Burroughs’ Interzone Found

Burroughs’ Interzone Found
Vila Nova de Milfontes, Portugal
November 1, 2007
Wade from: https://www.vagabondjourney.com/

There has always been an issue in my travels, a problem if you will:

I have an obsession with books.

That is right. I all too often find myself carrying far more books than my rucksack and back can hold. Sometimes I even think that I travel just to be able to read in peace. There are few things that I love more than sitting down with a thick old book and just reading away a day . . .or two. But this becomes a major problem when you carry your hearth and home on your back. Books are heavy. How can you carry so many heavy objects and still have the strength to climb over mountains or walk across cities? Easy:

You just need to come up with an appropriate weight training routine to build your muscles up to be the size of boulders.

No. That is not feasible.

So the only answer that I have come up with is to read through books fast, take excessive notes about them in a journal, and then pass them on to another traveler in hopes that when you run out of reading material another wanderer will be right there to replenish your supply. I know that this works, but I am still very hesitant to let books go.

A couple of weeks ago I finished William S. Burroughs’ Interzone while in Morocco. I carried this finished and noted book with me for two weeks across Spain and into Portugal looking for the appropriate traveller to pass it on to. I did not find anyone, so in exasperation after a long day of walking around Lisbon with all of my gear, I just dropped it in the street near a bus stop in Cais de Sodre. I wrote a little note in the inside cover:

To the finder: Enjoy!

Wade from Song of the Open Road travelogue

I waved goodbye to this book and thought that I would never hear of it again. I just figured that some fisherman would stumble upon it and mistake it for scrap paper to wipe the fish guts off of his hands. Well, or so I hoped. But beyond my wildest expectations I received this comment on my travelogue post, In Lisbon

Helena said…
hey there.. I’m here to notice you that I’ve found your book.. “INTERZONE” =) I’m enjoying 😉
1:21 PM
Barbara said…
I forgot to sign my name.. Helena is my best friend.. I’m barbara.. and I found your book =) I’m not really a “barbara walter” lol I don’t really speak english.. my friend is writing this and readding the book =) where are you now? in some other trip aroundthe world? =)
1:40 PM

Good on you Barbara! It was a wonderful, message in a bottle kind of feeling when I read the comment that you found and were reading the book that I left behind. It always makes me happy to pass along a book.

• William S. Burroughs
• Interzone
• Travel Books