One Big Red Line

I just got incredibly hung up on one line, that I believe is entirely characteristic of life in general.

"It was my dream that screwed up, the hearthside idea that it would be wonderful to follow one great line across American instead of trying various roads and routes."

First, I'd like to acknowledge the immaturity at the very beginning of the sentence, blaming the dream for his problems. He tries to hide the realization that someone had to dream the dream and implement it in reality.

However, the rest of the quote plays to life experience. As one might try at first, there is no red line from birth to death, or rather, no desirable one. Everyone tries to carve one themselves at some point, but are quickly pushed off by unforeseen difficulties. Hopefully, one might come to the realization, whether out of enlightenment, frustration, or a combination of the two, that by trying to carve a straight line is boring, and allows one to miss out on some of the finer points of life.