Quote: John Cam Hobhouse ...

"Travel-writers are in one respect the very reverse of prophets, for whatever honour they gain is in their own country. In the regions and amongst the people whom they profess to describe, not only their errors, but their partialities, and the cause of them, their want of attention and assiduity, their blind credulity, and the weakness of the authorities on which they have confided, are too well known to allow them the enjoyment of any great reputation."

-- from Journey Through Albania and Other Provinces of Turkey, 1813

Port, Ireland ...

March, 2004. The County Donegal coast ...

Quote: Roald Amundsen ...

"I simply cannot travel into the depths of North Dakota again ... I retch when I think of it."

-- communication to F. Herman Gade, 1908

Grants, New Mexico ...

September, 2008. Out on Route 66 ...

Quote: Edna St. Vincent Millay ...

The railroad track is miles away,
And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn't a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn't a train goes by,
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I'd rather take,
No matter where it's going.

-- "Travel," published in Second April, 1921

Victoria Falls, Zambia ...

May, 2006. Crossing the border ...

Quote: Hermann Hesse ...

"The first small town on the southern side of the mountains. Here the true life of wandering begins, the life I love, wandering without any special direction, taking it easy in sunlight, the life of a vagabond wholly free. I am much inclined to live from my rucksack, and let my trousers fray as they like."

--from Wandering: Notes and Sketches, 1972

Schellbourne, Nevada ...

September, 2007. Following the LIncoln Highway ...