Charley, a "blue" standard poodle, accompanied John Steinbeck on his journey across the United States.
Charles le Chien, a.k.a. Charley, was born on the outskirts of Paris in 1950. The well-groomed poodle who took much pride in his looks, preferred the French language over English and did not like being subjected to baby talk because, according to Steinbeck, "he feels that he is a first-rate dog and has no wish to be a second-rate human."
Feeling like he had lost touch with his own country, Steinbeck decided to travel across the US "in search of America" in a pickup-camper with Charley. Charley loved going on road trips and was apparently worried during the planning and packing that he would be left behind. "During the weeks of preparation he was underfoot the whole time and made a damned nuisance of himself. He took to hiding in the truck, creeping in and trying to make himself look small."
The two left in the fall of 1960, driving from the east to the west to the south and back up to Long Island. The mission of his trip was to interact with the common people, and Charley, his "ambassador", was a great icebreaker when it came to talking to strangers.
Months later, Steinbeck recorded their journey in a book titled Travels with Charley: In Search of America. The book is more focused on the people than Charley, but one passage really brings out the personality of his beloved poodle: "Charley likes to get up early, and he likes me to get up early, too. And why shouldn’t he? Right after his breakfast he goes back to sleep. Over the years he has developed a number of innocent-appearing ways to get me up. He can shake himself and his collar loud enough to wake the dead. If that doesn’t work he gets a sneezing fit. But perhaps his most irritating method is to sit quietly beside the bed and stare into my face with a sweet and forgiving look on his face; I come out of deep sleep with the feeling of being looked at. But I have learned to keep my eyes tight shut. If I even blink he sneezes and stretches, and that night’s sleep is over for me. Often the war of wills goes on for quite a time, I squinching my eyes shut and he forgiving me, but he nearly always wins. He likes traveling so much he wanted to get started early, and early for Charley is the first tempering of darkness with the dawn."
Charley passed away shortly after their trip in 1961. John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 for his realistic and imaginative writings, and died in 1968 at the age of 66. The pickup-camper (which Steinbeck named Rocinante, after Don Quixote's horse) was restored and is on display at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California.
