Jack Kerouac's On the Road is travel writing as it should be. It is a vivid description of interesting personalities partaking in bizarre adventures that cause them to criss cross the United States for no other reason than to be somewhere else, to experience life in a different place. And that, in my opinion, is exactly why traveling should be done.

Early on in my reading the idea crossed my mind that this is quite a simply written story and one that anyone could really do. But, then I r...