the dennisbecker.org
website
Commentary
Blue Highways
Probably the book that has had the most profound
effect on my life is a book titled Blue Highways.
It was written by William Least-Heat Moon.
It was published in the early 1980’s as I recall. It was a best
seller and won the Pulitzer Prize.
I learned about the book when I was up in Seattle visiting my
best friends Gary & Luli.
Luli is a voracious reader and she mentioned the book.
I was intrigued by her description and vowed to locate a copy.
I was taking an extended camping trip and from Seattle, I headed
to Glacier National Park. I
remember stopping in a small town in Idaho and found a bookstore but
they did not have the book in stock.
There are no bookstores around Glacier but after that I headed to
Yellowstone National Park and then headed towards Denver to visit my
family. The route I took
from Yellowstone took me through the Grand Tetons.
I stopped in Jackson Hole and found a copy of Blue Highways in a
bookstore there.
I started reading the book and was fascinated by
it. The author was a
college professor who had just lost his teaching position and had just
gone through a divorce.
With $400 in the bank and an old van he headed across the United States
taking what are known as blue highways.
Blue highways are secondary highways (as opposed to the major
highways, such as the interstate highways).
They usually connect the smaller towns and are colored blue on
the maps. The major
highways are colored red.
The book details his journey across the United States and the
people he encountered in his journeys.
I remember that he frequently ate in college
cafeterias since they are open to the public and the food is relatively
inexpensive. But in his
journey, he developed a way to identify the restaurants serving the best
food when he was in an unfamiliar town.
He simply counted the number of calendars on the walls of the
restaurant. His theory was
that the local businessmen would usually give a calendar to the
establishments they frequented and the restaurant owner would dutifully
hang it on the wall so as not to offend a regular customer.
In general, Least-Heat Moon found that the more calendars hanging
on the wall, the better the food was.
More important than just the food, I embraced Least-Heat Moon’s
willingness to explore new things and new experiences.
I discovered that I had already been in alignment with his outlook.
On the same trip but before I located the book, I was driving
past Butte Montana on the way from Glacier National Park to Yellowstone.
I was a bit hungry and I saw a billboard next to the freeway that
mentioned something about eating at John’s, the home of the pork chop
sandwich. Intrigued, I
decided to find the place and try one.
I got off the freeway and drove into Butte in search of a pork chop
sandwich. It turns out the
pork chop sandwich isn't really made with pork chops.
It is actually made of ground pork.
I ate one that had the traditional trimmings of mustard and
onion. It was delicious.
Later I learned that the locals refer to the place as Pork Chop John’s
and was famous throughout the state of Montana.
My wife Lucia and I made a long trip to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier
National Parks in 2008. I
drove about 20 miles out of the way as we drove from Yellowstone to
Glacier, just so I could eat another of John’s famous pork chop sandwiches
and so Lucia could experience one for the first time.
I think it actually tasted better the second time.
I am really glad that I chose to avoid the chain fast food places
and coffee shops and fond this place.
Unfortunately, I fear that these sorts of places are slowly dying out.
Even the smaller towns now have chain fast food establishments that are
driving the local establishments out of business.
After my visit in Denver, I returned to LA by
driving through western Colorado, down to the Four Corners region where
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah share a common border.
I was headed towards Mesa Verde but it was getting dark, so I
stopped at a KOA campground just north of Ouray.
It was pitch black in the campground and I was tired and I really
did not want to cook dinner. So
I decided to drive into Ouray to eat.
Ouray is a small town.
I parked my truck and walked down the streets looking for a place
to eat, keeping in mind what I picked up by reading Blue Highways.
I found a place that looked like it was frequented by the locals
and not so much by the tourists.
I ordered my dinner (I think it was a pork chop dinner).
It came with soup.
It turned out that the soup was a homemade cream of tomato soup and it
tasted out of this world. I
raved about it to the waitress and she offered to give me a second bowl,
which I gladly accepted.
The rest of the meal was quite good but did not compare with the tomato
soup. Growing up, my mother
frequently served Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup, usually accompanied
with grilled cheese sandwiches.
It was a great combination.
But the tomato soup I ate in Ouray was from a completely
different realm. I have
attempted to make my own cream of tomato soup. It was delicious but it
never compared to the soup I ate in Ouray.
Since that experience, I have attempted to try new
things and new experiences.
Some are hits and some are not.
But I would never have experienced the joy resulting from the
hits if I wasn’t willing to take chances simply to avoid a few rotten
tomatoes along the way. I
remember seeing a drama on TV years ago about a man who was dying of
AIDS. A friend asked him if
he had any regrets. His
response was that he had no regrets about the things he did in his life;
his only regretted the things he did not do.
It was a very profound statement and something we should all think
about. It doesn’t mean that
we need to climb Mt Everest or travel to the South Pole.
It can be small things, like a phone call, or a thank you, or a
hug. Think about anything
you regret not having done yet and think about how you can turn it into
an accomplishment.
On our last trip through the major National Parks
in Wyoming and Montana in 2007, we did have an opportunity to dine in a
few local establishments along the road.
During the trip, I embraced Least-Heat Moon’s travels along the
blue highways. On the way
from Yellowstone to Glacier National Park, we traveled about 70 miles
along a two lane road; a blue highway. It
was a wonderful drive. The
skies were a majestic blue.
The land was flat, with farms and ranches on both sides of the highway.
Off in the distance were mountains on both sides.
There was nothing to really Ooh and Awe about, but we did
experience the grandeur of the Montana Blue Sky country that enveloped
us. The highway passed
through several small towns and we stopped in one of them to get some
lunch. We had lunch in a
bar/restaurant/casino. I
don’t remember what Lucia ate but she raved about it.
I was glad that she had the opportunity to experience Blue
Highways. After we returned
to LA, she borrowed my copy of Blue Highways and read it.
From Glacier National Park we headed to Seattle.
We took some more blue highways to get from Glacier to the
Interstate that was going to speed us towards Seattle.
Again we stopped to get a late lunch and found another
bar/restaurant/casino. We
both ordered fish sandwiches which were very tasty and much better than
the standard fast food fish fare.
What was memorable for me is that I spotted a huckleberry shake
on the menu. I ordered one
and was immediately in nirvana.
I doubt that I will ever find this place again, but it does not
matter. There will always
be new and equally joyous experiences to be had on the blue highways.