The ZMM Narrator emphasizes the beauty of the wild flowers, "In The Mountain High Country in Chapter 11. Here is what he said : ...."Wildflowers, everywhere! These and grasses and mosses and lichens are all that can live here, now. We’ve reached the high country, above the timberline." ..... " and then below this into week-old grass and then small wildflowers, the tiny pink and blue and yellow and white ones which seem to pop out, sun-brilliant, from black shadows. Everywhere it’s like this! Little pins of colored light shoot forth to me from a background of somber dark green and black. "

Because of this emphasis, I decided to take a photograph of every flower (or flowering weed) I saw the entire ZMM Route!

The ZMM Narrator emphasizes Redwing Blackbirds much in Chapter 1. Here is what he said.:.... "There’s a red-winged blackbird. .. I whack Chris’s knee and point to it. .. "What!" he hollers.
"Blackbird!" .. He says something I don’t hear. "What?" I holler back. .. He grabs the back of my helmet and hollers up, "I’ve seen lots of those, Dad!" .. "Oh!" I holler back. Then I nod. At age eleven you don’t get very impressed with red-winged blackbirds. .. You have to get older for that. …. (three pages later) …. "There! A huge flock of red-winged blackbirds ascends from nests in the cattails, startled by our sound. I swat Chris’s knee a second time—then I remember he has seen them before."

Since the ZMM emphasized them so much, I decided I would photograph every RWBB that I could get within my camera sights. I was surprised to find RWBBs practically the whole ZMM Route! The natural range of RWBBs must be all the northern USA, from Virginia to California!

So here are my flower and Red Winged Blackbird photos along ZMM Route. If you can help me with the names of any of flowers or have other interesting information, please contribute what you can: Names of Flowers, Stories, Photos, etc. Captions for all photos in this album will be completed as soon as possible.

Following the Route of the California Gold Rush ‘49s (In Reverse Direction): This album shows Panoramas of my return trip.

Introduction: My ZMM Research, following the "ZMM Route", of coursed ended in San Francisco. On my way home to Aiken, South Carolina, I first visited Stutters Fort, Sacramento. It is still there, but now a Historical Monument. This was a good start point for following the California Trail (backwards) into Nevada and Idaho. In Idaho, now joined with the Oregon Trail, I followed both trails (backwards) from Southern Idaho to St. Louis, MO. Along the route were fantastic wide open natural landscapes, many informative local history signs, commemorative monuments (re California/Oregon Trail), and a wonderful fossil museum at the Fossil Butte National Monument.
After I left San Francisco, I traveled East on I-580 and crossed Altamont Pass by Livermore and through Stockton. In Sacramento, I was quite excited to visit the old Stutters Fort (mentioned above). Going N. East, I soon switched into the old paved road, parallel and just south of I-80. This is the old route of the California Trail over to Donner Pass. I followed the Historic California Trail (backwards) into Nevada. In fact, following the entire Historic Trail of California Gold Rush ‘49ers was a very rewarding experience! Very thrilling both for the history experienced (first hand) and the incredible natural beauty and open spaces. Altogether, my trip back was just as thrilling as the ZMM route itself, which is saying something!!
Moreover, as mentioned elsewhere in this Photo Gallery, I have one of Robert Pirsig’s old National Geographic full size wall maps on which a pre-1968 versions of the ZMM Route had been "inked-in". Significant to this discussion, the “Route of the ‘49ers’ is likewise marked on this map!
Thus, for Pirsig Pilgrims, there are multiple reasons why I highly recommend ‘49ers route. Here now are my panorama photographs taken on my return trip. Henry Gurr, June 07.

Special Note: These Panoramas were arranged and edited by Stacey Mosier. Ms. Mosier, a Graphic Arts Major at the University of South Carolina at Aiken, recently transferred to the University of South Carolina at Columbia, the "Main Campus".

Help & Details Re Photos and Panoramas.

Once I got my camera out to photograph the USCA Science Building, I decided to keep going at The Etherredge Center & Ruth Patrick Science Education Center. I did not photograph everything because the Ruth Patrick Center's own WebSite has even more photos!

This album shows photos of various Rewarding (But Non ZMM) Experiences the ZMM Pilgrim may see along the ZMM Route.

In June/July 2002 I traveled and researched and photographed the entire "route of travel" described by Robert Pirsig in his Book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (ZMM). Of the ~1800 photos taken, those chosen for this album are specifically restricted to those photos that do not illustrate ZMM.


1) Other Rewarding ZMM Route Experiences may be viewed in My Wide View Panoramas Albums.
2) More rewarding Experiences in my album of Flowers and Red Wing Black Birds along the ZMM Route.
3) My Photo Album which specifically does illustrate passages from ZMM is above.
4) Robert Pirsig in Encyclopedia.
5) If you want to see driving instructions on how to follow the "ZMM Route", you may also want to look at my ZMM Travel Guide
6) View Instructions for Slide Show Of These Photos.
7) To Contribute Information, Ideas, Stories, Photos, etc or Ask Questions Contact Me Addresses..

I share Pirsig’s preference for the back roads. Gestation of my plan was long, after the initial climactic inspiration to trace Pirsig’s original cathartic ride into history. My goal was to attempt to recreate for myself a comparable Zen experience, but I had no desire to mirror the entire trip. I knew I couldn’t. (My hat is off to my fellow countryman, Mark Richardson though.) However, on a motorcycle any road can potentially envelope us in a Zen retreat. Tracing the Pirsig trail from Minneapolis to Yellowstone would be a significant part of my Zen Summer plan.

It all began with my own son’s tortured reading of "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance." He mentioned it to me when his reading had stalled, like so many others I know (even my brother, the Philosophy major). Some have said it is turgid, quite tangled and painful to read. My son was well into the trip narrative, where it increasingly yields to the Phaedrus/Philosophy dissertation. I confided that I too had never really consumed the whole text in my original reading of the book.

Mike had facilitated my return to motorcycling twelve years earlier and now his query kick-started me into a renewed ascent of this revered motorcycle tome. Reading it again stirred my youthful memories of motorcycling. It inspired me to uncover the Pirsig trail and I plotted the route from the locations in the text (I was unaware that many pilgrims had also done).

Since my first attempt to understand ZMM, my experience had deepened and I was better equipped to appreciate the tale. Like Pirsig, I have supped at the table of academe. The cocktails of arrogance and guile nearly eroded my native curiosity and enthusiasm. I survived.

The Road Star, ELEETia 2, in this story was the fourth mount of my second motorcycle life. It survived the journey, requiring little maintenance. Soon after though, she was destroyed in an accident that nearly took her pilot. Her spirit lives on in ELEETia 3.