I too once had visions of Kerouac dancing in my head and I basically spent summer of 1971 to summer of 1973 exploring america using thumb power to get me around That America is gone You rarely if ever see kids naively exploring the real -and sometimes frightening- america by thumbing rides anymore Today what you most often find are the desperado road lifers and it is a rare day that I will see somebody hitchhiking and rarer still that I will give them a rideSince I just got you depressed ;this might cheer you uphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlZz7mTmq��Speaking of Neal Cassidy you should also read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test to get another view of Kerouac s pard Enjoy
Not really a beat road trip, but there is a book [maybe two?] called, I think, A Walk Across America by a guy who did it. There s also a book called Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon. Can t remember much about it, but I do remember that I enjoyed reading it.