Believing that a good, interesting life is marked by quality, not quantity, John Steinbeck took note of his itchy feet and prepared to travel. He was accompanied by his French poodle Charley, diplomat and watchdog, across the states of America from Maine to California. Moving through woods and forests, dirt tracks and highways to large cities and glorious wildernesses, Steinbeck observed America and the Americans with a humorous and sometimes sceptical eye. What he sees is a lonely, generous nation too packed with individuals for single judgements. His vision of how the world was changing, however, speaks to us warningly and prophetically through the decades.