Like most guys, reading Jack Kerouac's On the Road was a watershed moment in my life. Its descriptions of the energy and excitement of the traveling life - everything flying by in a blur of parties, highways, and odd acquaintances - lit a fire in me as it did countless others. The protagonist of the book, Dean Moriarty, was based on Neal Cassady (left), a friend of Kerouac (right) who spent his formative years with his father in Denver. The city has capitalized on its literary connection by creating the Denver Beat Poetry Driving Tour, a self-guided journey into the Denver of the 1930's and 1940's. The tour visits seven destinations that shaped Cassady, Kerouac, and other Beats. Civic Center Park, for example, is mentioned in books by both Cassady and Kerouac and in the poem "The Green Automobile" by Alan Ginsberg ("Denver! Denver! we'll return/roaring across the City & County Building lawn...." ). Sonny Lawson Baseball Field, meanwhile, was where the young Cassady played baseball. Kerouac would later describe, "a great, eager crowd roaring at every play." Those who'd like to have a drink in the same bar that Cassady frequented (it only makes sense) should drop by My Brother's Bar on 15th and Platte Street, where Cassady's brother once tended bar. The owner even has a letter Cassady sent from reform school asking that his bar tab be paid. For the entire itinerary, click here and get those literary juices flowing. Starwood has hotels throughout Denver, including the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel and the Westin Tabor Center, Denver.