Kew Gardens, London. A paining by French artist, Lucien Pissarro, 1892.
I was listening to an audio biography of Joseph Banks, the great British naturalist who sailed with Captain James Cook, who made Kew Gardens in Britain, and who was the president of the Royal Society — among much else, not all so admirable it turns out.
In my second week of travels, I drove up much of the length of Maine, because in 1960 John Steinbeck was determined to touch the roof of the United States before turning west, and I reckoned you aren’t really fulfilling the mission unless you follow his path.
Steinbeck struggles against poverty, but the publication of Tortilla Flat changes everything.
Was it Google Maps that led me astray? Last week, on the way to Athens, Ohio, I took a wrong turn.
A Distant View of the Falls of Niagara by American artist, John Vanderlyn, 1804.
Thomas Jefferson said it is worth a trip across the Atlantic to see Niagara Falls. Although he never got there.
It has been about four weeks since Clay began retracing John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley Tour, shadowing the famous author’s 10,000-mile trek around the USA. Clay makes some observations on the difference between his trip in 2024 and Steinbeck’s 1960 journey.
I don’t know what I expected when I drove my Airstream into Cooperstown, New York to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was an emotional day.
Sitting in the Airstream, Rocinante. I had a delightful interview with Steinbeck biographer Jay Parini of Middlebury College in Vermont.
It’s too early to draw conclusions about the country’s mood, but this is what I have heard in two weeks on the road.