![]() ![]() He conducts interviews from the back of his camper truck, which he has calculatedly stocked with the age-old lip-looser of all varieties and strengths (whiskey seems to his most popular stock) on his quest to meet his countrymen. He offers details of both mundane day to day life, such as the interior of a country store or hotel lobby, as well as the grandeur of the country, with stops on the trip such as Badlands National Park and the Redwood Forests of Northern California. I was right in what I had anticipated of Steinbeck’s style, but it turns out the dryness doesn’t have to parch you, the serious subjects don’t have to bore you, and the somber tone can be a welcome match for the slow and steady pace of a cross country road trip. The book follows his 1960 cross-country trip with his Standard Poodle, Charley, and his tricked-out camper truck, which he named Rosenante after Don Quixote’s horse. ![]() ![]() But on a recent road trip from Pittsburgh to Memphis, friends brought along the audio version of his road story, Travels with Charley: In Search of America DB 16094. ![]() Somehow having managed to skip any Steinbeck in high school, I had always imagined his work to be somber, serious and dry. “We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip a trip takes us.” – John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley ![]()
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