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.
The Story of Red Lake Nation — Video Dispatch
Monday, October 28 2024
Clay shares some of the unique history of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, which covers 1,260 square miles in Northern Minnesota.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
A Second Encounter at The End of Life RV Park
Monday, October 28 2024
It was getting close to Halloween as I pulled in. The sign at the gate said, “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Autumn and Joy on the Open Road
Monday, October 28 2024
There is nothing quite like the magic of traveling America in the fall.
- Published in Features
The Source of the Mighty Mississippi — Video Dispatch
Monday, October 21 2024
Our intrepid traveler courageously wades the waters at the source of the Mississippi, America’s second-longest river. It flows 2,350 miles from its source at Lake Itasca in Minnesota through the heart of the continental United States to the Gulf of Mexico.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Reflections at the Little Bighorn Battlefield — Video Dispatch
Tuesday, October 15 2024
Listening to America’s “Chief Scout,” Frank Lister and Clay visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, where George Custer’s 7th Cavalry met its fate against Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors in June 1876.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Visiting Giant Meteor Crater, Arizona
Tuesday, October 15 2024
Giant Meteor Crater, about a half mile in diameter sits in the northern Arizona desert.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
John Steinbeck: The Journals of a Novelist
Tuesday, October 08 2024
Two journals John Steinbeck kept while writing his two most famous novels provide an intimate look into the author’s creative process.
- Published in Features
Where the American West Begins — Video Dispatch
Tuesday, October 08 2024
Clay stops on the banks of the mighty Missouri River, the boundary of America’s east and west. It is here that John Steinbeck noted, “The two sides of the river might well be one thousand miles apart.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Steinbeck Meets an Itinerant Actor Along North Dakota’s Maple River — Video Dispatch
Saturday, September 28 2024
In October 1960, traveling through eastern North Dakota, John Steinbeck stopped along the lonely Maple River. Here, the author had a remarkable encounter with an itinerant Shakespearean actor.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
To the Desert With Edward Abbey
Tuesday, September 24 2024
Clay visits with Edward Abbey, the colorful, eloquent, and passionate advocate of the American West.
- Published in Features