Clay Visits Thoreau’s Walden Cabin — Video Dispatch
Saturday, July 27 2024
As he travels through New England, Clay stops at Walden Pond outside of Concord, Massachusetts, to visit the original site of the 10 by 15 foot cabin immortalized in Henry David Thoreau’s American classic Walden.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
John Steinbeck’s Evening With a Father and Son in Idaho
Sunday, July 21 2024
John Steinbeck stumbles into an uneasy father-son relationship during a quiet stopover near Coeur d’Alene.
- Published in Features
It’s a Dog’s Life — Billings, Montana
Monday, July 15 2024
John Steinbeck’s French poodle Charley is the star of Travels with Charley. The dog must have been remarkable because he steals the show in every scene he’s in. Steinbeck wrote about him with great grace, affection, and humor.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Best John Steinbeck Biographies, Part II
Friday, July 12 2024
Russ Eagle builds on his previous list of John Steinbeck biographies by looking at works that focus on specific relationships and periods in the author’s life.
- Published in Books
John Steinbeck and Me in Beach, North Dakota
Tuesday, July 09 2024
John Steinbeck spent the night of October 12, 1960, in Beach, North Dakota, just a few miles from the Montana border. He was about to fall in love with Montana.
- Published in Features
Grasslands Renaissance on the Great Plains
Tuesday, July 02 2024
A visit with author, falconer and pioneering regenerative rancher Dan O’Brien on his remarkable Cheyenne River Buffalo Ranch.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Sag Harbor to Bismarck: What I’m Learning About John Steinbeck and His “Search of America”
Sunday, June 30 2024
This spring, Clay departed Sag Harbor, New York, on an expedition to follow John Steinbeck's 1960 cross-country trek immortalized in Travels with Charley. Recently, after completing the first phase of the trip, Clay reflects on what he's learned about Steinbeck and how he now sees the story behind the classic travelogue.
- Published in Features
Literary Time Travel — Step Into Carl Sandburg’s World in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains
Friday, June 21 2024
A visit to the Blue Ridge Mountains home of America’s beloved poet, Carl Sandburg.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Death of Astronaut William Anders and the Promise and Challenge of Earthrise
Friday, June 14 2024
Astronaut William Anders, died on June 7, 2024 at the age of 90. Anders, a member of the Apollo 8 team, will always be remembered as the man who took the famous Earthrise photograph on Christmas Eve 1968.
- Published in Features
The Best John Steinbeck Biographies, Part I
Tuesday, June 11 2024
As Clay prepares for the second leg of his Travels with Charley journey, Russ Eagle calls out the best John Steinbeck biographies.
- Published in Books