John Steinbeck's "Charley" trip: Adlai Stevenson home & farm

After staying at the Ambassador East in downtown Chicago, Steinbeck, wife Elaine and Charley stayed overnight at Adlai Stevenson's farm in Libertyville, Ill. The next morning, Monday. Oct. 10, 1960, Elaine flew back to New York and Steinbeck and Charley headed for Seattle in Rocinante. Steinbeck and Stevenson were pen-pals and political soulmates. Steinbeck believed the former Illinois governor was the philosopher king America needed. On Oct. 8, 2010, Nicole Stocker of Lake County Forest Preserve (which owns the farm's current 40 acres) gave me a personal tour of the roomy farmhouse Stevenson lived in from the late 1930s until he died in 1965.

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Entertainment

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• John Steinbeck
• Adlai Stevenson
• Travels With Charley
• Travels Without Charley
• Bill Steigerwald
• Libertville