On Being a Tourist (dedicated to Crusher)

I am a fucking tourist. I thought about this fact all day long after Crusher threw down the "tourist" gauntlet and I was able to come to only that one conclusion.

According to Webster's dictionary, a tourist is - "one that makes a tour for pleasure or culture."

Applying the definition to the facts, I would have to admit that I have made a tour for pleasure or culture on many occasion.

I have to admit that I love to hit the highway for road trips either on FLMNG1 or in the car. Furthermore, when I do hit the highway, I love to stop at the roadside attractions whether they be the the ball of twine (The Ball of Twine), the Thing (The Thing), Sea Lion Cave (Sea Lion Caves), the meteor crater (Meteor Crater) , the world's highest fountain (The Fountain Hills Fountain) and even (the Sun Dial). I love this stuff.

Quite frankly, the hokier and cornier it is, the more I get off on it. These places are pleasurable and an amazing study of the culture that is the United States...or the lack of culture, but even that is interesting. The U.S. may not have castles and architecture from the 10th century or temples that are thousands of years old, but damn it, we have the world's largest sun dial. You know the French are insanely jealous! Check this out, do you think they have sculptures like this in the Louvre?? (Dinosaurs) Hell, no. The Louvre is all serious with all this old art and you are expected to file by very properly and quietly admire its beauty. American art such as this is intended to elicit the emotional response of "WHAT THE F#$@ IS THAT?" Pleasure and culture all wrapped up into two giant concrete dinosaurs. I stopped. I took pictures. I would do it again. It was a hoot.

I also stopped at every possible light house between Los Angeles and Lincoln City, Oregon. Just ask Scott. It's true. Love the lighthouse and its historical purpose and signifcance. I am nostalgic about the rocky shores and the sailors out to sea approaching those rocky shores. All the lives lost on the rocks and all the lives potentially saved by the beacon and the soulful signal of the fog horn. I toured each and every lighthouse that would let me in. Out of this I received a tremendous amount of pleasure and little tidbits of history, architecture and beauty (aka culture).

However, I believe that Crusher may have meant something even more derogatory when he referred to me as a tourist. His comment came in relation to his reference to reading Kerouac. I inferred from his statement that one who read only "On the Road" was merely a "tourist" and not a real student of the meaning of Kerouac's work; a pretender. I might be. I don't know. I don't care. I can live with that.

I read the books. I enjoyed the books. But did I really gather all of the nuggets and meaning and significance out of those Kerouac novels. If, as Truman Capote said, Kerouac isn't writing, it is just typing, I got it. I read the words.

If the words of Kerouac contained something deeper and more meaningful, I can't guarantee that I got it all.

But you know what? I stopped. I took pictures. I would do it again. It was a hoot. I made a tour through Kerouac for pleasure or culture. I am a fucking tourist.