll arrest everybody in North Beach and even everybody in Greenwich Village and then Paris and then finally they'll have everybody in jail, you don't know, it's only the beginning."
Colorado, United States
"Boy, all you gotta do is go to that Colorady country and take off with your pack there and a nice little Geiger counter and you'll be a millionaire."
Yukon, Canada
"Lotsa uranium up in the Yukon country too."
Chihuahua, Mexico
"And down in Chihuahua, said an old man. 'Bet any dough thar's uranium in Chihuahua."
San Francisco, California
"I put on my new flannel shirt and new socks and underwear and my jeans and packed the rucksack tight and slung it on and went to San Francisco that night just to get the feel of walking around the city night with it on my back."
Los Angeles, California
"I said goodbye to Japhy and the others and hopped my freight back down the Coast to L.A."
San Francisco Chinatown, San Francisco, California
"Here in the heart of the tremendously sophisticated little city called San Francisco Chinatown they were doing the same thing but their church was the church of Buddha."
San Jose yards, San Jose, California
"Late Monday afternoon I was at the San Jose yards and waited for the afternoon Zipper due in at four-thirty."
Watsonville, California
"I sneaked down to the east end of the yard with heavy pack slung on, and caught the Ghost as she was coming out, beyond the bull's crossing, and slept beautiful joyous sleep all the way ; to Watsonville where I hid by the weeds till highball, got on again, and slept then all night long flying down the unbelievable coast."
Los Angeles, California
"I only woke up rat about seven o'clock in the morning when the train was slowing down into the L.A. yards and the first thing I saw, as I was putting my shoes on and getting my stuff ready to jump off, was a yard worker waving at me and yelling 'Welcome to L.A.!"
Yuma, Arizona
"I walked into L.A. to wait until seven-thirty in the evening when I planned to catch the Zipper first class freight to. Yuma Arizona."
Skid Row, Los Angeles, California
"I drank coffee in Skid Row coffee houses, South Main Street, coffee-and, seventeen cents."
South Main Street, Los Angeles, California
"I drank coffee in Skid Row coffee houses, South Main Street, coffee-and, seventeen cents."
Paterson, New Jersey
"He said he was an ex-Marine from Paterson New Jersey and after a while he whipped out a little slip of paper he read sometimes on freight trains."
Riverside, California
"Then I walked to the bus station (through tracks and side streets) and caught a cheap bus twenty-five miles to Riverside."
Los Angeles, California
"It took exactly the entire twenty-five miles to get out of the smog of Los Angeles; the sun was clear in Riverside."
Riverside, California
"It took exactly the entire twenty-five miles to get out of the smog of Los Angeles; the sun was clear in Riverside."
San Jose, California
"It was just like the cop in the San Jose yards, even though it was against the law and they were trying to catch you the only thing to do was do it anyway and keep hidden."
San Francisco, California
"I added laughing remembering my poetic Zen Lunatic Dharma Bum friends of San Francisco whom I was beginning to miss now."
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
"Then I was ready for the three-thousand-mile hitchhike to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where my mother was waiting, probably washing the dishes in her dear pitiful kitchen."
India, South Asia
"This ain't India, is it," I said, sore, and walked off anyway to try it."
Riverside, California
"On the other side of Riverside I got on the highway and got a ride right away from a young couple, to an airfield five miles out of town, and from there a ride from a quiet man almost to Beaumont, California, but five miles short of it..."
Beaumont, California
"At Beaumont I ate hot dogs, hamburgers and a bag of fries and added a big strawberry shake, all among giggling highschool children."
Baja California, Mexico
"I got on a ride from a Mexican called Jaimy who said he was the son of the governor of the state of Baja California, Mexico, which I didn't believe and was a wino and had me buy him wine..."
Calexico, California
"At Calexico it was Christmas shopping time on Main Street with incredible perfect astonished Mexican beauties who kept getting so much better that when the first ones had repassed they'd already become capped and thin in my mind..."
El Centro, California
"I went to the Greyhound bus station and bought a short ticket to El Centro and the main highway."
Yuma, Arizona
"I figured I'd catch the Arizona Midnight Ghost and be in Yuma that same night and sleep in the Colorado river bottom, which I'd noticed long ago."
Las Cruces, New Mexico
"From that desert in Arizona he roared on up to New Mexico, took the cut through Las Cruces up to Alamogordo where the atom bomb was first blasted..."
Alamogordo, New Mexico
"took the cut through Las Cruces up to Alamogordo where the atom bomb was first blasted and where I had a strange vision as we drove along..."
Bowie, Arizona
"at outside Bowie Arizona we'd had a short nap at dawn, he in the truck, me in my bag in the cold red clay with just stars blazing silence overhead and a distant coyote"
Oklahoma, United States
"and then down to Oklahoma (at outside Bowie Arizona we'd had a short nap at dawn, he in the truck, me in my bag in the cold red clay with just stars blazing silence overhead and a distant coyote)"
Arkansas, United States
"in no time at all he was going up through Arkansas and eating it up in one afternoon"
Independence, Missouri
"In Independence Missouri we made our only stop to sleep in a room, in a hotel at almost five dollars apiece, which was robbery, but he needed the sleep and I couldn't wait in the below-zero truck."
Illinois, United States
"bashing across Illinois and Indiana and into old snowy Ohio"
Indiana, United States
"bashing across Illinois and Indiana and into old snowy Ohio"
Ohio, United States
"bashing across Illinois and Indiana and into old snowy Ohio"
Los Angeles, California
"Here I am killin myself drivin this rig back and forth from Ohio to L.A. and I make more money than you ever had in your whole life as a hobo"
Sinaloa, Mexico
"They were expecting a rucksack full of opium from Sinaloa, no doubt, or weed from Mazatlan, or heroin from Panama. Maybe they thought I'd walked all the way from Panama."
Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico
"They were expecting a rucksack full of opium from Sinaloa, no doubt, or weed from Mazatlan, or heroin from Panama. Maybe they thought I'd walked all the way from Panama."
North Carolina, United States
"as it was impossible to hitchhike from Ohio to North Carolina in all that winter mountain country"
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
"Then I bought a bus ticket to Rocky Mount, as it was impossible to hitchhike from Ohio to North Carolina in all that winter mountain country"
Blue Ridge, North Carolina
"in the dawn the laborious climb over the Blue Ridge with beautiful timbered country in the snow"
Mount Airy, North Carolina
"then down out of the mountains into Mount Airy and finally after ages Raleigh"
Springfield, Ohio
"he let me off in downtown Springfield Ohio in a deep cold wave"
California, United States
"In the morning I had to get the show on the road or never get to my protective shack in California."
El Paso, Texas
"Three hundred and sixty days out of the year we get bright sunshine here in El Paso and my wife just bought a clothes dryer!"
Tucson, Arizona, United States
"Soon we were in fact coming into Tucson."
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
"then Missouri and St. Louis and finally on Monday night bashing across Illinois and Indiana and into old snowy Ohio"
Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
"finally after ages Raleigh where I transferred to my local bus and instructed the driver to let me off"
Panama City, Panama
"They were expecting a rucksack full of opium from Sinaloa, no doubt, or weed from Mazatlan, or heroin from Panama. Maybe they thought I'd walked all the way from Panama."
Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
"I was standing there looking everywhichaway, eating an ice-cream cone, waiting for Jaimy who said he had an errand and would pick me up again and take me personally into Mexicali, Mexico, to meet his friends."
Saint Patrick's Cathedral, New York, New York
"The following night was Christmas Eve which I spent with a bottle of wine before the TV enjoying the shows and the midnight mass from Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York with bishops ministering, and doctrines glistering, and congregations, the priests in their lacy snow vestments before great official altars not half as great as my straw mat beneath a little pine tree I figured."
New York, New York
"Just the faintest, faintest sound of big trucks rolling out the night on 301, about twelve miles away, and of course the distant occasional Diesel baugh of the Atlantic Coast Line passenger and freight trains going north and south to New York and Florida."
Florida, United States
"Just the faintest, faintest sound of big trucks rolling out the night on 301, about twelve miles away, and of course the distant occasional Diesel baugh of the Atlantic Coast Line passenger and freight trains going north and south to New York and Florida."
New York, New York
"That week I was all alone in the house, my mother had to go to New York for a funeral, and the others worked."
Sandy Cross
"Maybe a dog barking five miles away toward Sandy Cross."
Moab, Utah, United States
"Under the stars I'd be dozing cross-legged under my tree and in my half-asleep mind I'd be saying "Moab? Who is Moab?"
California, United States
"Our old country‐store friend, Buddhy Tom, took me in his vehicle out to Highway 64 and there we waved goodbye and I started hitching three thousand miles back to California."
Texas, United States
"I've got my full rucksack pack and it's spring, I'm going to go southwest to the dry land, to the long lone land of Texas and Chihuahua and the gay streets of Mexico night, music coming out of doors, girls, wine, weed, wild hats, viva!"
Chihuahua, Mexico
"I've got my full rucksack pack and it's spring, I'm going to go southwest to the dry land, to the long lone land of Texas and Chihuahua and the gay streets of Mexico night, music coming out of doors, girls, wine, weed, wild hats, viva!"
Mexico City, Mexico
"I've got my full rucksack pack and it's spring, I'm going to go southwest to the dry land, to the long lone land of Texas and Chihuahua and the gay streets of Mexico night, music coming out of doors, girls, wine, weed, wild hats, viva!"
North Carolina, United States
"I felt like crying out over the woods and rooftops of North Carolina announcing the glorious and simple truth."
Nooksack Valley, Washington, United States
"…finally northern Washington on the farm of a friend in the Nooksack Valley, a week in a berrypicker's splitshake cabin, and a few climbs around."
North Carolina, United States
"But I was standing on the very hot April road of North Carolina waiting for my first ride…"
Greenville, South Carolina, United States
"…I got a ride from a taciturn but kindly naval officer who drove me clear to Greenville South Carolina."
Georgia, United States
"…few rides took me into the rainy night of Georgia, where I rested sitting on my pack under the overhanging sidewalk roofs of old hardware stores…"
Gainesville, Georgia, United States
"When the Greyhound bus came I hailed it down and rode to Gainesville. In Gainesville I thought I'd sleep by the railroad tracks awhile…"
Flowery Branch, Georgia, United States
"…I went out on the broiling highway and got a ride from a truckdriver to Flowery Branch Georgia…"
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
"…then a few spot rides on through Atlanta to the other side at another small town called Stonewall…"
Stonewall, Georgia, United States
"…another small town called Stonewall, where I was picked up by a big fat Southerner with a broad-brimmed hat who reeked of whisky…"
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
"The bus came at four o'clock and we were at Birmingham Alabama in the middle of the night, where I waited on a bench for my next bus…"
Louisiana, United States
"After Birmingham it was soon Louisiana and then east Texas oil fields, then Dallas…"
East Texas oil fields, Texas, United States
"After Birmingham it was soon Louisiana and then east Texas oil fields, then Dallas…"
Rio Grande River, Texas, United States
"The Southern Pacific rails run right along parallel to the Rio Grande River outside of El Paso, so from where I was, on the American side, I could see right down to the river itself…"
Chihuahua, Mexico
"I could see all of Mexico, all of Chihuahua, the entire sand-glittering desert of it…"
Chihuahua Mountains, Chihuahua, Mexico
"…under a late sinking moon that was huge and bright just over the Chihuahua mountains."
Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
"After a pleasant day spent in old Juarez enjoying the church and streets and food of Mexico."
Church of Mary Guadaloupe, Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
"…starting sanely enough in the church of Mary Guadaloupe and a saunter in the Indian Markets…"
Indian Markets, Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
"…and a saunter in the Indian Markets and resting on park benches among the gay childlike Mexicans…"
Buddha Creek, North Carolina, United States
"…like one of my dreams on the straw mat at Buddha Creek North Carolina."
Mexico City, Mexico
"I could see all of Mexico, all of Chihuahua, the entire sand-glittering desert of it, under a late sinking moon…"
Dallas, Texas
"…then east Texas oil fields, then Dallas, then a long day's ride in a bus crowded with servicemen across the long immense waste of Texas…"
Corte Madera, California
"Meanwhile Japhy was waiting for me in his nice little shack in Corte Madera California."
Nashville, Tennessee
"…from a young highschool kid who took me to a country town called Nashville, where I broiled in the sun a half-hour till I got a ride…"
El Paso, Texas
"…to the ends of it, El Paso, arriving at midnight, by now I being so exhausted all I wanted to do was sleep."
Desolation Peak, Washington
"Meanwhile 1 wrote and got an assignment for the coming summer as a fire lookout for the U. S. Forest Service on Desolation Peak in the High Cascades in Washington state."
Portland, Oregon
"During that winter Japhy had hitchhiked up to his home-country in the Northwest, up through Portland in snow, farther up to the blue ice glacier country…"
Las Cruces, New Mexico
"He took me to Las Gruces New Mexico and there I walked through the little town, following the highway, and came out on the other end"
Los Angeles, California
"and left me off in Los Angeles a stone's throw from my railroad yards at nine o'clock in the morning"
Arizona, United States
"drove all night straight through Arizona and the California desert"
Santa Barbara, California
"The local went to Santa Barbara where again I went to the beach, had a swim and some food over a fine woodfire in the sand"
San Luis Obispo, California
"I woke up under the glare of the yard office lights in San Luis Obispo, a very dangerous situation"
San Francisco, California
"I didn't wake up then till almost San Francisco in the morning."
Corte Madera, California
"Sean was a young carpenter who lived in an old wooden house far up a country road from the huddled cottages of Corte Madera, drove an old jalopy, personally added a porch to the back of the house to make a nursery for later children..."
Sausalito, California
"Sean and Japhy are both working on his job at Sausalito. They'll be home about five."
San Francisco, California
"In nineteen-fifty-two I first went into that Skagit country, hitched from Frisco to Seattle and then in, with a beard just started and a bare shaved head—"
Seattle, Washington
"In nineteen-fifty-two I first went into that Skagit country, hitched from Frisco to Seattle and then in, with a beard just started and a bare shaved head—"
Skagit County, Washington
"In nineteen-fifty-two I first went into that Skagit country, hitched from Frisco to Seattle and then in, with a beard just started and a bare shaved head—"
Crater Peak, Washington
"Here's your mountain that'll loom over you, Hozomeen. I drew it myself two summers ago from Crater Peak."
Crater Mountain, Washington
"Wait a minute, so they put me on Crater Mountain lookout but the snow was so deep in the high country that year I worked trail for a month first in Granite Creek gorge, you'll see all those places..."
Granite Creek Gorge, Washington
"but the snow was so deep in the high country that year I worked trail for a month first in Granite Creek gorge, you'll see all those places, and then with a string of mules we made it the final seven miles of winding Tibetan rocktrail over snowfields to the final jagged pinnacles..."
Desolation Peak, Washington
"Well, Ray, you're going to have a great summer up on that Desolation Peak. I'll tell you all about it."
Canada
"Desolation's way up there, Ray, six thousand feet or so up looking into Canada and the Chelan highlands, the wilds of the Pickett range, deer, bear, conies, hawks, trout, chipmunks. It'll be great for you Ray."
Chelan, Washington
"Desolation's way up there, Ray, six thousand feet or so up looking into Canada and the Chelan highlands, the wilds of the Pickett range, deer, bear, conies, hawks, trout, chipmunks. It'll be great for you Ray."
Pickett Range, Washington
"Desolation's way up there, Ray, six thousand feet or so up looking into Canada and the Chelan highlands, the wilds of the Pickett range, deer, bear, conies, hawks, trout, chipmunks. It'll be great for you Ray."
Marin County, California
"with the sun streaming in through the dense sea of leaves, and birds and butterflies jumping around, warm, sweet, the smell of higher-hill heathers and flowers beyond the barbed‐wire fence which led to the very top of the mountain and showed you a vista of all the Marin County area."
Millbrae, California
"Japhy had a girl called Polly Whitmore come out to see him, a beautiful brunette with a Spanish hairdo and dark eyes, a regular raving beauty actually, a mountain climber too. She'd just been divorced and lived alone in Millbrae."
North Beach, San Francisco, California
"Poor drunken Joe Mahoney, a friend of mine from the year before, would come out and sleep for three days and recuperate for another crack at North Beach and The Place."
California, United States
"It was really a magnificent kind of way to live in Sunny California, I realized, with all this fine Dharma connected with it, and mountain climbing, all of them had rucksacks and sleeping bags..."
Marin County, California
"and some of them were going hiking that next day on the Marin County trails, which are beautiful."
Japan, Asia
"Plans were being made for Japhy's big farewell party a few days before his boat sailed for Japan. He was scheduled to leave on a Japanese freighter."
Marin Trails, Marin County, California
"How about you and me taking off for the Marin trails after the party, it'll go on for days, we'll just bring our packs and take off for Potrero Meadows camp or Laurel Dell."
Mill Valley, California
"She was going to be married in Japhy's father's house in Mill Valley, big reception and all."
Chicago, Illinois
"with her well-dressed Chicago fiancé, a very handsome man."
Burma, Southeast Asia
"The poor guy had just come back from being a serviceman in Burma and tried to talk about Burma but couldn't get a word in edgewise."
San Francisco, California
"We went into San Francisco to deliver his bike to the freighter at the pier and then went up to Skid Row in a drizzling rain to get cheap haircuts at the barber college and pook around Salvation Army and Goodwill stores in search of long underwear and stuff."
Sixth Street, San Francisco, California
"and we went back on Sixth Street where I immediately jumped back into the same store and bought another poorboy."
Seattle, Washington
"Reminds me of Seattle!" he yelled"
Skid Road, Seattle, Washington
"I lived on Skid Road in Seattle myself, I know all about all that."
Berkeley, California
"Then we got in the jalopy and drove to Berkeley, across the rainy bridge, to the cottages of Oakland and then downtown Oakland, where Japhy wanted to find a pair of jeans that fitted me."
Oakland, California
"to the cottages of Oakland and then downtown Oakland, where Japhy wanted to find a pair of jeans that fitted me."
Skid Row, Los Angeles, California
"went up to Skid Row in a drizzling rain to get cheap haircuts at the barber college"
Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
"the poor little Mexican, who was all bandaged from a fight in Juarez the night before"
Chevy Chase, Maryland
"Marshall Dashiell is too busy cultivating his beard and driving his Mercedes Benz around cocktail parties in Chevy Chase and up Cleopatra's needle, O. O. Dowler is being carried around Long Island in limousines..."
Cleopatra's Needle, New York City, New York
"Marshall Dashiell is too busy cultivating his beard and driving his Mercedes Benz around cocktail parties in Chevy Chase and up Cleopatra's needle, O. O. Dowler is being carried around Long Island in limousines..."
St. Mark's Place, New York City, New York
"O. O. Dowler is being carried around Long Island in limousines and spending his summers shrieking on St. Mark's Place, and Tough Shit Short alas successfully manages to be a Savile Row fop..."
Savile Row, London, United Kingdom
"…and Tough Shit Short alas successfully manages to be a Savile Row fop with bowler and waistcoat, and as for Manuel Drubbing he just flips quarters to see who'll flop in the little reviews…"
Corte Madera, California
"I wondered what would ever happen if the cops in Corte Madera got wind of this and came roarin up the hill in their squad cars."
Oregon, United States
"He had had it rough too, in his early years in the Oregon woods, taking care of a whole family in a cabin he'd built himself and all the horny‐headed troubles of trying to raise crops in merciless country, and the cold winters."
Mill Valley, California
"Now he was a well-to-do painting contractor and had built himself one of the finest houses in Mill Valley and took good care of his sister."
Japan, Asia
"That leaves us dear old Japhy here who's going away to Japan, and our wailing friend Goldbook and our Mr. Coughlin, who has a sharp tongue."
California, United States
"…we sneaked our rucksacks out, with a few choice groceries, and started down the road in the orange early-morning sun of California golden days."
Muir Woods, California
"…we crossed the road and dipped down again through bushes to a trail that probably nobody dreamed was there except a few hikers, and we were in Muir Woods. It extended, a vast valley, for miles before us."
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California
"…then to the end of the dirt road, which rose higher and higher till we could see vistas of Corte Madera and Mill Valley far away and even the red top of Golden Gate Bridge."
Corte Madera, California
"…till we could see vistas of Corte Madera and Mill Valley far away and even the red top of Golden Gate Bridge."
Mill Valley, California
"…till we could see vistas of Corte Madera and Mill Valley far away and even the red top of Golden Gate Bridge."
San Francisco, California
"“Tomorrow afternoon on our run to Stimson Beach,” said Japhy, “you'll see the whole white city of San Francisco miles away in the blue bay.”"
Stimson Beach, California
"“Tomorrow afternoon on our run to Stimson Beach,” said Japhy, “you'll see the whole white city of San Francisco miles away in the blue bay.”"
Mount Tamalpais, California
"“See up there ahead, as beautiful a mountain as you'll see anywhere in the world, a beautiful shape to it, I really love Tamalpais. We'll sleep tonight way around the back of it.”"
Marin, California
"The Marin country was much more rustic and kindly than the rough Sierra country we'd climbed last fall: it was all flowers, flowers, trees, bushes, but also a great deal of poison oak by the side of the trail."
Skagit County, Washington
"“Ray, that Skagit country where you're going is the greatest place in America, that snaky river running back through gorges and into its own unpeopled watershed…”"
Alaska, United States
"“Think if you can of ocean to mountain Alaska to Klamath a solid forest of fir to bhikku in, a lake of a million wild geese.”"
Klamath, Oregon, United States
"“Think if you can of ocean to mountain Alaska to Klamath a solid forest of fir to bhikku in, a lake of a million wild geese.”"
Ryoan-ji, Kyoto, Japan
"“You remember Rol Sturlason my buddy who went to Japan to study those rocks of Ryoanji.”"
Mount Hiei, Kyoto, Japan
"“…now he's climbing up holy Mount Hiei in Kyoto through a foot of snow probably, straight up where there are no trails, steep steep, through bamboo thickets and twisty pine like in brush drawings.”"
Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto, Japan
"“Ray, I will bring you incense sticks from the cold water temple of Kiyomizu and set them one by one in a big brass incense bowl and do the proper bows, how's about that.”"
San Francisco, California
"but finally we came out on a beautiful meadow and climbed it and again saw all San Francisco in the distance."
Golden Gate, San Francisco, California
"We proceeded along the south slope of a beautiful mountain that afforded us a view of the Golden Gate and even of Oakland miles away for hours on end as we trudged."
Oakland, California
"We proceeded along the south slope of a beautiful mountain that afforded us a view of the Golden Gate and even of Oakland miles away for hours on end as we trudged."
Central Asia, Asia
"Warren Coughlin said "Too bad, he'll probably disappear into Central Asia marching about on a quiet but steady round from Kashgar to Lanchow via Lhasa with a string of yaks selling popcorn, safety-pins, and assorted colors of sewing-thread and occasionally climb a Himalaya and end up enlightening the Dalai Lama and all the gang for miles around and never be heard of again."
Cascade Range, Washington
"At noon I checked out of the hotel… and walked out to 99 a few miles out of town and got many short rides. Now I was beginning to see the Cascades on the northeast horizon, unbelievable jags and twisted rock and snow‐covered immensities, enough to make you gulp."
Seattle, Washington
"…His boat was leaving in two days… and later, in the conversation: “you'll be hitchhiking up the coast to Seattle and on through the Skagit country.”"
Kashgar, Xinjiang, China
"Warren Coughlin said "Too bad, he'll probably disappear into Central Asia marching about on a quiet but steady round from Kashgar to Lanchow via Lhasa with a string of yaks selling popcorn, safety-pins, and assorted colors of sewing-thread and occasionally climb a Himalaya and end up enlightening the Dalai Lama and all the gang for miles around and never be heard of again."
Lanchow, China
"Warren Coughlin said "Too bad, he'll probably disappear into Central Asia marching about on a quiet but steady round from Kashgar to Lanchow via Lhasa with a string of yaks selling popcorn, safety-pins, and assorted colors of sewing-thread and occasionally climb a Himalaya and end up enlightening the Dalai Lama and all the gang for miles around and never be heard of again."
Himalaya, Asia
"Warren Coughlin said "Too bad, he'll probably disappear into Central Asia marching about on a quiet but steady round from Kashgar to Lanchow via Lhasa with a string of yaks selling popcorn, safety-pins, and assorted colors of sewing-thread and occasionally climb a Himalaya and end up enlightening the Dalai Lama and all the gang for miles around and never be heard of again."
Japan, Asia
"Japhy and Psyche presumably made love in the cabin and then she began to cry and insist she wanted to go to Japan too and the captain ordered everybody off but she wouldn't get off."
Pacific Ocean, Earth
"And the freighter sailed away out the Golden Gate and out to the deep swells of the gray Pacific, westward across."
Boston, Massachusetts
"On 101 I immediately got a ride from a teacher of social studies, from Boston originally, who used to sing on Cape Cod and had fainted just yesterday at his buddy's wedding because he'd been fasting."
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
"…from a teacher of social studies, from Boston originally, who used to sing on Cape Cod and had fainted just yesterday at his buddy's wedding because he'd been fasting."
Cloverdale, California
"When he left me off at Cloverdale I bought my supplies for the road: a salami, Cheddar cheese wedge, Ry‐Krisp and also some dates for dessert, all put away neatly in my food wrappers."
Russian River, California
"I hiked about a mile after eating my lunch in back of a garage, up to a bridge on the Russian River, where, in gray gloom, I was stuck for as much as three hours."
Preston, California
"…got an unexpected short ride from a farmer with a tic that made his face twitch, with his wife and boy, to a small town, Preston, where a truckdriver offered me a ride all the way to Eureka ('Eureka!' I yelled)…"
Eureka, California
"…to a small town, Preston, where a truckdriver offered me a ride all the way to Eureka ('Eureka!' I yelled) and then he got talking to me and said 'Goldang it I get lonesome driving this rig…"
Crescent City, California
"We drove through the rainy night and arrived at Crescent City at dawn in a gray fog, a small town by the sea, and parked the truck in the sand by the beach and slept an hour."
Highway 199, Crescent City, California
"Then he left me after buying me a breakfast of pancakes and eggs… and I started walking out of Crescent City and over on an eastward road, Highway 199, to get back to big‐shot 99 that would shoot me to Portland and Seattle faster than the more picturesque but slower coast road."
Kerby, Oregon
"I walked on the same way, wrong side, got a ride at Kerby from a blond used‐car dealer to Grants Pass, and there, after a fat cowboy in a gravel truck with a malicious grin on his face deliberately tried to run over my rucksack…"
Grants Pass, Oregon
"…got a ride at Kerby from a blond used‐car dealer to Grants Pass, and there, after a fat cowboy in a gravel truck with a malicious grin on his face deliberately tried to run over my rucksack in the road, I got a ride from a sad logger boy…"
Canyonville, Oregon
"…a crazy store‐truck full of gloves for sale stopped and the driver, Ernest Petersen, chatting amiably all the way and insisting that I sit on the seat that faced him took me to Canyonville, where, as in a dream…"
Eugene, Oregon
"…took me to Eugene Oregon. He talked about everything under the sun, bought me two beers, and even stopped at several gas stations… At red nightfall he bade me farewell near a sweet pond outside Eugene."
Junction City, Oregon
"I immediately got a ride on the open highway from two tough young hombres to outside Junction City where I had coffee and walked two miles to a roadside restaurant that looked better and had pancakes…"
Portland, Oregon
"…wondering how I'd ever get to Portland let alone Seattle, I got a ride from a little funny lighthaired housepainter with spattered shoes and four pint cans of cold beer… and finally we were in Portland crossing vast eternity bridges…"
Olympia, Washington
"…we balled right up to Olympia Washington at eighty m.p.h. then up Olympic Peninsula on curvy woodsroads to the Naval Base at Bremerton Washington…"
Bremerton, Washington
"…to the Naval Base at Bremerton Washington where a fifty‐cent ferry ride was all that separated me from Seattle!"
Puget Sound, Washington
"Then, while he sat in the main room, I went topdeck as the ferry pulled out in a cold drizzle to dig and enjoy Puget Sound. It was one hour sailing to the Port of Seattle…"
Port of Seattle, Seattle, Washington
"The ferry nosed in at the pier on Alaskan Way and immediately I saw the totem poles in old stores and the ancient 1880‐style switch goat with sleepy firemen chug chugging up and down the waterfront spur…"
Hotel Stevens, Seattle, Washington
"I immediately went to a good clean skid row hotel, the Hotel Stevens, got a room for the night for a dollar seventy‐five and had a hot tub bath and a good long sleep…"
First Avenue, Seattle, Washington
"in the morning I shaved and walked out First Avenue and accidentally found all kinds of Goodwill stores with wonderful sweaters and red underwear for sale…"
Cascades, Washington
"he cried down the hollows of the unbelievable Cascades"
Olympic Peninsula, Washington, United States
"…at eighty m.p.h. then up Olympic Peninsula on curvy woodsroads to the Naval Base at Bremerton Washington…"
Highway 101, Santa Barbara, California
"On 101 I immediately got a ride from a teacher of social studies… When he left me off at Cloverdale I bought my supplies for the road…"
Highway 99, California
"…to get back to big‐shot 99 that would shoot me to Portland and Seattle faster than the more picturesque but slower coast road."
Highway 1-G, Sedro Woolley, Washington
"He left me off at Highway 1-G, which was the little highway to I7-A that wound into the heart of the mountains and in fact would come to a dead‐end as a dirt road at Diablo Dam."
Diablo Dam, Washington
"…which was the little highway to I7-A that wound into the heart of the mountains and in fact would come to a dead‐end as a dirt road at Diablo Dam. Now I was really in the mountain country."
Siskiyou Range, California
"I walked out a mile and took a nap in the woods, right in the heart of the Siskiyou Range. I woke up from my nap feeling very strange in the Chinese unknown fog."
Bridgeport, California
"He left me off at a mountain village very similar to Bridgeport California where Japhy and I had sat in the sun."
Sauk, Washington
"A Min V Bill couple left me off at a grocery store in Sauk and there I got my final ride from a mad drunk fastswerving dark lorig‐sideburned guitar‐playing Skagit Valley wrangler who came to a dusty flying stop at the Marblemount Ranger Station and had me home."
Marblemount Ranger Station, Marblemount, Washington
"who came to a dusty flying stop at the Marblemount Ranger Station and had me home. The assistant ranger was standing there watching. "Are you Smith?" "Yeah." "That a friend of yours?" "No, just a ride he gave me."
Skagit Valley, Washington
"a mad drunk fastswerving dark lorig‐sideburned guitar‐playing Skagit Valley wrangler"
Skagit River, Washington
"The Skagit River at Marblemount was a rushing clear snowmelt of pure green; above, Pacific Northwest pines were shrouded in clouds; and further beyond were peak tops with clouds going right through them and then fitfully the sun would shine through."
Diablo Dam, Washington
"I bought forty‐five dollars' worth of groceries on credit in the little Marblemount grocery store and we packed that in the truck, Happy the muleskinner and I, and drove on up the river to Diablo Dam. As we proceeded the Skagit got narrower and more like a torrent, finally it was crashing over rocks and being fed by side‐falls of water from heavy timbered shores, it was getting wilder and craggier all the time."
Newhalem, Washington
"The Skagit River was dammed back at Newhalem, then again at Diablo Dam, where a giant Pittsburgh‐type lift took you up on a platform to the level of Diablo Lake."
Diablo Lake, Washington
"The Skagit River was dammed back at Newhalem, then again at Diablo Dam, where a giant Pittsburgh‐type lift took you up on a platform to the level of Diablo Lake."
Ross Lake, Washington
"you could see immense dazzling openings of vistas that showed the Mount Baker National Forest mountains in wide panorama around Ross Lake that extended shiningly all the way back to Canada."
Ross Dam, Ross Lake, Washington
"At Ross Dam the Forest Service floats were lashed a little way off from the steep timbered shore."
Desolation Peak, Washington
"the charred snags, I was told, were still standing on Desolation Peak and in some valleys."
Mount Hozomeen, Washington
"In the middle of the night while half asleep I had apparently opened my eyes a bit, and then suddenly I woke up with my hair standing on end, I had just seen a huge black monster standing in my window, and I looked, and it had a star over it, and it was Mount Hozomeen miles away by Canada leaning over my backyard and staring in my window."
Corte Madera, California
"and it had that same unmistakable witches' tower shape Japhy had given it in his brush drawing of it that used to hang on the burlap wall in the flowery shack in Corte Madera."
Ruby Creek, Washington
"there'd been a gold rush in the 1890S in this country, the prospectors had built a trail through the solid rock cliffs of the gorge between Newhalem and what was now Ross Lake, the final dam, and dotted the drainages of Ruby Creek, Granite Creek, and Canyon Creek with claims that never paid off."
Granite Creek, Washington
"there'd been a gold rush in the 1890S in this country, the prospectors had built a trail through the solid rock cliffs of the gorge between Newhalem and what was now Ross Lake, the final dam, and dotted the drainages of Ruby Creek, Granite Creek, and Canyon Creek with claims that never paid off."
Canyon Creek, Washington
"there'd been a gold rush in the 1890S in this country, the prospectors had built a trail through the solid rock cliffs of the gorge between Newhalem and what was now Ross Lake, the final dam, and dotted the drainages of Ruby Creek, Granite Creek, and Canyon Creek with claims that never paid off."
Upper Skagit, Washington
"In 1919 a fire had raged in the Upper Skagit and all the country around Desolation, my mountain, had burned and burned for two months..."
Pacific Northwest, United States
"above, Pacific Northwest pines were shrouded in clouds; and further beyond were peak tops with clouds going right through them and then fitfully the sun would shine through."
Mount Baker National Forest, Washington
"that showed the Mount Baker National Forest mountains in wide panorama around Ross Lake"
Canada
"that extended shiningly all the way back to Canada."
Cold Mountain, North Carolina
"I remembered Han Shan talking about the fog on Cold Mountain, how it never went away; I began to appreciate Han Shan's hardihood."
Ross Lake, Washington
"In the afternoon the marshmallow roof of clouds blew away in patches and Ross Lake was open to my sight, a beautiful cerulean pool far below with tiny toy boats of vacationists, the boats themselves too far to see, just the pitiful little tracks they left rilling in the mirror lake."
Mount Baker, Washington
"…named all the magic rocks and clefts, names Japhy had sung to me so often: Jack Mountain, Mount Terror, Mount Fury, Mount Challenger, Mount Despair, Golden Horn, Sourdough, Crater Peak, Ruby, Mount Baker bigger than the world in the western distance, Jackass Mountain, Crooked Thumb Peak, and the fabulous names of the creeks: Three Fools, Cinnamon, Trouble, Lightning and Freezeout."
Canada
"Finally the snow came, in a whirling shroud from Hozomeen by Canada, it came surling my way sending radiant white heralds through which I saw the angel of light peep."
Corte Madera, California
"It wasn't the real‐life Japhy of rucksacks and Buddhism studies and big mad parties at Corte Madera, and the little prayer of gratitude he had delivered to Sean's shack the day he sailed away."
Marin, California
"…in keeping with Japhy's habit of always getting down on one knee and delivering a little prayer to the camp we left, to the one in the Sierra, and the others in Marin."
New York, New York
"…the best soup I'd eaten since I was a lionized young author in New York eating lunch at the Chambord or in Henri Cru's kitchen."
Washington, D.C., United States
"So I figured to set out for Japhy's shack in March to be nearer Washington for my summer job."
the Alps, Europe
"There she is,' said Morley really proud. 'Isn't it beautiful, doesn't it remind you of the Alps? I've got a collection of snow covered mountain photos you should see sometime.' 'I like the real thing meself,' said Japhy."
China, Asia
"I laughed thinking what would happen if I was Fuke the Chinese sage of the ninth century who wandered around China constantly ringing his bell."
China, Asia
"And we all got together with him, the poets, and drove in several cars to Chinatown for a big fabulous dinner off the Chinese menu"
China, Asia
"all kinds of weeds and dry roots bought in Chinatown and he'd boil up a mess of stuff, just a little, with soy sauce, and that went on top of freshly boiled rice and was delicious indeed, eaten with chopsticks."
Mexico City, Mexico
"Haven't you seen Ray's new book of poems he just wrote in Mexico—"the wheel of the quivering meat conception turns in the void expelling tics, porcupines, elephants, people, stardusts, fools, nonsense . . ."
Mexico City, Mexico
"To be in some river bottom somewhere, or in a desert, or in mountains, or in some hut in Mexico or shack in Adirondack, and rest and be kind, and do nothing else, practice what the Chinese call "do-nothing."
Japan, Asia
"Aw you can't give me something like this, these things come from Japan don't they?"
Japan, Asia
"He'd stay there until May 15, his sailing date for Japan, where he had been invited by an American foundation to stay in a monastery and study under a Master."
Japan, Asia
"now though he was seven thousand miles away in Japan answering the meditation bell"
Main Street, Los Angeles, California
"At Calexico it was Christmas shopping time on Main Street with incredible perfect astonished Mexican beauties who kept getting so much better that when the first ones had repassed they'd already become capped and thin in my mind..."
Virginia, United States
"He ran around up there and went out of sight to investigate the little flat top of some kind (he said) that ran a few feet west and then dropped sheer back down maybe as far as I care to the sawdust floors of Virginia City."
Long Island, New York, United States
"O. O. Dowler is being carried around Long Island in limousines and spending his summers shrieking on St. Mark's Place, and Tough Shit Short alas successfully manages to be a Savile Row fop..."
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
"In downtown Portland I took the twenty‐five‐cent bus to Vancouver Washington, ate a Coney Island hamburger there, then out on the road…"
Lhasa, Tibet, China
"Warren Coughlin said "Too bad, he'll probably disappear into Central Asia marching about on a quiet but steady round from Kashgar to Lanchow via Lhasa with a string of yaks selling popcorn, safety-pins, and assorted colors of sewing-thread and occasionally climb a Himalaya and end up enlightening the Dalai Lama and all the gang for miles around and never be heard of again."
Matterhorn, Switzerland
"“Ray what you got to do is go climb a mountain with me soon. How would you like to climb Matterhorn?” … “Great! Where's that? Up in the High Sierras.”"