"Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road."
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road


Driving from Portland to San Carlos, my crew and I took an eastern route through Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and then into Mexico. We passed through the great American southwest canyon-lands country, as you see in the photo above.

Like Jack Kerouac, who inspired the beat generation, we were "On the Road" again.

But our purpose differed from Kerouac's. Kerouac always lived in the moment; his purpose was now. But Ubiquity's captain and crew were driving to S/V Ubiquity, to service her need for maintenance, to refit her to sail once again "the Sea", the Sea of Cortez, and perhaps safely sail her back to the Pacific Northwest over the biggest ocean in the world.

But to what purpose? No commercial gain. No humanitarian accomplishment. No contribution to philanthropy. The only purpose - to do it, to accomplish it, to face the challenge, to survive, living in the now.

So perhaps Jack Kerouac and the captain and crew of S/V Ubiquity differ not so greatly. Perhaps they share similar goals. Both "On the Road" in their own way, facing day-to-day experiences and challenges, both surviving - until they don't. Both living in the now.