![]() ![]() Shillinglaw allowed us to go inside Rocinante, the camper van that John Steinbeck used in his 1962 book “Travels With Charley: In Search of America.” The van is generally off-limits to museum visitors. Susan Shillinglaw loved the idea of our book and she liked my van, adorned with the searching birds of my friend, Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick. He said at least one person came up to him at every KOA, but added “I haven’t got roped into any campfire sing-alongs.”īut one of our most memorable stops has turned out to be the National Steinbeck Center in downtown Salinas, Ca. We met some remarkable people and I gathered some fine interviews: Actor/roadie/musician Jeff Daniels contributed the foreword, former Cubs manager Joe Maddon talked about RV life and the late John Prine told me about his affinity for KOAs. ![]() Photographer Jon Sall and I were on the road most of June 2016. ![]() In a pre-pandemic bliss from June 2016 until March 2017, I traveled to twenty-four states, covering 24,222 miles in my 2015 Ford Transit Van. “ The Camper Book (A Celebration of a Moveable American Dream)” was published in 2018 by Chicago Review Press. Wealth is not measured by the cars you drive or the places you visit. Like a hitchhiker with roses, the small things that connect with people can surprise me. Gene Cochetti, 1938-2020 (Photo by Jon Sall.) ![]()
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