Road Trip Books

I cannot wait to read this book! Grimaldi captured my attention immediately. To search for one's self is a long and sometimes painful journey. When you do finally find who you are there really is no better joy. I'm looking forward to taking this journey with Kevin!

Born in Freehold, NJ, I became attracted to Kevin Salter's story and experience immediately in the beginning. Mr. Grimaldi captures the reader by colorfully portraying this wedding photographer and his encounter and can easily be related to real life emotions and situations.
I am anxious to continue reading the story to see what the future holds for Kevin and for Grace, as Continental Drift is sure to appeal to all audiences with its clear understanding and interesting characters.

Grimaldi's descriptive narrative of Kevin and the job he was attempting to do made me feel as if I was standing right along side of the main character witnessing his world. I look forward to reading the complete novel as I see America and many of its special types of people through Grimaldi's intense portrayals of Kevin's adventures.

Grimaldi's characters are rich, quirky and interesting. He keeps readers engaged with throughout the piece. Many will be looking forward to reading the novel in it's entirety, especially myself.

"I used to get high on life...but I built up a tolerance." One of the many truthful tidbits that flavors this excerpt of Mr. Grimaldi's novel. Even as we (like Kevin, the photographer protagonist) long for grounded-ness, do we despise the emotional inertia and spiritual complacency of being "settled"? Shall we choose to stay (or to set ourselves) adrift? Or, needing more to cling to, can we find a path that provides the stability we crave? Following this metaphor, the reader may ask:" When/if we do manage to "arrive", is it ever to that destination we thought we were focused on, or even a vague resemblance?" Grimaldi's imagery led me on an exploration of such questions, and made "Continental Drift" a compellingly terrific read. I look forward to the rest of the journey!

Looking for a combination of Drives to get the best out of a Touring Holiday in the USA - you need this book! It is easy to link together many of the "120 Spectacular Road Trips" to form a fantastic itinerary to see the best scenery and sights the USA has to offer. It's better than the more specialised "Route 66" and "Lincoln Highway" drives for visitors to the USA who are wanting to experience a broader cross section of US history and its stunning geography. Maps are clear, colour photography whets the appetite and cultural and scenic highlights are picked out in the commentary. Combined with the use of a simple Tom Tom style GPS system the book would provide the solution for visitors planning a Touring experience of the USA - from the smallest local scale to an epic journey covering the best of the nation.

This book is a great help to make beautiful trips trough the country! Good descriptions and maps of the drives. You can search tours in all 50 states. Beautiful pictures!

I love to travel and this book will be a welcome reference for your road trips. Beautifully bound with gorgeous pictures, this book will please you for years to come.

This is a good and simple guide to the principle things to see and how to do it. Recommended for family travel

Wonderful, wonderful book. It gave me details about places that I have never seen but would like to someday. The details are great and they all sound like wonderful places to visit. I fantasize about the places when my day is going bad and transport myself to a better place. Definitely buy it.

This book got to me, in a very good way.

Buck's stories are funny and poignant, and we as readers definitely learn some history if we pay attention. But even more than that we can learn from Buck O'Neil's outlook on life. He was patient, caring, outspoken in an articulate and positive way (something our politicians should learn how to do), and he had grace. More than anything else reading about Buck O'Neil was a lesson on how to live with grace.

I want to tell you the last words of the book, but I won't.

If you like baseball, people or life you will like this book.

Highly recommended!!

Sometimes a great author writes a 5-star book, and sometimes he must only get out of the way and let 5-star material shine through. "The Soul of Baseball" is one of the latter. This isn't a knock on Joe Posnanski. The decision to tell the story by reporting on a year in O'Neil's life, rather than interpreting O'Neil's history, was a brilliant judgment. The reader benefits from Posnanski's willingness to set his writer's ego aside.

Another good Posnanski decision was reporting O'Neil's occasional querulousness. Rather than seeing O'Neil as a mindless happy face, the reader sees O'Neil as someone who must work to maintain his positive approach. The occasional lapses serve to highlight the effort that O'Neil makes to bring the light into the lives of those around him.

But ultimately, the star of the book is Buck O'Neil. Not because he was a great ballplayer or manager. But because he was a decent, good-hearted human being whose attitude toward life is worthy of emulation.

I give few 5-star rankings, but this book deserves it several times over.

Reading this book gave me insight into the Negro Leagues and more importantly into Buck O'Neil. Buck O'Neil was a man today's player should study and revere; not only because of his courage but for his respect of the game.

The Soul of Baseball is a history lesson I encourage any fan or player to read.

This is an outstanding book by one of my favorite writers. Joe really knows how to tell a story and paint a vivid picture with his words. I loved it so much that I just couldn't put it down. A must have for any and all baseball fans.

My son, Jeremy, always gives me good books. He doesn't just pick up the latest best-seller, but takes the time to choose something special just for me. He hit a home run with The Soul of Baseball by Joe Posnanski. It's the story of an extended road trip Posnanski took with legendary Negro League player and manager Buck O'Neil. The lessons learned along the way are great ones for sons and fathers to share.

Posnanski, an award-winning sports columnist for the Kansas City Star, chose not to write a biography of the irrepressible O'Neil, even though the story could bear to be told over and over again. Instead, he penned a moving memoir of the year he spent with the then-93-year-old O'Neil as he toured the country promoting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and the memory of those men who played the game in the days before whites and blacks could share the field. The trip takes them everywhere from Nicodemus, Kansas, to New York, New York, and O'Neil has a fascinating story to tell at every stop.

He talks about Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, and Josh Gibson, names that will always be enshrined in baseball's collective memory. But he also tells the tales of forgotten men like Dan Bankhead, the first black pitcher in the major leagues, who would have been a great hurler if he hadn't been afraid to pitch fastballs inside against white batters.

The key theme of the book is Buck O'Neil's spirit-lifting embrace of the best in every person he met. Despite years of back-breaking struggle, O'Neil never turned bitter, never condemned anyone for their prejudice, never had a bad word to say about the often ugly conditions the black ball players endured. Even when he failed to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Buck O'Neil refused to be angry about it. To make up for the egregious mistake, the Hall awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award after his death.

The lessons Posnanski drew from his experiences with O'Neil are well worth telling and the book he created from them is well worth reading.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo

I read the book in a few sittings and could barely put it down. I could find much to relate to: loving to sometimes work at home in PJs, remembering to appreciate my husband for his great qualities, the willingness to take an adventure, etc. On one part of the trip, Doreen gets her hair cut by Nick Arrojo from TLC's TV show "What Not to Wear." This inspired me to make a trip with my 20-something daughters to get our hair cut by Nick. Nick was fabulous, and it was a great bonding experience with my daughters. By the end of the book, you will be sorry the trip is over, but you will still chuckle when remembering some of Doreen's experiences (e.g., trying to close the door of the RV while it was moving.)

So buy it, read it, enjoy it, tell your friends, and then do something adventurous in the spirit of the Queen of the Road!

Thank you to Doreen Orion for filling several hours with such wonderful humor and fun. I laughed out loud so many times that I know it was great therapy! I love the way the book winds through life's journeys coincidently with her bus travels, becoming a very thoughtful book as well. Plus my husband would love to drive cross-country in an RV and the prospect of that trip has always unsettled me, so I truly had some measure of empathy for Doreen's bus phobia. Maybe I could just give my husband this book to read instead? I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

This book is categorized as travel, although I feel that is a bit misleading. Yes, the bulk of the book takes places on a converted bus making its way around the country. Yes, there are valuable travel tips (such has don't waste your money going to see Southfork). But the really core of this book is about self-discovery. Doreen Orion, a "Princess of the Island of Long," is not a roughing-it kind of gal. Yet, she somehow lets her husband convince her that they need to spend a year traveling the country in a converted bus.

They meet all sorts of people, they see it all, they eat everything but the biggest thing is that Orion reevaluates her life and her priorities. She does not need 100 pairs of shoes, shocking as that may seem. She can actually leave the house--especially in a bus with internet access and a television.

One of the reasons we travel is to expand our lives and Doreen Orion did just that.

Never a dull moment on this ride. Two psychiatrists pack up and set off on a road trip around the U.S. on a retrofitted bus. Doreen Orion's wonderfully hilarious book is part travelogue, part late-night monologue, part inspirational memoir and part love story. For anyone who has wanted to throw caution to wind and do something against their better judgment, this book just might give you that final nudge you need. And for the rest of us, living vicariously through the adventure with this crew is well worth the trip.

This is a good book. What at first appears to be just good fun is actually a lovingly crafted paean to a deserving spouse and an ever strengthening love. Between out-loud laughs and delightful word play one can actually gain insights not only into the fertile mind of Ms. Doreen Orion, but also into the nature of functional relationships in general.
The craft is worthy of a Bill Bryson, with the same kind of educational vignettes, asides, and entertaining insights about people and places encountered on the bus journey. I'm buying multiple copies as gifts because nobody's getting mine.

My wife and I love to go on factory tours and visit company museums when we travel. It's corny, I know, but fun. This book gives wonderful examples of some of the best tours and museums around. Whenever we're going on a road trip, we always consult Watch It Made in the U.S.A.: A Visitor's Guide to the Best Factory Tours and Company Museums (Watch It Made in the USA) to help us decide where we might like to go. I would very much recommend it for families with young kids who might enjoy such tours, and probably retirees who have the time and interest for them, as well.

This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in things made in the USA. It gives a nice description of the facilities, locations, tour times, cost and lengths, age appropriateness, and phone numbers.
We like to travel the country and will use the information to plan our trips. The book is well organized and very helpful.

This is my first review in Amazon.

I am always curious about how things are made,
and after watching many episodes of "How do they do it",
and "How it's made" on discovery Channel.
I started to look for extra resources for a better understanding on these "behind the scenes" mysteries.
Then, I found this book.
And this book is a real treasure!
The book is well organized,
It provides many detail information about the factory tours,
and the brief background of the companies.

Thanks to this book,
now I have some itineraries in mind.
I plan to visit KitchenAid's factory in the near future for my mom.
(My family is in Taiwan)
She is a big fan of KitchenAid mixer. ha.
I will also visit Airstream company as well,
Owning a travel trailer is my dream, and I want to know how it is made,
And I will be more determined to realize this dream!
Maybe one day I will write a similar book "Watch it made in Taiwan" in a mobile trailer office. Who knows?!

Great book, I did not know that a book like this existed. Will definitly come in handy when planning trips. Checked information on places we have already been and information was accurate.

I'm planning to take my two teenagers cross country this summer and this is a GREAT book for finding interesting places to show them. It has excellent maps, clear directions, and well-written descriptions of what you will (and won't) see so I can figure out what sites will best entertain the different family members. I only wish we had time to see more of the places they describe. It even tells you what other nearby attractions there are. Kudos to the authors!

I love this book but wished it had a list of golfing places on RT66. Maybe next issue?

I loved this book so much. I plan to take a RT66 adventure this spring,signing up for sewing classes along the route. This book will certainly help me plan the roadtrip. I am going to sew some RT66 sweaters and also sell them to giftstores on the RT66. I just hope the trip is as much fun as sewing! EXCELLENT BOOK!

This is an absolutely tremendous book for Route 66 lovers like myself! I read this book cover to cover and hope to make the road trip some day like the author of the book did. I love all the interesting places and I am so glad the author included the websites in the book. That way international fans can get information quickly! FIVE BIG STARS on this book!

Me and the 'Banditos' are planning on taking a RT66 roadtrip this Spring and this book was heaven sent! We plan to travel the whole Route 66 road stopping to play in bars along the way. This book we all found to be very helpful in planning the journey. I plan to pick up some extra copies and give out to the kids to color some of the attractions in the book. 'The Band' is back together and we are hitting the RT 66 trail with our great sound! Thanks for writing this wonderful book amigo!

I picked up this book because me and my little sweetie "Lillie Bell" are planning to take a Route 66 adventure this Spring. The book starts in Chicago and ends up in CA, the end of Route 66. Along the way it has many famous and not so famous RT 66 attractions plus fun spots to eat at along the way. Me and "Lillie Bell" are going to take our Harleys on the trip and this book will be tucked away to guide the way! We're going to 'Get our Kicks on RT66"!

I originaly bought this book because it was featured on the [...] website. I have family and many friends who either have or are affected by PKD, so I wanted to check it out. I found myself laughing (a lot) and at times, on the verge of tears. Jess Riley did a great job representing a PKD patient's life and what they must face, but most importantly how each of us affected by PKD survive...with HOPE. Driving Sideways is a great book to take on YOUR road trip or vacation this year.

What a fantastic book! I laughed out loud as I was reading it! It was fun to follow the journey that Leigh took from Wisconsin to California and all her experiences along the way! What a great ride . . . and a great read!

A Great Novel!! Like all great roadtrips the trip is better than the destination just like this book. Every page was a delight to read and I found myself laughing out loud on almost every page.

You might think a road trip taken by a 29-year-old woman who's just had a kidney transplant and plans to meet her ex-boyfriend, the family of her organ donor, and the mother who abandoned her when she was five might not be the most uplifting, or worthy, of travels. Fortunately, the talented (and very funny) author of Driving Sideways has written a compelling, original, surprising and lovely novel. I highly recommend it.

OMG, what a fun book! I couldn't put it down. So well written. The details were explicit enough to put me there in the car with Leigh without being the least bit boring. In some cases, I was frantically turning the pages to find out what happened next. As a proofreader, writer, and editor, I oftentimes get stuck in analyzing the writing -- not in this case. I got lost in the story and absolutely loved it. I think I've found a new author! I hope you write more books, Jessica!!!

Kirk Johnson of the Denver Museum of Natural History and his traveling companion, artist Ray Troll, take us on a goofy whirlwind tour of fossil sites in the West that is funny and also informative. Kirk Johnson explains a lot of geological concepts along the way, while weaving in great anecdotes and entertaining sketches of the whacky characters who live and work at many of the sites they visit. Ray Troll's art, as always, is great and often quite surreal, and there's lots of it on every page. Highly recommended!

The book was listed in Science News, which is a weekly publication with current news in the world of Science. My spouse, who is a Registered Professional Geologist, asked me to purchase it for her. At first glance she thought it was a children's book, however; in reading further realized the book was intended for adults. Her rating is that the publication was very good, both well written and illustrated. This rating means a lot because it is from someone who must have at least a zillion books on Geology and also has a Masters Degree in the subject.

Caution! Paleo fever is catching. I already had a light dose of it before reading the book. Not many people carry around a small chunk of dinosaur rib in their purse just for the heck of it. (It makes a hilarious conversation piece at security check points. Most screeners don't want anything more to do with the purse after finding the bone.)

Now, after reading the book, I have a full blown case, and am itching to get back on the road. This book strikes just the right balance between hard information and just plain fun.

We went to Montana last summer and met several people who were at least as interesting as the bones - with strange tales of discovery and survival. Guess what! after reading the book, I now know that there is a whole world of fossils and people just waiting to be discovered.

This book answers a lot of questions that I had - i.e. what on earth is a concretion? Before reading the book, I could recognize one, but couldn't define what it was. Now I know more about what they are and how they form.

The book delivers a steady drip of valid scientific information that you almost don't realize that you are getting. (The author is a curator at the Denver Museum.)

The book will also tell you how to recognize and find dinosaur tracks at 65 miles an hour. - I won't give away the secret,but, I'll give you a hint: it involves birthday cake and ants.

Be warned! If you read this book, you will be left screaming for a ROAD TRIP in the great old American tradition.

Funny,thought-provoking story with historic information on paleontological sites and the people who search for fossils.

One part Easy Rider, one part On the Road with Charles Kuralt, and one part "stuff to find by the side of the road." Mix up these three and add an interesting commentary of "how things got to be the way they are" and you'll have some idea of what "Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway" is like. I've read "The Bone Wars" (Cope vs Marsh) and, while I find the topic interesting, I had to drag myself through parts of it. I also have a number of "Roadside Geology" books that I'm generally disappointed with. In "Cruisin'," Dr. Johnson gives details about the first scientists on the scene, plus precise locations & basic geology, and manages to make it all humorous and entertaining. The Easy Rider camaraderie between Johnson and artist Troll is often quite amusing, and the sketches of personalities they meet along the road makes what could be a very dry subject full of personable details. The octogenarian racing to beat Johnson to a fossil, the 16 year old girl with an Allosaurus under her bed, the "King of Trilobites" who has little more than disdain for fossils ... all keep the narrative far from a textbook coverage of geology. No, I don't know the author well enough for him to buy me lunch or have a piece of the royalties. I just really enjoyed both the personalities and the fossil info in the book. If you're serious about collecting, get the separate map as well: not only is it covered in Trollish art, but it provides an accurate index of fossil locales throughout the Western states (in much more detail and over broader areas than the book ... and better than any other source I've seen).

I just wanted to say that I finished the book about a month ago and it was awsome! In the chapter called "My New Best Friend", there was a story about two women who went to the theatre, that was hillarious!! I was reading in bed, while my husband was asleep, and I was trying not to laugh so loud to wake him! You ladies did an awsome job and I can't wait to read the next one!

Dena Dyer and Laurie Barker Copeland have created a laugh-out-loud (and sometimes cry-me-a-river) compilation of groovy stories from a variety of women in varying stages of life. It's the kind of book you can digest in small sittings, but may want to keep reading well into the night. I was especially happy to see my friend Leslie Wilson's piece entitled "No Place Like Home." If you're looking for a lighthearted, funny, and touching gift this Christmas, The Groovy Chicks' Road Trip To Peace may be what you're looking for.

Join the two grooviest chicks Dena and Laurie as they share with you their road to peace and groovi-ness. Every woman will relate to the stories in this book and will feel inspired and motivated. They combine humor and true life adventures that you will relate to and laugh at, and will guide you to find peace in your life, amid all the hectic-ness. If you feel like you need something in your life, or your feeling down, pick up this book and feel better immediately. This book is a great gift for the women in your life, sisters, mothers, or friends.

The Groovy Chicks' Road Trip to Peace by Dena Dyer and Laurie Baker Copeland is one of those books I keep on the top of my pile so I can reach for it whenever I have a minute or two and need a little boost. The stories are written by real women in real circumstances whom I can relate to. Whenever I have read a passage, I've come away with something encouraging. The content is often amusing, sometimes poignant, but always thought-provoking. Maybe it's because I grew up in the "Flower Power" era, or maybe it's just because I am a woman, like the writers, who is seeking to know more of God's peace and sometimes has a hard time finding the way. Whatever the reason, I have found that this book touches my heart and gives me insights that are truly "groovy" to me!

Wow! What a great time I had reading Groovy Chicks Road Trip to Peace with Laurie Copeland and Dena Dyer. I was afraid that the book would prove to be a tad lame because of the funny title, but I was pleasantly surprised. I found it packed with personal stories by some great--or should I say "groovy?"--writers: Nancy C. Anderson, Tonya Ruiz, Lilly Allison, Tracy Rasmussen, Susan Myers, Joanne Brokaw, Heather Enright, Shae Cook, Kathy Carlton Willis, Sandra Felton, Kay Flowers, Martha Bolton, Allison Bottke, Ellie Kay and many more.

The stories in this book are personal accounts of how the women found peace with God, peace with others, and peace with themselves. They are a wonderful potpourri of funny, tear-jerking, and heart-touching stories.

At the end of each story the reader finds smile markers (quotations worth remembering); GPS's God's Positioning System (Bible verses); How's Your Inner State? (thought-provoking study questions); Off Ramps (groovy places to visit across the USA); and Pit Stops (activities to entertain and to grow by).

I recommend this book to women who enjoy a good laugh while learning and growing. If you want to read true stories about how women journeyed to find peace in Jesus, this is a book you should not miss. - Elece Hollis, Christian Book Previews.com

Old Bug recently won the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Award for Best New Voice: Nonfiction and the IPPY (Independent Publishers Award) Bronze Medal for Best Spiritual/Inspirational Book of 2008.

I loved this book! This is quite a journey to the inner thoughts and outward conversations of two men (in opposite worlds) on a middle-aged roadtrip. You won't be able to put the book down.

Dan's spiritual quest drives you with him across country on every turn of the page. The fact that he's trapped in an old VW Bug with no comforts and an old school chum who's lost in the 60s, is hysterical. This really needs to be a movie. Give this book to every man in your life. It will take them on a journey they will never forget.

I've passed it on to my 90 year old mother who could be heard laughing on every page turned.

Old Bug: The Spiritual Quest of an Ex-Believer on a Road Across America with a Long Lost Friend in a Beat-Up Beetle lives up to its title and then some. Recounting a cross-country road trip between the author and a friend who have barely seen each other in thirty years, Old Bug is as much about a lingering question in the soul as it is about the journey, namely, "If I don't believe in traditional religion, then what do I believe in?" Pondering God, morality, mortality, meaning, and the mysteries of life itself, Old Bug recounts confronting inner demons long buried even as it mirthfully recounts the hassle of struggling to keep a '69 VW Beetle running smoothly in the twenty-first century. A gentle, thoughtful read of discovery and larger-than-life quandaries.

"This is a book with questions of importance to every living person. It is written with humor and insight and a feeling of respect for the human spirit. I'm certain that I will come away with new realizations each time I reread it. And it is a book that one will want to enjoy over and over. It brings comfort to my bookshelf."

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (2/08)

When Dan Jackson gets a phone call from his old high-school buddy Richard, he has no clue about how much his life is about to change. Richard is calling to ask Dan to leave California and join up with him in Oregon to begin a five-day journey back to New Jersey, where they grew up thirty years before. Richard is going back to see his family whom he has been estranged from for years. An impromptu high-school reunion also develops as a result of their trip. Richard tells Dan that he just bought a car for this mission. He doesn't tell him that it is a 1969 Volkswagen Bug. Dan discovers this on his own shortly after he arrives at Richard's home in Portland. He has no idea how they are going to make it in that car.

When Dan decided to do this trip with Richard, he wanted to make it a spiritual journey. The hardships encountered along the way made it very difficult for him to stay on track with this goal. There were many times that he was angry and ready to give up. An epiphany snaps him out of this mode and helps him to realize that he is actually gaining a tremendous amount of growth from this trip. Dan really takes the time to do a lot of soul searching. He also discovers the importance of allowing himself to fully experience the journey.

Amazing things happen to them along the way. When the bug starts having problems, Dan finds himself getting annoyed with Richard and his inability to accept that there is more going wrong with the car than vapor lock. He has to learn to work past these feelings. When they need help with getting a part or a repair, the right people pop into the picture to help them.

I really enjoyed reading "Old Bug." It showed me the things that I miss when I choose to fly across the country. It also brought back memories of my own personal journey when I drove a Pinto from New Jersey to California in 1986. I had all of my worldly possessions with me. Looking back, I wish that they had CD's back then instead of albums, because mine took up my whole back seat. My trip was pretty uneventful except for the muffler falling off in Pennsylvania. I won enough money in Las Vegas to replace it. I also had to drive the whole way with the heat on so that the car wouldn't overheat. I was fortunate that it didn't blow up, as Pintos are prone to do, until a couple of years later. Anyway, "Old Bug" reminded me of those moments when I was passing through the country taking mental snapshots of places that I have never been and will probably never be again. I wish that I could have read this book first, because I was more focused upon my goal of getting to the other side of the United States than I was to enjoy my journey across.

Mr. Jackson teaches us the importance of taking time to stop and smell the flowers. I found his story to be very inspiring and enjoyed reading about his observations and philosophies. About an hour after I finished reading "Old Bug," I was talking to my boss, at a wedding reception, about work issues. He told me to make sure that I take the time to enjoy the journey because that is what life is about. I told him that I knew of the perfect book for him to read.