Song of the Open Road.

This is my last entry for a while on blogger.com. After today you can find me at

http://travelpod.com/members/packingitin

(Sorry Blogger, but Travelpod sucked me in with that interactive map...and the "support my travels" feature) :)

I hope Walt doesn't mind that I hacked apart his poem:

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

I think heroic deeds were all conceiv'd in the open air, and all
free poems also,
I think I could stop here myself and do miracles,
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever
beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.

From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that
would hold me.

I inhale great draughts of space,
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.

I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.

Allons! whoever you are come travel with me!
Traveling with me you find what never tires.

I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.


WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!