The Dharma Bums

Japhy invites Ray to stay with him in his shack in Corte Madera, north of San Francisco, behind Sean Monahan’s cabin on top of a hill. In mid-May, Japhy will be sailing to Japan to study at a monastery. But in the meantime, he’s helping Sean cut firewood in exchange for cash for groceries. He spent the winter back in the Pacific Northwest, climbing and visiting friends in the woods.

Ray gets to California by hitchhiking. First, he hitches a ride down to sweltering South Carolina and over to rainy Georgia. Then, he catches a bus to Gainesville, Florida, where he plans to hop a train—but he sees that there are police officers at the railyard, so he rents a cheap hotel room instead. The next day, Ray hitchhikes up past Atlanta, but then he catches a ride with a reckless drunk driver and decides it’s safer to stick to buses and trains. He then catches a series of buses to El Paso. When he arrives, he spends a blissful night out in the desert, like he always dreamed about doing. Ray sets up camp behind the railroad tracks at an overlook point, where he can see across the Rio Grande into Mexico. He sleeps soundly under the full moon.

The next day, Ray cooks pork and beans over an open fire, then crosses the border to Ciudad Juárez. After visiting a church and market, he finds himself at a bar, yelling at some local men in Spanish about the vacuity of the desert and the universe. He ends up in their house, where they smoke marijuana and take some of his things—and one of them falls in love with Ray. After visiting a bar full of prostitutes with them, Ray crosses back over, leaving the “evil city” for the “virtuous desert.” He returns to his campsite and ponders everything Japhy taught him. He meditates and enjoys the desert’s utter silence, in which he hears the silent roar of wisdom, truth, and purity.