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.
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
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