Phaedrus' Experience 2004
Come in and join us on our ride through the past, the United States and the world of quality.
In 1974 the novel "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig was published in the USA. Having sold more than four million times within a short period, it has become the cult book among motorcyclists.
The 30th anniversary of the publication of the book inspired us with the idea to retrace the tour and the experiences gained as authentically as possible. Furthermore we would like to enhance the desire of interested people to go on the tour and hope to describe the tour in a way that makes it easily retraceable.
The tour described in the book was done in 1968 by the author and consists of 17 stages crossing the Great Plains of the Mid West and the West of the USA. The tour starts in the twin cities of Minneapolis / St. Paul and first of all leads across the Great Plains and then across the Rocky Mountains (Beartooth Pass 10948 feet) until it eventually reaches the Pacific Coast in California. From there the tour leads along the Pacific Coast until it reaches the final destination San Francisco.
Another main goal is to raise funds for charity projects. The projects we chose are "Der Weiße Ring" (The White Ring), their aim is to help victims of criminal acts (in memorial of Chris of course), "Aerzte ohne Grenzen" (Medecins sans Frontieres), an organization of doctors using their own time (holidays) and their own money (for travel expenses) to help people all over the world, especially in the poorest areas. (The man who gave me the ZMM-book is a member of this organisation.) Finally we would like to support the "Freundeskreis der FH Ingolstadt" (organization of private people raising funds to support the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences). In this special case the funds raised will be donated to Fachhochschule's Exchange Students Project with the Port Elizabeth Technikon. The purpose of this project is to enable South African students to study for at least six months at the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences.
