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Courtesy
Jack Kerouac
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A Boston Globe travel writer passed through North Platte in June as he re-traced the tracks of infamous 1950s beat writer Jack Kerouac. Kerouac’s travels across the country were chronicled in the best seller “On the Road,” which remains popular to this day. Kerouac made his trip 50 years ago and Globe reporter Charles M. Sennott revisited his route this summer. Sennott followed Kerouac’s path and recorded his impressions. They were published in the Globe’s travel section July 15. Here is a sample about Central Nebraska: “I pushed on to North Platte by the afternoon. The town sits at the confluence of the North and South Platte rivers and is the nexus of a Union Pacific railroad switching yard that is one of the largest in the world. The river valley is lush with acre after acre of cornfields that rustled in the warm breeze amid a chorus of crickets. Just before the entrance to town, I came upon a ‘hobo camp,’ as its residents referred to their tents and sleeping bags strewn along the riverbanks. A 70-year-old man known as ‘Mad Dog’ was the self-proclaimed mayor. He had a great belly laugh and a dog named Highway. He hadn't heard of Kerouac, but told stories about 40 years of "riding the rails" and hitchhiking across America. As a man who found Jesus in prison, he liked the sound of a character named Paradise who described everything as ‘holy.’ ‘I will die on the road. Yes , sir, I will die out here because I love it. The road is holy. Yes indeed, the road is holy,’ said Mad Dog. NORTH PLATTE, Neb., to CHEYENNE, Wyo. Wednesday June 27 In the novel, Paradise proclaims that North Platte offered him the greatest ride he ever had in his many years of hitchhiking. It seemed the right place to give hitchhiking a shot. In the morning, I got a ride quickly out of North Platte and soon after landed a few other short rides of 15 to 20 miles that took me most of the way through what was left of Nebraska. One ride took me into Sutherland , where I headed for the home of Barb and Woody Falkena , who were featured in the newspaper for buying an old diner and Skelly Oil filling station and lovingly restoring them in a big metal shed behind their home. The scene was frozen in 1957. A crackling recording of Louis Armstrong played on the jukebox. A 1957 Chevy was parked in front of the chrome-lined diner, which had all original detail right down to the napkin holders. Despite their love for all things from the 1950s, the Falkenas had never heard of Kerouac or ‘On the Road.’ Barb had a vague recollection of ‘the beats’ and remembers hitchhikers would sometimes come through town. ‘They were sort of scary and also exciting. They were going somewhere. We were just the folks who stayed behind,’ she said. When asked about the beat generation's view of the ‘imminence of war’ and ‘barrenness of politics,’ Barb said, ‘It sure sounds like today.’ You can read the rest of the story online in the travel section of the Boston Globe including audio and video by clicking HERE. Visiting the Bostwicks Sennott also visited the LIncoln County Historical Museum and the farm of Charles and Betty Bostwick west of North Platte. Charles Bostwick said the Globe writer showed a keen interest in the area. He looked at Bostwicks 1930s and 1940s tractors that are being restored. They discussed the book "Evil Obsession" and even went out in the cornfield together. Sennott had heard that the wind sometimes whistled and sang through cornfields. He heard something in the field, so they walked out to investigate. It turned out to be the sound of a neighbor's grain drying fan, Bostwick said. "He took a lot of pictures and asked a lot of questions," Bostwick said. "He was a nice guy."
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