RE: THE FIELD KIT — EQUIPMENT, READING & MOTORCARS FOR THE DISCERNING TRAVELLER

Dear Traveller,

A salesman is only as good as his sample case. Below, the Travel Department lists what the robot actually packs, the reading it does on the train, and where to hire a motorcar for each territory. Nothing here is included because somebody paid for it.

A note on commissions: these links lead to Amazon, Bookshop.org and DiscoverCars. If you buy, the robot may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Bookshop.org purchases support independent bookstores.

Equipment

The Leelanau Peninsula

• Sand-proof footwear — The Dune Climb is 110 feet of sand going up and 110 feet of regret coming down. Proper shoes reduce the regret.
• An insulated bottle satchel — Forty-some tasting rooms. You will not leave empty-handed. Keep the cargo cool between stops.
• A waterproof dry sack — For kayaking the Crystal River with your telephone, wallet and dignity intact.
• Pocket binoculars — Freighters on the horizon, eagles over the bay, and the Manitou Islands, which are farther than they look.

The California Central Coast

• A packable windbreaker — June Gloom is real and the morning fog does not care what month the calendar says.
• A collapsible beach wagon — For hauling chairs, coolers and children from the car park to the good spot on the sand.
• Mineral sunscreen — The sun returns by afternoon, usually all at once.
• Polarized spectacles — For spotting dolphins off Morro Bay and glare-free driving on Highway 1.

Naperville, Illinois

• Serious walking shoes — The Riverwalk, the Loop and the Prairie Path add up to a great many steps.
• A windproof umbrella — Chicago is not called the Windy City for its politics alone. (Partly for its politics.)
• A waterproof picnic blanket — For Riverwalk lunches and summer concerts on the lawn at Naper Settlement.

Standard Issue, All Territories

• A pocket power bank — Telephones die at the scenic overlook. Always.
• Packing cubes — Order in the suitcase, order in the soul.
• A paper road atlas — For the stretches of Leelanau, Route 66 and Highway 1 where the signal gives up.

The Library Car: Reading for Every Territory

The Leelanau Peninsula

• The Complete Guide to Petoskey Stones, Bruce Mueller & Bill Wilde — Identifies fossil coral 350 million years old. My warranty is considerably shorter.
• Sleeping Bear: Yesterday and Today, George Weeks — Lumber towns, lighthouses and shipwrecks. The bear, I am assured, is still sleeping.
• Letters from the Leelanau, Kathleen Stocking — Essays on cherry farmers and long winters. Reads best with a slice of pie at elbow.
• The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway — Young Hemingway fishes northern Michigan in very short sentences. I approve. Efficient.
• The Legend of Sleeping Bear, Kathy-jo Wargin — The dune's origin myth. Bring tissues. My eyes are not rated for this moisture.

The California Central Coast

• Moon Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip, Ian Anderson — Every pullout, taco stand and elephant seal on Highway 1. I recommend the elephant seals.
• Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House, Victoria Kastner — One newspaperman, 165 rooms, a zebra herd. The man understood product placement.
• Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana Jr. — A Harvard lad hauls cowhides off Santa Barbara in 1835. Puts your commute in perspective.
• A Is for Alibi, Sue Grafton — Kinsey Millhone solves murders in 'Santa Teresa'. Santa Barbara is fooling no one.
• Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell — Eighteen years alone on a Channel Island. Finally, a customer with no sales resistance.

Naperville, Illinois

• AIA Guide to Chicago, Alice Sinkevitch & Laurie McGovern Petersen — Every notable building in the city, sorted. A salesman's dream: a catalogue of skyscrapers.
• The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson — The 1893 World's Fair, plus a murderer next door. The brochure omitted the second part.
• City of the Century, Donald L. Miller — How a swamp became Chicago in sixty frantic years. Speed I can respect.
• The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros — Short chapters, long memory, one Chicago street. Finished it between two tram stops.
• Mr. Ferris and His Wheel, Kathryn Gibbs Davis — The 1893 wheel that out-dazzled the Eiffel Tower. Gears! At last, a book about my people.

Route 66, Illinois

• Route 66 Adventure Handbook, Drew Knowles — Diners, oddities and giant fibreglass men. I have applied to be one of the giant men.
• Route 66: The Mother Road, Michael Wallis — The definitive tale of America's Main Street. Gasoline-scented prose, I am told.
• Route 66 in Illinois, Joe Sonderman — Vintage photos from Chicago to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Mind the Gemini Giant.
• The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck — The Joads take the road west. Not a cheerful holiday. Pack sandwiches regardless.
• My Little Golden Book About Route 66, Diane Muldrow — The whole Mother Road in 24 shiny pages. Faster than my best quarterly route.

Sedona, Arizona

• Best Hikes Sedona, Bruce Grubbs — Trails among the red rocks, with mileages. I prefer my canyons with handrails.
• Roadside Geology of Arizona, Stephen J. Reynolds & Halka Chronic — Explains why the rocks are red. Rust, mostly. A subject on which I am an authority.
• Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey — A ranger's cranky love letter to red rock country. Mind the sand in your bearings.
• The Call of the Canyon, Zane Grey — Romance in Oak Creek Canyon, 1924. Hollywood filmed it on the spot. Quite right.
• Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver — A daughter returns to small-town Arizona. Heat, orchards and family secrets in good order.

Saugatuck–Douglas, Michigan

• The Complete Guide to Michigan Sand Dunes, Jim DuFresne — Every great dune in the state. Each one, regrettably, full of sand.
• The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, Dan Egan — Mussels, canals and the lake's uncertain future. Alarming. Also very well written.
• A 1000-Mile Walk on the Beach, Loreen Niewenhuis — One woman walks the whole Lake Michigan shore. My joints ache in sympathy.
• The Lake Michigan Mermaid, Linda Nemec Foster & Anne-Marie Oomen — A tale in verse of a girl and a freshwater mermaid. No salt, therefore no corrosion.
• Paddle-to-the-Sea, Holling Clancy Holling — A carved canoe travels the Great Lakes to the sea. I too was shipped by freight once.

Asheville, North Carolina

• Moon Blue Ridge Parkway Road Trip, Jason Frye — 469 miles of overlooks, waterfalls and fiddle music. Top speed, sadly, 45 mph.
• The Last Castle, Denise Kiernan — How a Vanderbilt built Biltmore's 250 rooms. I could have sold him more radiators.
• Super-Scenic Motorway, Anne Mitchell Whisnant — How the Blue Ridge Parkway got built, fought over and paved. Politics, with views.
• Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe — Asheville barely disguised as 'Altamont'. The neighbours were not amused. I was.
• Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier — A Confederate deserter walks home to the Blue Ridge. Long walk. Excellent reading.

Carlsbad, California

• Afoot & Afield San Diego County, Jerry Schad — Some 250 hikes from beach to desert. The definitive local bible. My soles are worn.
• San Diego: California's Cornerstone, Iris H. W. Engstrand — Missions, ranchos and the Navy, in proper order. Where California began, they say.
• Barbarian Days, William Finnegan — A Pulitzer-winning surfing life. I do not float, but I admire those who do.
• The Dawn Patrol, Don Winslow — Surfer detectives and San Diego crime. Waves, murder and fish tacos in equal measure.
• Ramona, Helen Hunt Jackson — The 1884 romance that invented SoCal tourism. Sales copy of the highest order.

Pasadena, California

• An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, David Gebhard & Robert Winter — The classic building-by-building guide, Pasadena bungalows included. Bring shoes.
• Strange Angel, George Pendle — JPL's founder: rocket genius and occultist. Pasadena in the '30s. Quite the résumé.
• Greene & Greene, Edward R. Bosley — The brothers behind the Gamble House. Joinery so fine I felt underdressed.
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, Richard P. Feynman — Caltech's safecracking, bongo-playing physicist. My kind of fellow.
• Kindred, Octavia E. Butler — Pasadena's own Butler sends a woman from 1976 to the antebellum South. Unforgettable.

Montréal, Québec

• Lonely Planet Montreal & Quebec City, Lonely Planet — Bagels, Old Port, poutine and the metro, all sorted. Mon français est rouillé.
• The History of Montréal, Paul-André Linteau — Fur post to metropolis in one tidy volume. Concise. Bilingual city, compact book.
• The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Mordecai Richler — A St. Urbain Street hustler chases land. As a salesman, I took notes.
• The Tin Flute, Gabrielle Roy — Working-class Saint-Henri in wartime. Tender, and twice the warmth of a Montréal winter.
• The Hockey Sweater, Roch Carrier — A boy, the wrong team's jersey, and a nation's grief. Also on the $5 bill.

Motorcars

Most of these territories are unkind to the carless. Compare rental cars at the airport before you fly:

• Leelanau: TVC · GRR · DTW
• Central Coast: SBA · SBP · BUR
• Naperville: ORD · MDW
• Route 66: ORD · SPI · STL
• Sedona: PHX · FLG
• Saugatuck: GRR · ORD
• Asheville: AVL · GSP · CLT
• Carlsbad: SAN · CLD · SNA
• Pasadena: BUR · LAX · ONT
• Montréal: YUL · BTV

Yours in preparedness, the Travel Department.