“When in doubt, get higher.”
--- Anonymous

是在一本旅遊雜誌的封面上看到這句話的。那是一幅廣角照片，綿延不絕的落基山，殘雪映着藍天，雲象大海中的排浪一般從山後湧起， 正中一塊突兀的岩石上站着一個小小身影，背着背包凝眸遠望。。。 那不正是老杜的名句嗎？會當臨絕頂，一覽眾山小。

當身處山中時，種種煩惱，橫成嶺側成峰，怎麼都看不透。一旦攀到山頂，面對未了青色，胸中阿臢之氣頓時被山風盪盡，那是怎一個爽字了得？When in doubt, get higher.。即便doubt 仍在那兒，人的心胸卻大不同了， 假如你曾在峰頂遠眺並感悟過。

也許這句話更深一層的含義是指學識智慧get higher, 那卻是一生一世的事了。趁着年輕，要趕緊呀，讓雙腿把你帶往任何想去的地方。誰知什麼時候，一場車禍就會讓你永遠拄上雙拐，就象我媽媽那樣，高跟鞋蒙塵，無限好風光只能在記憶中重溫。

或者，不必問為什麼。就當散個小步吧。地球這個小小花園，用來飯後百步走還是使得的。

上午10點左右汽車到達了Denver 的市中心。市容整潔，不象我朋友描寫的那樣恐怖。不過他已經20年沒去過丹佛了。 這又是一個受《在路上》影響極大的人。在信中他這樣描述丹佛：

I first traveled there when I was 17. After I graduated from high school, I decided not to go to college right away and spent a year traveling. I left my home town with two high school buddies, I
had a number of adventures before I even hit Denver, but when I got there I stayed for a few months. Mostly because I had run out of money. I got an apartment with one of my buddies on Colfax Avenue down in the Capitol Hill section. I don't know what that neighborhood is like now but when I was there it was "rough". It seemed everyone in that apartment house was young.

I think the average age was young 20s. The apartments were very cheap. The one we got was supposed to be $90 a month but we made a deal to do some work on it so it was only $30! Our friends and neigbors consisted of runaway teenagers, drug addicts and drug dealers, young male and female prostitutes, scammers, hucksters, and "street people" of one sort or another. There were muggings, and knife fights with Mexicans, craziness of one sort or another almost every night. I worked day jobs and odd jobs, spent some time working in an amusement park outside of town (Lake Side Park - it may not even be there any more). I learned a lot during my first stay in Denver, found a girlfriend there and eventually left town with her and one buddy. The three of us hitch hiked from Denver across the Rocky Mtns., through Utah, up through Yellow Stone Park, and into Montana (where I finally did celebrate my 18th birthday!) and then on to Seattle and down the
west coast to California.

他所描述的是70年代末的丹佛，比 Jack Kerouac 時代晚了20年, 卻仍是流浪者心中的天堂。後來這個始終嚮往遠方的人愛上了中國文化，並去哈佛念了個中國歷史的博士。他對我最大的影響是在紐約教會了我包餃子。

當然，我也不能忘記1999年的夏天他去北京，在亞運村一家酒吧里，我對他拍案而起，咆哮着說，如果你們克林頓不就轟炸使館這件事跟中國人道歉，我就不去你們美國！聲猶在耳。幸好這件讓人臉紅的事兒沒人再提起。

丹佛市中心有不少租車公司。租好車將行李箱放進去，就可以一身輕鬆地逛市容和博物館了。16街有點兒象王府井，是個漂亮的步行商業街，只有免費的巴士在這裡穿梭。氣氛閒散宜人，輕風，花兒，三三兩兩的閒人坐着品咖啡。這時候你應該聽羅大佑的一首歌：

風兒你在輕輕地吹
吹得那滿園的花兒醉
風兒你要輕輕地吹
莫要吹落了我的紅薔薇。。。

在街角一家starbucks 外面的椅子上， 我一邊牛飲咖啡，一邊跟一個大學教授聊起了我明天要自己一個開車去rocky mountains NP, 領略那著名的trail ridge road 到底是何等美麗。這個老頭兒略帶驚訝地看了我一眼，囑咐我千萬要小心， 山上會很冷要穿羽絨服，我一一應下。

Denver History Museum 是一座獨特的建築，可惜我拍的照片丟了。以前生活在這片土地的印第安人說：The picture is the rope that ties memory solidly to the state of truth。 他們用他們古樸的圖畫 —那些簡單的線條， 土法制的顏料，記錄了他們的哭泣憤怒和掙扎，那些屠殺，鮮血從印第安騎手的頭上淌下來，扣動來復槍的“白鳥”(white bird)。。。

去Denver Art Museum 時天已向晚，博物館關門了。不過我一看宣傳畫上的展覽介紹，又是法國印象派，也就興味索然了。印象派的作品看得太多太多了，就像湯圓吃到了第35個，那叫一個膩！從紐約到費城到華盛頓，到處是莫奈的waterloo, water lily, 還有梵高的破靴子。印象派這個東西，真是象極了鈔票，一樣花花綠綠而且兩者之間可以容易地相互轉換。難怪美國人愛它。當然也不能一棍子打死，高更的作品我還是很喜歡的。