FIRST SERVICE: 5,499 MILES

EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER.

THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL GAS STATION...

...and the CoW's favorite restaurant.

...AND BACK IN TIME FOR THE 5:33 CLUB

St. Thomas of Carp

(Andrew thinks he's hiding)

SAN LUIS OBISPO: WHAT EVERY REAL MAN NEEDS

A stiff drink, a good smoke, and a fire-engine-red pickup truck.

RETURN TO KREUZBERG: SAN LUIS OBISPO

SAN LUIS OBISPO: GRANADA HOTEL & BISTRO

MODERN ROADSIDE AMERICA

King City, California

Breakfast, lunch and...

...dinner.

Needless to say, I prefer the old stagecoach stops.

Cold Spring Tavern, San Marcos Pass

The Union Hotel, Los Alamos

ERINGER: SURREAL BOUNCE...: Stagecoach stops

CELEBRATING TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY

Rocinante:  the pickup truck and bespoke camper John Steinbeck used for his 10,000-mile trek around the USA with Charley, his French poodle.

While researching the ideal CoW vehicle, I devoured John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley—the masterwork, and maybe the best road book ever written.  And I realized that every generation laments society’s progress beyond the period in which they’ve lived.

HOMAGE TO STEINBECK

The National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, California.

Perhaps the biggest and best museum ever created to honor a writer.

PALO ALTO BY NIGHT

Early Nighthawks

Now Showing

The New Big Thing: gourmet ice cream sandwiches

THE EPIPHANY

Palo Alto's newest hotel, opened seven weeks ago.

Their restaurant:  Lure + Till

World class.

PALO ALTO

Where they dream up the future and escape to the past.