Part 1, Chapters 3, 4 and 5 Summary

Once Sal arrives in Chicago, he spends some time sleeping and then walking the streets to see what the city holds. Wanderlust will not let Sal linger and he soon heads west again, getting rides from farmers and other drivers who take him as far as Des Moines. Waking up in a cheap hotel near the railroad tracks, Sal is temporarily disoriented by the room and the red light from the sunset and marks this place in time as the distinction between the East of his youth and the West of the future.

In Des Moines, Sal meets Eddie, another New Yorker hitching his way west. Sal's progress is slowed considerably with Eddie as long as people will not stop to pick up two men. Finally the boys meet a cowboy who has two cars and needs one of...