My Adventures in Downsizing
Monday, October 20 2025
After spending five or six decades buying books, an enormous number of books, I have begun to downsize.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Visiting Meriwether Lewis’ Grave on the Natchez — The End of the Trail
Monday, October 20 2025
Completing a year following the Lewis and Clark Trail, Clay visits the lonely gravesite where the 35-year-old Meriwether Lewis is buried.
- Published in Features
Steinbeck: A Life of Moral Courage
Monday, October 13 2025
While he avoided the public spotlight, John Steinbeck spent a life "in the arena" exhibiting great moral courage both in his writing and deeds.
- Published in Features
Were They Dreaming? A Rare Visit Inside John Steinbeck’s Iconic Rocinante
Tuesday, October 07 2025
Clay and sidekick, Russ Eagle, spend time hanging out in John Steinbeck's historic truck camper, Rocinante.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Reopening the Wounds of Wounded Knee
Monday, October 06 2025
Wounded Knee, really?
- Published in Features
The Stubborn Enigmas of Lewis and Clark
Monday, September 29 2025
After decades of close study and a year following their trail, Clay remains dogged by the many unknowables surrounding the famous American expedition.
- Published in Features
Humor on Trial in an Age of Disruption
Monday, September 22 2025
Free speech and the future in context.
- Published in Features
A Lewis and Clark Report Card: The Phases of a Journey
Tuesday, September 16 2025
How did the Lewis and Clark Expedition stack up against the model for the classic journey? Clay makes his assessment.
- Published in Features
Four Perfect Days
Monday, September 08 2025
Clay and friends are just off four perfect days canoeing remote sections of the Missouri River in central Montana.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Assessing Two Years on the Road in My Airstream
Monday, September 01 2025
Clay assesses the good and bad as he wraps up his second season traveling America's byways in his 23' Airstream.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road