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In a recent interview (October 27 1999) on National Public Radio's "New York and Company," writer and traveler William Least Heat Moon talked about his recent voyage across America on a flat-bottomed boat and canoe. He and his companions traveled over 5,000 miles of America's waterways from east to west, and were only out of the water for about 200 of those miles-an amazing feat. Before the trip, Least Heat Moon had spent 20 years studying and collecting maps, looking for the route. He is well-known for his previous travel narratives, Blue Highways and PrairyEarth. His recently published book, River Horse, tells the story of his immense boat journey.
"No. I would have been less than the person I wanted to be, had I backed away at that point." Anyone who's ever undertaken a long, arduous voyage, a dream-trek, knows what he means. When someone is planning a trip of this magnitude, or in the middle of it, others who are not dreaming as deeply often try to discourage the journeyer: "It's dangerous, it's foolish, it's too difficult, you should go home." True journeyers move on anyway, seeing temporary obstacles as just that-temporary. This apparent stubbornness, or foolishness, is actually born of deep desire-for a new life, a new self, a new view-which can't be satisfied in any other way. The trip is all that matters; the trip will lead to a "new place," not just physically, but in every way, emotionally, spiritually, mentally. Voyagers know that if they quit, they will not be the people they want to be, and this desire for a new self, more than anything, is often what drives them on. Go To Page: 1 |
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