All Gone to Look for America

by Peter Millar

  Palin, the controversial Alaskan governor drafted in as running-mate for the elderly earnest John McCain, is anathema to most of these hip young New Yorkers but everyone knows she struck a chord out in the great heartland between the coasts that those here would call ‘redneck country’. Union Square this afternoon may have been awash in Obama buttons and T-shirts displaying the unmistakable features of the charismatic young Chicago senator, but I know for sure that out there in Malta, Montana, they’ll be voting McCain-Palin straight down the line. And what about the cowboys in Colorado?

  With just a couple of days to go before the election, behind the fancy dress there is a tangible feeling of an America trying once again to reinvent itself. Right here and now there is both hope and uncertainty in the air. Will Barack Obama become the first black president? And if he does, will it really change the way the world feels about America and the way America feels about itself?

  Four days later there is the first inkling of an answer as Obama’s electoral victory resounds around the world. The rest is history. It just hasn’t been written yet. One way or another, America has not reached the end of the line.

  WASHINGTON TO NEW YORK

  TRAIN: Northeast Corridor

  FREQUENCY: regular trains through the day

  DURATION: approx 3 hours, 30 minutes

  DISTANCE: 225 miles

  TOTAL MILEAGE COVERED: 10,825 miles

  The Soundtrack

  Here is what was playing on Peter’s iPod.

  New York, New York – Frank Sinatra

  An Englishman in New York – Sting

  Waitin’ for My Man – Lou Reed

  America – Simon and Garfunkel

  All Along the Watchtowers – Jimi Hendrix

  The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Gordon Lightfoot

  Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? – Chicago

  What Made Milwaukee Famous – Jerry Lee Lewis

  Swingin’ on a Star – Bing Crosby

  After the Gold Rush – Neil Young

  All the Way to Reno – REM

  You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille – Kenny Rogers

  Year of the Cat – Al Stewart

  Do You Know the Way to San Jose – Dionne Warwick

  Cracked Actor – David Bowie

  All I Wanna Do – Sheryl Crow

  C’mon, Take Me to the Mardi Gras – Paul Simon

  Jambalaya – The Carpenters

  Moon Over Bourbon Street – Sting

  Memphis – Marc Cohn

  Heartbreak Hotel – Elvis Presley

  Memphis Blues – W.C. Handy Preservation Band

  City of New Orleans – Arlo Guthrie/Steve Goodman

  Woodstock – Joni Mitchell

  The Beers

  VISITING AMERICA TODAY no longer means weak tasteless lager. All across the continent there are literally thousands of new microbreweries, and a few of the old ones have been reinvigorated too. Here are just a few that helped me wash away the dust of the railroad.

  Heartland Brewery, New York City

  (Founded 1995)

  http://72.167.25.128/Heartland/media/heartlandbrewery.html

  Red Hook, Seattle, Washington

  (Founded 1982)

  http://www.redhook.com

  Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

  (Founded 1987)

  http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/

  Yuengling, Pottsville, Pennsylvania

  (Founded 1829)

  http://www.yuengling.com

  Salt Lake Brewing Company, Salt Lake City, Utah

  (Founded 2004)

  http://www.squatters.com/

  The Pike Brewing Company, Seattle, Washington

  (Founded 1989)

  http://www.pikebrewing.com/

  Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver, Colorado

  (Founded 1988)

  http://www.wynkoop.com/

  Phantom Canyon Brewery, Colorado Springs, Colorado

  (Founded 1993)

  http://www.phantomcanyon.com/phantom.html

  Grand Canyon Brewing Company, Williams, Arizona

  (Founded 2007)

  http://www.grandcanyonbrewingco.com/

  Abita Brewing Company, Abita Springs, Louisiana

  (Founded 1986)

  http://www.abita.com

  About the Author

  PETER MILLAR was born in Northern Ireland and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He has worked as a journalist for Reuters, the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs, and The Sunday Times based in London, Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow. He was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year for his coverage of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He is the author of two novels, three translations from the German and one book of oral history, and is popular fiction critic for The Times.

  He is married with two sons and lives in the beer-drinking idyll of Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, when he is not sitting with his eyes closed and fingers crossed in the North Stand of The Valley, Charlton Athletic’s South London football ground.

  Copyright

  First published in 2009

  by Arcadia Books, 15-16 Nassau Street, London, W1W 7AB

  This ebook edition first published in 2011

  All rights reserved

  © Peter Millar, 2009

  The right of Peter Millar to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–1–908129–12–3