Clay
Clay details plans for his upcoming cross-country journey following Lewis and Clark’s celebrated 1805 -1806 expedition across the continent.
Clay Jenkinson spent 10 days in Europe in early February, read the English language magazines and newspapers, conferred with old friends and new in England, France, and Switzerland, and attempted to assess the mood of Europe as the second Trump administration began. Here is his report.
President Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson in the Oval Office.
In preparation for a cultural tour of Cuba Clay will lead later this month, he came across a surprising connection between John Steinbeck, Adlai Stevenson, and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Cable news logos

Why I’m Changing The Channel

Clay details how cable news has long failed to reliably serve Americans, why he is tuning out, and what he’ll do instead.
Clay on Route 66 near Neeedles, Calfornia, summer 2024.
Clay sat down with editors at LTA to answer questions and discuss his recent 41 State, 21,000 mile journey around America.
Beginning in April 2024 and concluding just before Thanksgiving, Clay traveled over 21,000 miles and visited 41 states, roughly following John Steinbeck’s route as chronicled in Travels with Charley. Clay notes he undertook the cross-country journey partly to gain his own appraisal of America as it approaches its 250th birthday.
Congressman John F. Lacey, August, 1906, in Goodnight, Texas.
While John Steinbeck was not much interested in National Parks, he traveled through a nation whose conservation footprint was indelibly shaped by visionary Iowa Congressman John Lacey.
Medgar Evers' house
Clay visits Medgar Evers’ home, now a national monument. Medgar Evers was killed by a white supremacist here, in front of his house, on June 12, 1963.
John Wesley Powell, Edward Abbey and hiking Canyonlands National Park.
Route 66 road sign

Route 66 and The Grapes of Wrath

I’ve been at both ends of U.S. Route 66 this year, the highway we associate with John Steinbeck and the Joad family of The Grapes of Wrath.