The vastness of it made me scowl and feel very alone.
I wished Charley were along.
In 1988, I made a pitch to my bosses at the Star Tribune for a special assignment: to retrace the route John Steinbeck took as he roamed the country in 1960, resulting in his classic book, “Travels With Charley.”
The journey took me through 36 states, and each Friday for nine weeks I pulled off the road, made camp or got a motel room and wrote an essay for the Sunday Star Tribune.
Over the years, people have asked to see the series, and it has been difficult to share clips or links – until now. And I’m thinking there might be interest now, as we’re facing another presidential election, another chance to ask (as Steinbeck did), “Who are we, we Americans? Where are we headed?”
Others have embarked on similar journeys in the years since, and my friend Clay Jenkinson, a great American humanities scholar, is traveling the country now and producing reports inspired by Steinbeck’s account.
It’s just my Travels series here now, but I may add other favorite stories in the future.
Safe travels, and good reading!
Chuck Haga
Searching For America / 1988
- The vastness of it
- Hilda’s pies, bears, and praise for the beauty of the world
- Cities like badger holes, ringed with trash
- This might be out of man’s hands now
- Obsessive busyness
- Mercy, compassion, caring, and joy
- Everybody is looking after their own
- we could watch children again
- Deep, disturbing divisions, but more hope than despair
John Steinbeck would have understood. I think Charley would have, too, though he’d be less forgiving.
This journey is less than a week old, but I have wanted to quit several times already.
Once was on the Molly Stark Trail in southern Vermont, near the New Hampshire line. It is a stretch of road that wants savoring, but I was rocketing.
I was aiming for the northern tip of Maine, behind schedule already because I had tarried in Connecticut, then in Massachusetts, and I was listening to the radio news. The news was about forest fires in Montana and Wyoming, and that worried me because I’ll be there in a couple of weeks.
Searching For America / 1988