Journey without an end

May 2, 2002

Dear Dixie,

Two of the Neosho nieces were visiting last weekend. We took them to Grace Cafe to see the farewell concert by Don Haupt Jr., a local photographer/Delta blues musician/pizza delivery guy -- it says so on his card -- who days later packed up his car and his newly recorded CD, "Life is Difficult," and is headed out West to pursue life in Eureka, Calif.

As someone who did the same thing in the same place 24 years ago, I have tried to tell Don about Humboldt County without telling him too much. You don't want to spoil the wonder.

Leaving everything known behind to venture into the unknown, like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" and Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars," is a leap of faith Joseph Campbell, the mythologist, called the hero's journey.

The journey is psychological more than physical. The hero or heroine is looking for his or her true self.

Layers of familiarity and family can obscure our knowledge of ourselves. We think we are who others think we are. But alone in new territory, the camouflage disappears.

Along the journey, the hero often will become scared and want to give up. A mentor and others will urge him on and still others can endanger him.

I didn't tell Don life might not be any less difficult in his new home. He will be forced to face his problems without the buttress of having a history in this place and without knowing people who necessarily care.

A week after arriving in Eureka, I was standing in a waterfront bar called the Vista Del Mar when someone pointed out the spot on the floor where a guy was killed the week before. That's the moment I knew I wasn't in Cape Girardeau anymore.

But in Humboldt County he also will meet many people just like himself, living without a blueprint.

Don's singing and guitar playing seek refinement, but he performs with passion and loves and honors blues masters like Robert Johnson and Son House. Professional photographers might frown at the technical flaws in his pictures, but they know he has a talent for seeing.

What better place than Humboldt County to make one's talents free and let them find their level?

I tried to give Don an inkling of how big the trees are in Humboldt County and of the enormity of the solitude in a redwood forest. I told him you are among an unusual breed: a mix of old and young hippies, loggers, marijuana farmers, fishermen, environmentalists, artists, and entrepreneurs.

Don has your name and knows you own Larrupin', the best restaurant in the region. Blues singers sometimes need to wash dishes to deepen their feeling for the blues.

One of the nieces, Devon, graduates from high school this month. She decided to go to college in Springfield, Mo., because it's only an hour-and-a-half away from home. She's probably not ready to take the heroine's journey yet, although leaving home isn't required. Leaving behind the ordinary is.

It's about seizing the sword and finding the magical elixir, the passion that exists in everyone but is so easily deadened by neuroses and boredom.

Seeing Don's farewell performance reminded me that the hero's journey is never over. It only exists to be begun again and again.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.