travelogue by the famous author, a 10,000 mile circuit of the United States accompanied by his poodle in a camper van he named Rocinante, after Don Quixote's horse, looking to reconnect with America and American people in 1960. 
 Account of a country transitioning to mainly urban/suburban/industrial, from back roads to superhighways. 
 closes on the desegregation in the South and the resistance to this. 
 Much of the story is his thoughts and reflections as he travels, some parts are conversations that seem almost like set pieces, (view spoiler)[ and apparently may have been fictional (touring Shakespearean actor..) 
 none the less, an enjoyable journey, as the author says 
 "I am happy to report that in the war between reality and romance, reality is not the stronger" 
 Journalist Bill Steigerwald's article retracing of the journey here 
 did the shy Steinbeck really bump into all of those interesting, quotable, all-American characters parading through Charley's pages? Or did the great novelist make up, embellish, or liberally fictionalize the Canuck potato pickers in Maine, the erudite Yankee farmers, the fire-and-brimstone preacher, the son of an Idaho mountain man who wanted to be a hairdresser, the good veterinarian in Amarillo? Not to mention a full spectrum of civil rights characters, from a Southern white racist to an old black field hand? 
 Only Steinbeck's ghost knows for sure (hide spoiler)]