A journey of unknowns ...

On Friday morning, I checked out of my Twin Cities hotel room. I had a choice: either drive straight home to Winnipeg or drive in the opposite direction down Highway 61. The idea of heading home was appealing: I'd been away since Monday and I wanted to get the drive over with and get home. That would have been the easy and efficient thing to do. But sometimes in life you need to do what isn't easy or efficient.

Life's adventures and memorable moments are found in experiences that challenge us, stretch us, cause us to doubt, and make us wonder if we can succeed. This is the essence of pilgrimage. It's a journey where the parameters are unknown. Perhaps you know where you're going, but you don't know how you'll get there, when you'll arrive, what you'll find, or how you'll get home. My journey down Highway 61 was a pilgrimage. I suspended my obsessive/compulsive need to know all the details and headed for the open road.

As I travelled this mythical highway, I passed through a few small towns and stopped in Red Wing for lunch. I continued on, and the plains and rolling hills gave way to jagged bluffs rising hundreds of feet in the air. Then, less than a mile out of Frontenac, I rounded a curve and met the Mississippi River in all its splendour.



Eventually, Highway 61 brought me to my hoped-for destination: La Crosse, Wisconsin. I walked into Dave's Guitar Shop knowing I'd find one of the best collection of new and vintage guitars in the world. But I didn't know if I'd find anything in the store waiting for me.

Later that evening, a half-hour past closing and more than five hours after my arrival, I left Dave's Guitar Shop with a relic in hand. I had no idea I would find this prize when I set out on my pilgrimage. That's at least in part what made the find so special.

I love blondes: a blonde wife, a blonde Vibro King, and now a blonde 1956 relic Stratocaster. All of them came into my life through unexpected circumstances. All of them required a journey of unknowns. Good things come in threes ... if we're willing to embrace the unexpected.

Final notes from the road:
I left La Crosse about 9:00 p.m. on Friday night. I wanted to get home, but Winnipeg was 1000 kilometres away. How far I could drive before the fatigue set in was impossible to predict. I simply hit the open road with a black-eye Starbucks in hand. I made it back to the Twin Cities, then to Alexandria, then Fargo/Moorhead, then Grand Forks. At 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, I crossed the U.S./Canada line and rolled into Winnipeg at 7:00. I'd made it home. Later that day, I introduced my new blonde to the other two.

One last note: while in La Crosse, I made sure to stop at the Bath & Body Works store and pick up some lotions and soaps for my favourite blonde!