As we get into the warmer weather of spring, many of us On the Dogwatch will start to think of road trips. One of the many great things about these trips is that they can afford us time to think about our lives. There is no more iconic North American road trip than Robert Pirsig’s travels inZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. On this Dogwatch, we have the pleasure to be joined by Mark Richardson, a longtime motorcycle and automotive writer, now writing for the Globe and Mail in Canada, who retraced Pirsig’s footsteps in Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. In our conversation with Mark, we discuss how he decided to write his book on Pirsig, what he learned along the way, and how he thinks about Pirsig and the book now.

Our feature today is the pump at the Wayside Rest Area where Pirsig stopped on the first leg of his journey on Highway 55 out of Minneapolis. Mark stopped at what seems certain to be the same stop around 2004 and pumped the pump himself. Just several days ago, I made my own trip to this small rest stop. Although the pavilion is still there, the pump has disappeared. So where is Pirsig’s pump? If you have any information about this let us know, as we are on the trail of this important historical object.