Go West

After an unsuccessful attempt at high school today I finally managed to finish Kerouac's On the Road, the so-called Bible of the beat generation. The reason it was so tiring is that there are lots of guys in it, Carlo Marx, Tommy Snark, Roland Major, and so on, and after a while I couldn't follow who was who. Plus I have to admit that all the boozing and womanizing didn't particularly move me. Maybe after working about 9 months now I've become a conformist, I don't know.
I don't even know what the beat generation means. Not much to me. I 've read about them, not them. For example I haven't read Howl, shame on me. All I know is they were the guys of the 50s, preceeding hippies, and like the hippies, they got into all kinds of weird things, mostly drugs.
There's this guy, Sal Paradise, who meets this "madman" Dean Moriarty and decides to follow him. I think Moriarty stands for the whole generation, moreover, the whole American temperament. You know, all this restlessness and drive... Moriarty keeps yelling "Dig that cat" and "Yass" throughout the story. Whereever he goes, he feels the urge to copulate, and not only that but he actually keeps marrying, divorcing and re-marrying girls across the country. Sal Paradise seems a kind of copycat to me as he never comes up with an original and truly mad idea, except for going to Italy perhaps, which they fail to do. He looks up to Dean as upon a childhood hero, and actually he can't do anything with his life.
The thing that I really liked is the idea of experiencing the world. They don't go sightseeing, they live and inhale the place. And they meet a lot of interesting people meanwhile. I think I'd happily try this. Though I don't think I could be confident and careless enough to do it as they do. I would certainly count my money before I hit the road. And I wouldn't travel alone. I don't want any pervert chainsaw killer to rape me and at the moment I cannot think of a voluntary affair.
Actually I know of a girl from my high school who hitchhiked through Europe after graduation, never knowing what she was doing, sleeping at monasteries and shelters, and so on. Probably she still keeps on going, as far as I remember she was hitchhiking in the fall when we had are reunion party.
Weird thing, that is. I don't think I have the particular gene that one needs to do such crazy things. However, I actually considered saving up money, skipping a summer term from my work and going somewhere. I would like to go to the US, only problem is I'm afraid of the visa acquiring process. Especially of coming back. What if I don't have enough money to come back, and so on. Cowardly me. Either way, I should definitely do it before settling, i.e. having children, and so on. I don't want my children dragged through the world or left over by their crazy mom.

PS. Actually what the beat generation means to me is more or less centered around a kid I used to know. He truly, madly, deeply believes in the grandeour of Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Dylan. All the better for him.

PPS. Check it out at imdb.