I'm excited to report that I am on the threshold of a Bucket List road trip I've been planning for years. Beginning this Saturday, Sept. 15th, I'll be combining a tour for my latest book with a commemorative trip to honor a famous novelist.
Two years after the end of World War II, a restless young Navy veteran named Jack Kerouac embarked on a cross-country journey of discovery. Hitchhiking most of the way from New York City to San Francisco, he paused at various places to visit friends or work odd jobs. By the time he returned to New York via Los Angeles several months later, Kerouac had traveled 6,000 miles and learned much about his beloved America. His autobiographical novel On the Road, based on that trek, became a classic of the 1950s.
On the 65th anniversary of Kerouac’s journey, I'll trace the entire route in “Sweet Chariot,” a 1967 Mustang convertible named for a B-29 bomber my father flew in World War II. During the trip, I'll record observations about what has changed across this great country of ours—and what still remains the same. Essays will be posted regularly to my blog site, Sweet Chariot. What makes the trip truly unique is that I'll be driving a vintage car, equipped with hand controls, over a distance of some 9,000 miles.
I'll be stopping in approximately a dozen cities across the country to discuss my fifth nonfiction book, Swashbucklers and Black Sheep: A Pictorial History of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II. This large format book is the first illustrated history of WWII’s legendary Black Sheep squadron, from their formation and first two combat tours as the Swashbucklers to the arrival of their legendary second commander Greg “Pappy” Boyington, after which they became the Black Sheep. The book details the squadron’s combat over Bougainville and Rabaul, the story of Boyington being shot down, the squadron’s exploits in the latter part of the war (while Boyington was a POW), and the heavy losses suffered aboard the carrier USS Franklin. It also includes the squadron’s service in Korea, Vietnam, and the Global War on Terror.
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