Date: June 7, 2025
Author: John Steinbeck
Title: Travels With Charley
It’s not about the destination, but about the journey. As I like to say, be the blue dot on the GPS. Of course, this story was of a time when paper maps ruled and cell phones weren’t even a glimmer in the inventor’s eye.
The author wrote of traveling the country in a pickup truck with his best friend, a poodle named Charley and a camper topper on back. His intent? To see America in all her glory. Staving off the loneliness that Charley’s company couldn’t abate he made friends along the way with the help of some good, strong coffee topped with a touch of something a bit stronger still, for ‘flavor.’ This was actually, quite an ingenious way of breaking the ice if one has no plans of travel in the near future.
Whilst behind the wheel in far and remote lands it seemed that Mr. Steinbeck delved into some very deep thinking. Breaking apart the idea of putting roots down in one spot and what it would be like not to have roots, living life in a mobile home, similar to how he was traveling. Always the possibility of hitting the open road for somewhere new at their fingertips.
The southern part of the country made for some sad rumination’s as it opened Mr. Steinbeck’s eyes to the extreme racial prejudices of the time. It was quite different then where he hailed from in the north.
Mr. Steinbeck claimed to have a terrible sense of directions, finding himself getting lost and often. I can totally sympathize. At least he had a good excuse though, paper maps are confusing. Especially when, like Mr. Steinbeck said in his writings, you don’t even know where you are to begin navigating your way out. I’m a modern traveler, complete with the aforementioned GPS, to assist in my travels and I still find myself lost and often.
Fun fact p. 146, ‘It was the Monterey (California) where they used to put a wild bull and a grizzly bear in the ring together…’ Double whaaattt… ?
I found this to be profound and sad at the same time. P. 150 states, ‘Tom Wolfe was right. You can’t go back home again because home has ceased to exist except in the mothballs of memory.’
In all? This is a great story and I suggest you map your way to your next acquisition: a copy of your own.