Amazon Product Description. What is a Road Trip...Anyway? A question of almost Talmudic proportions. Well, then, let's talk Road Trips. Not the "Load-the-Kids-in-the-Mini-VanTurn-on-the-DVD-and-Rush-to-Some-Far-Off-Theme-Park-Eating-Fast-Food-All-the-Way-on-the-Interstate-with-the-Cruise-Control-On-and-Yakking-on-Cell-Phone-Road-Trips;" trips that confirm Steinbeck's sad prediction: "Soon, we will be able to drive coast to coast and never see anything." No, real Road Trips. Road Trips on back roads. Road Trips eating at Mom and Pop diners. Road Trips of odd souvenir stands and picnic lunches. Road Trips of spectacular scenery where the journey itself is the reward, and to top it off, ya have to do it in a Real Car. So come drive the best backroads of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon. This guide comes complete with detailed route instructions, ideas on where to eat, where to stay, and funky things to do.
Review. Summer is here, gas prices are reasonable (for the moment anyway), so the time is ripe for a classic road trip! And if you are planning a West Coast adventure, then Steve McCarthy’s Road Trippin’ is a must have book. It covers back road journeys with turn by turn directions: California coastal trips; other California trips; and outside of California trips (including that quintessential road trip: Route 66). In short, if it is on the West Coast it is probably included.
McCarthy, a road trip veteran, shares his secrets for planning a memorable journey. Road Trippin’ covers virtually aspect of an asphalt vacation, from preparation/safety to the perfect soundtrack (e.g. Hot Rod Lincoln, Mustang Sally, and Little Deuce Coupe). The Appendix also includes a wealth of information such as: motels; restaurants; must see “funky stuff” (for instance, a drive thru tree park and a James Dean Memorial); and for the-not-so-geographically inclined a basic map.
And if after reading Road Trippin’ you’re still not convinced to take the long way around McCarthy succinctly explains the lure of the open road:
We’re talking about using cars for their intended purpose. Driving. We are also talking about nostalgia. A desire to turn back the clock to the era of our youths, or to an era we wish we had experienced . . . . These roads, and the surrounding scenery, are indeed magnificent and worth every gallon of fuel, every extra hour of drive time, every bump, every pothole, every possible frustration.
Road Trippin’ is an informative and fun to read book that demonstrates that the journey really is the destination!
Publisher: CreateSpace (March 8, 2010), 102 pages.
Advance review copy provided courtesy of the author.
Posts
I should get this for my husband - he was just saying the other day that he wants to drive Route 66 some day.
ReplyDeleteOne of my most memorable and most exciting vacations I ever took was a road trip from Arizona to Boston via RT 66. Incredible journey I will never regret or forget. She got a speeding ticket. Our car broke down.UGH! We were awestruck by the Grand Canyon. We learned about all you can eat truck stops and finding inexpensive yet livable accomodations. We drove on those narrow cliff hanging mountain passes that would terrify the most bravest of drivers--and I am afraid of heights EEK!!! And...that's just the beginning.
ReplyDeleteSo, I would imagine this would be a fun read. Glad you liked it.
This sounds like it's for me since I live on the West Coast and I have been thinking about taking my son on a road trip before he decides he cannot be seen in public with me anymore...which, at age 15, is any day now.
ReplyDelete