The Reader Travels

I keep coming back to Roads by Larry McMurtry because driving the US interstates is a common journey that most Americans can relate to. Despite all our differences, these roads connect us to each other. They flow through us all, just as red blood flows through our arteries.

I could truly relate to McMurtry’s journey, because it was so familiar to me. There was comfort in that familiarity and the light-hearted way he shared his travels. But I got all confused when I read Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. And do you want to know why? Because his road trips were all taken before the Interstates were even built. I mean, if there was no Interstate, how in the heck did he get there?

What Kerouac’s book needs is a good map. It’s on my long list of things to research, and the Internet hasn’t been much help, although I did find reference to a lecture by Alice Hudson at the New York Public Library on the history of the road map with a focus on Kerouac’s journeys. Alice, if you’re out there Googling yourself, you should take that lecture on tour, make a real road trip out of it. Either that or put it on YouTube. I’d totally watch.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 11:37 am and is filed under US and Canada, road tripping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.