LTA’S 2024 TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY ROAD TRIP
Beginning this spring, Clay is following John Steinbeck’s 10,000-mile trek around the USA (and making a few fascinating detours of his own). Traveling in a 23-foot Airstream, Clay’s expedition is a central part of LTA’s big initiative to take the pulse of America as it approaches its 250th birthday. You can follow Clay’s Steinbeck-related adventures in the stories and videos linked below and on the LTA Facebook site. Also, subscribe to our newsletter.
Map of Steinbeck’s 1960 journey around the USA on display at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Calif.
A Visit to Ed Ricketts’ Pacific Biological Laboratories — Video Dispatch
Tuesday, December 17 2024
Clay talks about John Steinbeck’s friendship with marine biologist Ed Ricketts and visits Ricketts’ Pacific Biological Laboratories on Cannery Row in Monterey, California.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
My John Steinbeck Tour: A Preliminary Report — What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been
Tuesday, December 10 2024
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.
- Published in Features
My Quest for the Ultimate Gumbo and Other Culinary Misadventures South of the Mason-Dixon Line
Tuesday, December 03 2024
A lighter report on heavier cuisine as Clay takes a gastronomic excursion through the American South.
- Published in Features
Home Again and Happy Thanksgiving
Tuesday, November 26 2024
My John Steinbeck Travels with Charley tour is now over: 210 days, 21,114 miles, 1,407 gallons of gas, 41 states.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Great but Forgotten Conservationist John F. Lacey
Monday, November 25 2024
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.
- Published in Features
A Visit to Medgar Evers’ Home — Video Dispatch
Tuesday, November 19 2024
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.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Route 66 and The Grapes of Wrath
Monday, November 11 2024
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.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
John Steinbeck’s Beloved Monterey Bay — Video Dispatch
Monday, November 11 2024
As Clay traveled across the country, he stopped at John Steinbeck’s beloved Monterey Bay, home of the author’s great friend Ed Ricketts and the inspiration for many unforgettable characters immortalized in his novels.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Touring Glendive, Montana’s “Biblical History” Dinosaur and Fossil Museum — Video Dispatch
Monday, November 04 2024
The Dinosaur and Fossil Museum in eastern Montana presents its detailed fossil displays in the context of “Biblical history.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Recollections in Dallas: A Pivot of American History
Saturday, November 02 2024
While in Dallas, Texas, on his Steinbeck Travels with Charley Tour, Clay revisits places and memories connected with President John Kennedy’s tragic assassination on November 22, 1963.
- Published in Features