I was barely 1 years old when John Steinbeck penned these words:

“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age, I was assured greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship’s whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms, and the churn of the stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don’t improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself.”

John Steinbeck “Travels With Charlie in Search of America”

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Now, if there’s anyone who gets what ol’ Steinbeck was talking about, it’s this old dude. That familiar sound of a freight train whistle? It sends my boots two-stepping just like it did for him. Heck, I feel the itch to hit the road even as I’m writing this.

While I love exploring new places, let’s face it: travel can get downright tedious. For a jittery fellow like me, there’s one sure cure: audiobooks. Whether it’s a 40-minute commute or a transatlantic flight, these trusty companions fill the void of monotonous travel time.

Of course, connecting with folks face-to-face is important, but there are times when you just need some alone time. Audiobooks step in perfectly for those moments.

I’ve got a personal goal to pair my reading material with my specific travel destinations.

Jack London in Alaska? Check.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer while cruising the Mississippi banks? ‘You betcha’.

It’s like adding an artfully filtered lens to my travel experience.

I lean towards novels during my travels, though a good non-fiction book can be just as satisfying.

For instance, I’ve got a soft spot for Sarah Vowell’s audiobooks. Her humor and vivid storytelling make history of locations come alive. Or perhaps I will listen to a Bill Bryson essay on the eccentricities of American English.

For a long while, I was hooked on Amazon Audible for my primary audiobook source. I still have the app and a small library on my phone. I’ve also explored alternative apps like ‘Chirp’ and ‘Scribd’.

But this cowboy was raised with a love for libraries. There’s just something about those musty old books…

For library audiobooks, I’ve got the app ‘Libby’ on my phone. It gives me access to over 50,000 audiobooks and 190,000 titles in total through my own public library membership.

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Recently, I found a website for international and other non- resident folks to get temporary access to U.S. public libraries, and I’ve added a couple more libraries to my holster. Now, I’ve got thousands more audiobooks I can trigger.

Take “Travels with Charley,” Steinbeck’s American road adventure from 1960. My library didn’t have the audiobook, but another one did, one of the ‘freebies’ I found on the previously mentioned website.

Read by Gary Sinise, this travel log is perfect for a road trip. Steinbeck was 58 when he wrote it, and Sinise was 55 when he narrated it. This makes the audio version of this book ideal for my American road trip.

The America Steinbeck explored in 1960 is different from today, but some issues are as real now as they were then. Listening to this audiobook, I feel like I am Steinbeck’s companion ‘Charley’, just itching for a good ear scratch.

If John Steinbeck were to pick some music for his travels with his furry ‘Chuckster’, he might have chosen something that reflected his love for America and its diversly wrapped sombrero. Given the era and his tastes, he might have hunkered for listening to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”. Guthrie’s folk music captures the spirit of American life and might resonate with Steinbeck’s journey through the country.

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Now that I’ve got an audiobook and a road tune lassoed, my boots are itching to spur up. But the big question is, where to next? Got any suggestions, folks? Let’s hear ’em in the comments!

Cheers, nca