Volkswagen Blues

Having crossed the Mississippi from Illinois into Iowa, Jack and La Grande Sauterelle park the Volkswagen to greet “the great river of Louis Jolliet and Pere Marquette” (84). An old man stands nearby, gazing at the rolling water, and Jack initiates a brief conversation with him. Back in the minibus, Jack admits to the girl that, whenever he sees an old man by a river, he can’t resist the urge to talk with him. He has never known why, until now. Because he feels himself ripening into old age, he now realizes that “what old men are gazing at […] is their own death” (85). His need to talk with them comes from his deep desire to learn “what it is they’ve seen on the other side and whether they’ve discovered what you have to do to get there” (85-86).

On June 1, they arrive in St. Louis. To reduce their expenses, they camp in a parking lot after the girl secures permission from the parking attendant. Beneath the city’s towering arch, they discover a “museum devoted to the conquest of the West: the Museum of Westward Expansion” (88), which endlessly fascinates both Jack and