In this book review we hit the road with a “classic” book and a popular American writer from decades ago in “Travels with Charley in Search of America!” If you are gearing up for a big road trip, or just enjoy reading about long road trips then this is a read to consider. Not for your To-Do Lists or an efficient itinerary of the US but rather for the spirit of the Road Trip that began long before anyone become a Van Life Influencer on Instagram. By choice and some by force this was an American tradition long before social media. From the beatniks to Charley the poodle (Johh Steinbeck’s dog in this book) Americans have loved and craved the idea of a road trip.

A few quotes from the Travels with Charley in Search of America book to get us started!

“Who has not known a journey to be over and done before the traveler returns? The reverse is also true: many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased.” John Steinbeck

“I know people who are so immersed in road maps that they never see the countryside they pass through, and others who, having traced a route, are held to it as through held by flanged wheels to rails.” John Steinbeck

“I find out of long experience that I admire all nations and hate all governments, and nowhere is my natural anarchism more aroused than at national borders” John Steinbeck

This book takes you back to the 1960’s in the US. John Steinbeck leaves behind his novels in this non-fiction account of him securing a fully loaded truck/sleeper from a US Truck Manufacturer long before they were called camper vans.

From there his dog Charley and him leave Maine and hit the road for several months for John to rediscover “the America he had been writing about for years”. Charley the poodle was born in France so this is a great chance for him to “search for America” as well!

I read a lot of Steinbeck in high school and he is of course known The Grapes of Wrath and countless other fictional pieces. However later in his writing career he yearned for social change and the great road trip in books like this and “The Winter of our Discontent.”

The book is fun and flavorful early on in their description of items that John and Charley must pack. It seems like minimalism was impossible for a van lifer in the 1960’s. It really brings to light just how easy accessible we have items at our disposal now. Some of John’s fears like having enough spare tires are long gone, however on the other side free camping was much more an okay thing to ask a stranger and have them say they’d love to let you sleep on their property.

The book centers around John and Charley’s musings on the road, John’s thoughts, and their encounters with many walks of USA residents (many of whom get invited into John and Charley’s vehicle for some booze spiked coffee.

Did all of these coffee in the van convo’s actually happen to Charley the poodle and John?
Well that’s now apparently up for debate as you can read HERE!

Three Reasons I liked this book:

1. It’s interesting to read about how quickly things like the interstate system, social media, and more reliable cars have changed “the road trip.” This book was written in the early 1960’s but some points you could have thought it was 4,000 years ago. Our innovations are amazing to consider how quickly they have happened.

2. If you like road trips and/or dogs in any capacity there will be moments and times when you will smile. From Charley wanting to find a good spot to pee even on a cold night off the side of the road to many people telling John “I want to hit the road” it brings forth the spirit of the road trip in a way that hasn’t changed.

3. Whether some of this actually happened is all up for debate but Steinbeck was a brilliant writer in his time and this book does produce reminders of that throughout the read.

Two Reasons Travels with Charley was tough to read:

1. It’s outdated. While Steinbeck himself was a “progressive or a liberal” by all accounts for the early 1960’s some of the language that is used by anyone back then is hard to stomach. It’s written in a different time and it reminds me of why social change is constantly needed.

2. It’s sad. There’s a lot of hope from the middle class and of blue collar workings getting more of a fair shake in the US. It seems that while the interstate systems and our maps have improved the every day living and well-being situations for a majority of people who live in the geographic boundaries of the US has not followed suit. It struck me at times that we have stayed too stagnant and even in some instances gone in the wrong direction over the past 50 years. The gap between the ultra rich and the fringe and under-resourced is still on a glaring display and it’s gotten worse instead of better. So in this case the book is kind of depressing!

The reasons I liked this book are road trips, dogs, Steinbeck’s talents as a writer, and the idealism he had that America could do better than how they were doing in categories like race, equality, income distribution, etc.

The reasons it was tough to read were primarily the fact that I would have hoped more had been accomplished in the US since John and Charley hit the road, plus outdated language that I would never use but was common place in the US during the 1960’s even by those who supported social change and equality for all races.

Whether all the stories happened or not? I honestly don’t care. I wanted a good book about hitting the road with a dog and John’s book still captures that over half a century after it happened.

The road trip has always been alive in the hearts of many, this is not a new thing nor will it soon pass!

Thanks for reading, share your comments below if you have read this book or have another good road trip recommendation from prior years not named “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac. Too easy!

Because Adventure Feeds the Soul,
Mike R