Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:18:00 +0000

The fifth edition of Road Trip USA comes at an opportune time. Gas per gallon is down more than a dollar from last year, and in looking at a line graph projecting the U.S. unemployment rate, if it doesn’t trigger a desire to go on an uphill hike in the Colorado mountains, it exposes that there are plenty of people out there with newly found time on their hands. Time, I say, for a road trip.

What Jamie Jensen does with his colored photographs and charming details is provoke us to stop considering transit as a means to an end. What a concept! Go to an airport and try telling that to someone who is delayed, paying $13 for a tuna sandwich, or trying to sleep curled up in a chair. Leisure travel, as Jack Kerouac knew it, has long been replaced with super-fast and super-boring travel. But as Jensen’s book illustrates, a paper trail remains, and that trail is the two-lane blacktop, the highway, the old way.

If you are contemplating this book it’s likely you are also contemplating a trip of some kind. Unfortunately, time and budget tend to be inversely related (as the aforementioned unemployed can attest). But whatever your distance, Road Trip USA is a helpful tool for every adventurer. The book features eleven routes traversing North-South or East-West, with cross-references, 125 maps, a helpful index, essential tips for food and lodging, and entertaining write-ups on local gossip, lore, and legend. It’s perfect if you are traveling from your armchair too; just consider it a quirky history book.

I tested the book by reading about areas I’ve lived in or traveled through frequently. To my surprise, Jensen highlighted many of the local favorites in addition to must-see novelty. In fact ,I learned about places I had never heard of before. This proved to me that this guy is not only a good writer, but a good talker too. How else would he know about Chope’s in La Mesa, New Mexico?

Road Trip USA hunts down unobtrusive treasures from the past that are often overshadowed by what is bright, clean, and predictable. After reading this book you will never eat fast food again without wondering what you might be missing just down the street. Jensen shows that with a little creativity and an open mind, monotonous transport can easily become a memorable journey.

Written by: Katy Pine, September 18th 2009

Moon Metro Los Angeles, 3rd Edition

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Edited by Naomi Adler Dancis

Avalon Travel

From Argentina to Cancun to New England, Moon Maps are available online and through guides like Moon Metro Los Angeles. The slender book is thick with fold-out maps of the City of Angels so you can conduct a self-guided tour. It’s not an “LA for Dummies,” but makes the effort to be accessible to first timers, as well as those who are map-challenged, like me.

Moon Metro Los Angeles divided Los Angeles up into eight specific areas, which are color coded to help the tourist quickly identify where they’re going. You may own a navigator that will get you around even as you walk, but a map can often give a wider view of what’s ahead in an area; at least, that’s been my experience with my navigational system and its 3.5 inch screen.

The guide also offers advice on tourist traps, which can be fun if you want to tell people you saw or experienced, but really aren’t the best value. Case in point are the “star tours” or “star maps” that lead you to think you’ll see the stars at their homes. Remember just how high those greens were when Ozzy Osborne threw a ham over his shrubbery? Map authors point out that homes may be recessed far enough from the street that you can’t see them taking out the trash, or (again with the shrubbery) with landscaping that is designed to cloud your view.

Hot "star spots" are mentioned: places you might not expect to see them at, such as delis or coffee shops. Bank on the fact they may love one place, but switch to another if the shine gets too bright from fans’ smiles.

Restaurant price ratings and other expected data are included in the map as well. It’s worth a pickup prior to your visit, so you can program destinations in your navigator, data phone or other electronic accessories, but is a good backup in case any of your electronics fail, and you’re still rarin’ to go.

Written by: Cheryl Ellis, March 20th 2009