Hit the road, Jack(et Copy)

Above: Friends helping me make my departure from Pittsburgh possible are, from left, Jamie Bono, Robert Yune, Emily Stone and Paul Ruggiero.

There is a grand road trip tradition in American letters that I find irresistible. Today I embark on another cross-country drive, and what I discovered, while packing, was that I have a lot of books (including a vintage paperback copy of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" with a man in a striped shirt and jaunty neck scarf). Perhaps an insane amount of books. Even after purging and triaging, books and books and books. Unlike Kerouac, I do not travel light.

My trip will take me south from Pittsburgh to Florida, then west, clear across the country, to Los Angeles. Along the way I will do as much reading as I can: A select few (dozen) books will ride up front with me.

But to make it a truly literary road trip, I plan to visit some literary landmarks along the way. The Washington Post wrote up several in Georgia, and it looks like the "On the Road" scroll is on display through May 31 in Austin, Tex. Obviously, that's not a complete literary tour. What are your suggestions?

Carolyn Kellogg

Comments

[Jesse]

What about Rowan Oak in Oxford, MS?
I was there before they charged.
Gotta see the Master's digs.

[Cal Godot]

If your route takes you to Georgia and then Texas, you'll be going right through Mississippi - so don't miss Oxford, Miss. Home of William Faulkner and a fine bookstore on the village square, as well as Ole Miss University. And of course there's New Orleans, which is replete with literary significance. If you're going past Texas (gods hope ye are!) then a stop in New Mexico might be in order - though most of the literary sites focus on Taos (D.H. Lawrence) and Abiquiu (Georgia O'Keefe), which are more than a bit off the freeway track. And "literary Albuquerque" might not do it for you.

[Mary]

If you're stopping in New Orleans, I'd suggest the Maple Leaf Bar, home of the Sunday afternoon Everette Maddox Memorial Prose and Poetry Reading.

[Jesse]

Cal Godot

You've been to Rowan Oak?

[Carolyn]

Thank you both for the Faulkner suggestion -- but alas, Oxford Mississippi was too far out of the driving path.

And Cal, thanks your other suggestions -- since I'm taking the 10, I'll be passing through New Mexico, but a ways off from Taos, I think. Got anything more southerly?

And Mary -- any place that ends with "bar" sounds like a nice stop to me.