The Hitchhiker's Pilgrimage?

Applelatchun

Applelatchun

New member
From Wikipedia- "A pilgrimage is a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith, although sometimes it can be a metaphorical journey into someone's own beliefs."

Pilgrimage, Destination, Mecca.

Is there any one place that sits atop all others? How would you fill in this blank? (Hitchhiker's Capital) "______ ," U.S.A.? Where, if any, does a place exist to make a pilgrimage to any time of the year, not just seasonal?

I've never really thought about this until now. If there isn't already such a place, we should build one. Any ideas? A train catch so far, then a ride by rubber. Or vice-versa. Aside from the walking that I do (and most of you all), I really like to kayak. Perhaps, we could find a location "downstream" from an Interstate, say ... 10-20 miles, where one must hike so far and then jump into a kayak for the final leg? A triathlon of sorts getting there, essentially paying homage to all the forms of travel hitchhikers have done. (I know, kayaking isn't a very popular means of travel, but it IS fun!) The location would be key. At this point, I wouldn't know where to begin. Colorado, Washington, North Carolina? There are so many artists here (I'm not one of them), that could work together to build some sort of structural "thing" (I'm thinking Burning Man-ish) ... not to worship or anything of the religious craziness, (or definitely not to burn down!) but as like a monument for the hitchhiker/traveler.

I dunno, I'm just fancying myself I guess. Drinking a hot cup of coffee and wanted to share the thought. Would love to hear if you all ever think about this and any ideas you may have. Cheers!
 
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Perhaps we should pick a random dying place in small town America with amazing beauty and access to all forms of travel.....Roseburg, OR? Weed, CA? Seligman, AZ? Green River, WY? Clovis, NM?
 
In my opinion these pilgrimages already exist all over the place but they usually don't have a fixed location. If you think about it, it would make sense for a "Hitchhiker's Pilgrimage" to be a moving target. So how do you find one? Well find an event with a gathering of people that you would like to attend. Where ever that is located is your destination. The further away the better.
Events like burning man, woodstock, and numerous other festivals were probably great candidates for a pilgrimage when they first started. But once events get too large and money gets involved it seems like the spiritual significance of the destination drastically falls. I've never been to Slab City but I imagine that it is the type of destination that could still be a good "Hitchhiker's Pilgrimage" for some people.
Whenever I find out about an authentic event geared towards celebrating something that is meaningful to me I tell myself that the journey there is my next pilgrimage. Once you start looking you'll find them everywhere.
 
pilgrimage to Graceland. Elvis always gives me a religious experience at the candle light vigil
 
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