Christiansø, Denmark ...

July 2002. Herring-lovers' paradise ...

Quote: Tom Robbins ...

"From Whitman to Steinbeck to Kerouac, and beyond to the restless broods of the seventies, the American road has represented choice, escape, opportunity, a way to somewhere else. However illusionary, the road was freedom ..."

-- from Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, 1976

Blackfoot, Idaho ...

June, 2007. The potato museum ...

Quote: Lawrence Durrell ...

"Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them are willed or determined by the will -- whatever we may think. They flower spontaneously out of the demands of our natures -- and the best of them lead us not only outwards in space, but inwards as well. Travel can be one of the most rewarding forms of introspection."

-- from Bitter Lemons, 1957

Cay Caulker, Belize ...

November, 2004. A near-perfect beach ...

Quote: John Steinbeck ...

"Four hoarse blasts of a ship's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don't improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum."

-- from Travels with Charley: In Search of America, 1962

Montevideo, Uruguay ...

May, 2004. La Rambla statue ...

Quote: Samuel Johnson ...

"He that travels in theory has no inconveniences; he has shade and sunshine at his disposal, and wherever he alights finds tables of plenty and looks of gaiety. These ideas are indulged till the day of departure arrives, the chaise is called, and the progress of happiness begins.

"A few miles teach him the fallacies of imagination. The road is dusty, the air is sultry, the horses are sluggish, and the postilion brutal. He longs for the time of dinner that he may eat and rest. The inn is crouded, his orders are neglected, and nothing remains but that he devour in haste what the cook has spoiled, and drive on in quest of better entertainment. He finds at night a more commodious house, but the best is always worse than he expected."

from "Expectations of Pleasure Frustrated," in The Idler, 1759