Clay Jenkinson and guest host Russ Eagle discuss the first days of Listening to America’s Travels with Charley Tour. Clay calls in from a campground near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, en route to Sag Harbor at the end of Long Island, New York, Steinbeck’s starting point for his 1960 journey through America. Clay recounts his wrestling match with an uncooperative bike rack and details getting underway on a 20-week odyssey around the perimeter of the United States. Russ and Clay talk about Steinbeck’s state of mind - and declining health - as he set out in late September 1960 and how Steinbeck shaped his book Travels with Charley as a literary masterpiece and not just a dry reporting of verifiable road facts. They discuss the place Travels with Charley has in Steinbeck’s impressive career and the places Clay will visit on his way to Long Island.
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Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson