Details of the ZMM route

The ZMM journey - The route of Robert Pirsig in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
17 Days in July 1968 - Part of the Pirsig Pages of Psybertron by Ian Glendinning
Hover and Link for additional information at each waypoint on the map below.
(Info will appear in top frame. To avoid entrapment, all new links will spawn new browser.)

This is an old low-tech page that is no longer maintained.
Visit Gary Wegner’s excellent route map, complete with GPS Waypoints
Visit Henry Gurr’s ZMM-Quality site, for a mine of additional information on the journey.
Return to Ian Glendinning’s Pirsig Pages, for many other Pirsig & ZMM links

Time / Place / Narrative - Minneapolis, Minnesota. Starting out Day 1, Page 11
P11:"8:30 in the morning ... central plains, heading NW from Minneapolis toward the Dakotas". P12:"Now in July" when they started. Traveling on Honda Superhawk with son Chris aged "about 12" (aged 11 in fact, not 12 until December later that year) as pillion. Friends John and Sylvia Sutherland accompanying on their BMW. P17:"Monday morning" P27: "Four days on this prairie in July" foreseen in the early part of the trip. What is not clear from any source is precisely when in July the trip starts. Firecrackers found on day 2 suggest around 4th July, but no mention of 4th July in the narrative, so probably after. 17 day trip in total. Still July at the end. Best fit seems to be Monday 8th July 1968.

Chautauqua / Philosophy

Biographical / Reference

Time / Place / Narrative - Picnic Stop, Minnesota. Day 1, Page 16
P16: They make a mid-morning stop "to stretch". It has wooden picnic benches, but is deserted at this time of day. Seems pretty certain they were traveling up Route 55 (parallel to Interstate 94). Henry Gurr has three of Pirsig's photographs at a picnic stop though it is not clear exactly where this is. [PhotoA

] [PhotoB

Time / Place / Narrative - Breckenridge, Minnesota. Day 1, Page 35
P30: Pirsig misses a turning, despite a sign "big as a barn door". P28: He is distracted by a storm he has seen brewing on the horizon. (real and /or metaphorical ?) P35: The scenes missing the turning and the reference to "the situation in Breckenridge" make day 1 confused and highly uncertain in the book. Correspondence between Pirsig and Henry Gurr indicates the thunderstorm scene was invented anyway. Suspect this may be to cover-up some some prior bad experience in Breckenridge. We already know Pirsig is returning to the scenes of previous experience - (I wonder if maybe Breckenridge was part of that prior experience in a mental hospital ?) Henry also suggests the missed turn was where Route 55 turns sharply left (nr Elbow Lake) aiming to cross the Red River / Minnesota River into North Dakota at Fairmount - seems plausible. P31: Seems they carried on and crossed the freeway (I94) approaching Fergus Falls, before noticing and then having to turn left (on 210 ?) and cross at Breckenridge / Wahpeton.

Time / Place / Narrative - Motel nr Oakes, North Dakota Night/Day 1/2, Page 37
P37: Pirsig is traveling apparently familiar roads as they approach the town where they are to spend the night and he leads them to a Motel already known to him, even though they are not on their originally planned route (by intuition he says, by earlier memory we surmise ?). Henry Gurr notes "In the novel, the first night's motel is not specified. From the evidence it was likely on Main Street, Oakes ND. There are currently only two motels listed in Oakes, both on opposite ends of Main Street, which runs E-W perpendicular to the ND Route 1, through town. SL says the E & I Motel in Oakes, best fits the book's descriptions."

Time / Place / Narrative - Ellendale, North Dakota Day 2, Page 50
P50: Early breakfast stop at 07:15 in Ellendale.

Time / Place / Narrative - Hague, North Dakota Day 2, Page 54
P54: Pausing for gas at Hague and to enquire about alternative Missouri River crossings.

Time / Place / Narrative - Mobridge, South Dakota Day 2, Page 55
P55: Crossing the Missouri River.

Time / Place / Narrative - Lemmon, South Dakota Night/Day 2/3, Pages 62/69
P62/69 / Henry Gurr : The evening of the second day is spent camping / sleeping outside at the Shadehill Reservoir (reached by SD Rt. 73) 12 miles south of Lemmon. P63: Chris finds firecrackers (no mention of 4th July or other context ?) P69/71: Already hot at 09:00. Bacon and egg breakfast cooked over fire. Henry Gurr has Pirsig's photo from that morning [PhotoD