Part One, Chapters 3-5: Summary
By taking a bus, Sal is able to reach Chicago, where he then spends several days exploring the city and its jazz venues. Yet, he will soon be leaving once more. He travels west hitchhiking and gets a lift from a wild trucker who drops him off in Iowa. Sal takes a few more rides and eventually arrives in Des Moines, where he stays in a budget motel and has a dinner of apple pie and ice cream.
In Des Moines, Sal awakes with a sense of disorientation and wanderlust. Resuming his hitchhiking ways, he runs into Eddie, a fellow New Yorker who is also making his way west. They take turns trying to hitchhike, but ultimately fail. They eventually come across a cowboy who says he is on his way to see his lady love. The cowboy needs Sal or Eddie to drive one of his cars while he is away. Sal and Eddie see this as a huge opportunity. While Eddie drives one of the cars at 90 mph, Sal rides shotgun with the cowboy.
Sal goes to a diner after they reach Nebraska for a bite to eat. His favorite pastime is listening in on the locals, notably a farmer with a booming voice and a boisterous sense of humor. Sal and Eddie resume their journey after a quick lunch break.
Eddie finally gets a ride and has to leave Sal behind as he climbs aboard the back of a pickup truck. A young man offers Sal a ride to Gothenburg. Sal hitches a ride with two Minnesota brothers in Gothenburg, where they are hauling freight on the back of a flatbed truck. There are a bunch of other hitchhikers in the vehicle and they are sharing a bottle of whiskey. The brothers are transporting farm equipment from Iowa to Los Angeles, and they are also picking up hitchhikers along the way.
Sal gets to know his fellow hitchhikers throughout the course of the trip. Some teenagers are making the trek out west for a brief summer vacation. Montana Slim, a mysterious loner, and Mississippi Gene, a genuine hobo who is protecting a little blond child who is on the run from the law, are two of the more notable characters. Sal learns that Gene is acquainted with a buddy of his named Big Slim Hazard, and he instantly feels a kinship with the gentle, thoughtful hobo.
Sal and Montana Slim disembark the truck at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Sal bids his pals farewell. Montana Slim is going south to Miami and Sal is headed north to Colorado. They arrive to find the streets packed with visitors in town for a celebration called Wild West Week festivities. Sal thinks this celebration is fake and tacky.
Sal and Montana Slim go out late into Cheyenne's Wild West Week celebrations, where they drink and party. Sal hits it off with a stunning Mexican waitress he encounters at a cafe. She informs him she has a date with her boyfriend, as much as she would like to go out with him.
Sal reconnects with Slim and they continue bar-hopping. Sal spends their last dime on drinks for two young women. One of the girls has decided she needs to get out of the west and into New York. She and Sal both want the same thing, but they are hunting for it in separate locations. In the end, Sal has to sleep on a bench by himself in the bus terminal.
The next morning, Sal hops a ride south toward Denver and is overjoyed to arrive in Colorado. He sleeps for a while beside a gas station tree in Longmont. When he finally comes to, he finds himself in Colorado, and he and his buddies could not be happier. In downtown Denver, he finds a lift with a businessman who drops him off on Larimer Street.
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