Then he heads into Oregon, where his tire blows out. Heading to Seattle, Steinbeck finds the place changed a lot from the last time he was there (and not for the better, sadly). Still, they get the problem resolved enough that they can continue driving. The doc isn't actually super-helpful, though. Then, he heads to Washington.Īlong the way, Charley ends up getting sick with a bladder problem, and Steinbeck tries to get him some help from a vet in Spokane. though he doesn't stay long, since Charley freaks out about the bears. However, he soon has to head back south so he can see Yellowstone. When he goes through Montana, he loves it. He heads through North Dakota and the Bad Lands, warming up to that area quite a bit when he sees it at sunset (otherwise, it's pretty scary, apparently). We picture Hawaii when we're fantasizing about faraway places, but okay.

Then he heads toward Fargo, North Dakota, which apparently had been the subject of his boyhood fantasies. He also visits Sauk Centre, the birthplace of author Sinclair Lewis. He hits bad traffic and gets lost around the Twin Cities, and he's charmed by Wisconsin and its dells. He doesn't give us details of their time together, though.Īfter that brief interlude, he heads further west into Minnesota and Wisconsin. When he gets to Chicago, he puts Charley in a kennel and enjoys a couple of days with his wife, who flew out to meet him. Steinbeck then passes through the Midwest, continuing to offer his reflections and thoughts about the people and places he encounters along the way. He tries to cut through Canada, but he gets into a kerfuffle at the border because Charley doesn't have his proof of rabies vaccination, so he has to turn around. Then he comes back down out of New England and heads west, crossing through New York.

Also, he kind of takes the temperature of regional 'temperaments' along the way. Along the way, he meets a pretty colorful group of characters and learns about their ways of life and their perspectives on the country and its politics. He starts out by driving over into Connecticut from his home in Long Island (with some assists from ferries, natch) and then heads north into New England. He calls the truck 'Rocinante' after Don Quixote's horse-clever, huh? When he's all set (and after a small run-in with a hurricane just before he was supposed to leave), he and Charley (his French poodle) hit the road. To get all prepped, he commissions a souped-up truck with a little house on the back that he can live in when he isn't crashing at hotels. to check it out and get a sense of where Americans and their hometowns are at in 1960.

Because he's feeling pretty out of touch with his own country-and he's considered a great American author and all that-John Steinbeck decides to take a road trip around the U.S.

Charley john steinbeck