On the Road

With $50 in his pocket and half a book written, Sal begins his journey west. His friend Remi thinks that they can find work on a ship sailing around the Pacific; Sal wants to earn enough to finish his novel. He studies books and maps, planning to travel along Route 6 from Cape Cod to Los Angeles. The first step of his journey is hitchhiking to Bear Mountain, where he arrives in the pouring rain. He soon learns how impractical such a trip will be when no other cars pass by to pick him up, and he starts to regret his decision until a man and two women drive past and offer him a lift. The man recommends a different route. Sal knows he is right and returns to New York to begin again. Unhappy at his lack of progress, he spends most of his money on a bus ticket to Chicago. 

Sal spends a day in Chicago, walking the streets and listening to jazz. Next, he rides a bus to Joliet, Illinois and then hitches a ride to Davenport, Iowa. In Iowa, he sees the Mississippi River for the first time, a sight he has dreamt about for many years. Camped out at a picturesque but deserted crossroads, Sal notices that the sun is setting. He goes to a gas station and is lucky to find a truck driver willing to take him west. The truck’s cab is high up and loud. Sal enjoys his experience with the trucker. When he switches to a new truck in Iowa City, the next driver is just like the last. Sal is thankful that he’s making such rapid progress west. When the truck driver drops him off in Des Moines, he searches for a room in a youth hostel but can only find a bed in a dingy hotel next to the railway. Sal sleeps all day and still feels exhausted when he wakes up at sunset, almost forgetting where he is and why he is there.

While traveling, Sal eats nothing but ice cream and apple pie. Everywhere he looks in Des Moines, he sees beautiful women. However, he’s in a rush to continue his journey to Denver. While hitchhiking, he meets a young man from New York named Eddie. They hitchhike together, and Sal discovers that Eddie is an alcoholic. When they get stuck in a town, they enter a bar and Eddie gets drunk. They try to find anyone to give them a lift, but Sal eventually pays for them both to take a bus to Omaha, where they resume hitchhiking. One man who gives them a lift tells them that he used to jump onto freight trains when he was young. They stop in a diner and Sal is fascinated by one of the customers, a large, laughing farmer whom he thinks encapsulates the spirit of the American West. When Sal and Eddie get stuck in a storm in Shelton, Sal lends Eddie a shirt. They turn down a job working for the carnival, but the idea makes them laugh. When they hitchhike again, a passing car only has room for one person. Silently, Eddie takes the spot and leaves Sal behind. 

Now alone, Sal catches a ride on a flatbed truck with two happy young farmers traveling to Los Angeles. Sal considers this perhaps “the greatest ride in [his] life” (17), as the two young Minnesotan farmers pick up everyone they spot and fill up their truck with memorable people. Sal recalls two North Dakotan farm boys, two city boys, the strange Montana Slim, a kind homeless man named Mississippi Gene, and a quiet young man who is traveling with Gene. Sal likes the new group and shares his cigarettes with them. The farmers stop only to buy food or use the restroom. After a while, the people pool their money and buy a bottle of whiskey. Their journey takes them from the farmlands into the plains. Sal has never seen this sort of scenery. Montana Slim needs to urinate, but the farmers refuse to stop, forcing the passenger to urinate over the side of the moving truck. The farmers swerve the vehicle, and Montana Slim is covered in his own urine. Everyone laughs except him. Sal feels the alcohol take effect. He stares up at the stars as the truck pulls into Cheyenne, where Sal and Montana Slim exit. The truck drives away. 

Sal and Montana Slim visit bars in Cheyenne. Sal finds a Mexican restaurant worker attractive, but she gently declines his advances. At the next bar, Sal and Montana meet two less attractive girls. Sal spends almost all his money on drinks to sleep with one of the girls but is rejected again. Later, he falls asleep in the bus station. When he wakes up, he’s alone and decides to resume his journey. Even though he has a bad hangover, he hitchhikes, and he feels better as he arrives in Longmont, Colorado. He sleeps for a short while on a grassy patch beside a gas station where he can see the Rocky Mountains in the distance. Because he’s so close to Denver, he feels increasingly excited. He hitchhikes once more and arrives at his destination.