Book I, Part II - Desolation in the World: Chapters 79 - 82 Summary

Kerouac is curious about the redhead who entered the coffee shop with Cody. Irwin informs Kerouac that the girl had heard the group read their poetry in Seattle last winter and had driven down looking for a ball.

Raphael steals the stage, shrieking about losing all of his poetry in a Greyhound Bus terminal in Miami. The poet is inconsolable. Cody tries to convince his friends that this will be the year to clean up at the races and Irwin sits reading new poems at the table.

Kerouac asks Cody to drive up to Mill Valley to pick up old clothes and manuscripts. Cody agrees and during the drive, Kerouac notices that the old Cody is back and is pleased.

The friends visit...