All about the journey

Often I read a book that I've owned for years and then, because it's so good, I wonder why I waited so long to read it. One such book is The Dog of the South (1979) by Charles Portis.

Portis is best known for True Grit, his only western as far as I know. There are certain similarities. Both are journey novels about one person's search for another. Both are filled with colorful characters and incidents so wild and improbable that they ring true.

The Dog of the South is narrated by Ray Midge, a 26-year-old college student from Arkansas with a passion for military history, especially Civil War battles, but not much ambition. When Norma, his wife, runs off with another man and, perhaps worse, his prized car, Midge takes off in pursuit by following the credit card receipts. (She also took his credit cards.)

The chase eventually leads through Mexico to Belize, but as with life itself, it's all about the journey. He travels most of the way with Dr. Symes, a talkative, opinionated man also bound for Belize. The doctor, who lost his medical license years before, has a million get-rich-quick schemes, but to pull any of them off he needs control of an island owned by his mother, who runs a mission for children in Belize. The main focus of this mission seems to be showing old movies featuring Tarzan or whomever to those children. She and the woman who lives with her turn out to be as talkative and opinionated as Dr. Symes.

All this is hilarious as Midge describes it. And in the end, it all seems pointless. And yet one gathers this may be the highlight of his life. He chose to write it all down, after all. It's about the journey, not the destination — the searching more than the finding.