Fodors Essential USA 1st Edition Spectacular Cities Natural Wonders and Great American Road Trips Fodors Gold Guides
April 10, 2009 by Best Hotels · Leave a Comment
With millions of acres of amber waves of grain and a myriad of purple mountains majesty to choose from, selecting a vacation destination in the United States can be overwhelming. That’s why Fodor’s USA focuses on the best trips from sea to shining sea—from the vineyards of Napa Valley to the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to the streets of Manhattan. Each section contains all of the crucial information that readers have come to expect from Fodor’s, including the best of the best in hotels, attractions, and restaurants.
Highlights Include:
The Complete Civil War Road Trip Guide 10 Weekend Tours and More Than 400 Sites from Antietam to Zagonyi
April 10, 2009 by Best Hotels · Leave a Comment
The Complete Civil War Road Trip Guide is the definitive guidebook for Civil War tourists, from the novice historian to the die-hard Civil War buff. The book outlines ten suggested itineraries for short road trips that cover every major battle of the war that will enable a traveler to experience this definitive period of American history. For those who can’t resist trying to see it all, the book contains complete information on and reviews of almost 450 historical sites across the United States related to the Civil War, including all 384 of the principal battlefields listed by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, as well as lodging and other travel information.
The Complete Civil War Road Trip Guide will enable the historical traveler of any level to experience the Civil War like no other book has done.
In Search of Captain Zero A Surfers Road Trip Beyond the End of the Road
April 10, 2009 by Best Hotels · Leave a Comment
In Search of Captain Zero A Surfers Road Trip Beyond the End of the Road
In 1966, Allan Weisbecker “made a Manhattan run from the landlocked suburbs” to take in a siren-song movie called The Endless Summer, a documentary that depicted the carefree life of two beach bums who roamed the world in quest of the perfect wave. Weisbecker was hooked, and he became a hardcore wave rider, a fixture on the Long Island surf scene. With a friend, Christopher, he also undertook illegal ways to finance his passion, transporting drugs from exotic countries, a business only briefly interrupted when Christopher went off to Vietnam. There he took fire and came home scarred; something in him changed, and one day he simply vanished.
Weisbecker’s book, a sort of gonzo detective story blended with travelogue and peppered with hang-10 jargon, does many things, all of them very well indeed. It offers up a vision of innocent times brought to ruin by war and drugs; it recounts his search for his lost friend, whose life had gone from bad to worse far away from home; and it affords a look inside the strange culture of surfing, whose masters “understood, in a visceral and soulful and inexpressible way, the machinations of the sea, and, by subtle inference, the universe at large.”
Full of regret and exhilaration, Weisbecker’s memoir is a fine chronicle of a dream gone sour and a friendship redeemed. –Gregory McNamee
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars On the road with Alan Weisbach
Whereas Weisbachs book could have used a little tighter editing (it is considerably over long), Weisbach, a child of the 60s, is a powerful story teller with a nice turn of phrase, and an insiders perspective (sorry, my apostrophe key is blotto) of not one, but two exclusive and machismo fraternities (but im not giving them away). His passion for the nomads life, hard core surfing ability, extraordinary survival skills (some might say fortune), immense cojones, and larger than life experiences make this an exciting read. Weisbach offers his ruminations on the mechanics and metaphysics of surfing, wave dynamics, and the Surfers Path (as we call it) as well. That said, if you are not a surfer or water man/woman, you might better read Ulysses. kcl
4 Stars I don’t even surf
I picked up this book after having read the fictional “Cosmic Banditos”. It’s the mind-boggling road diary of Weisbecker’s trip off the grid. He sells off his life, grabs his dog and surfboards, and heads out with no real direction other than ’south’. His funny, relaxed writing evokes a storytelling session around a campfire on the beach.
This is the kind of audacious drop-out from society that most of us will only dream about. After cringing at some of Weisbecker’s more harrowing adventures, some of us will be glad we never took the leap. The story takes an uncomfortable turn when Captain zero is finally found, a turn which may cement your commitment to staying safely on the grid.
5 Stars Makes me dream about the beach life
Anyone who is nostalgic about surfing, the beach, women, friends and the passage of time should read this book. It is hard to believe how well written it is. There are many interesting, sad and funny stories in the book. The scene about the large wave hitting their small beach house in Hawaii actually had me, dare I say, laughing out loud. I’m now reading the book a second time after a one year hiatus, and enjoying it just as much (a good activity until I can get back to the beach!).
5 Stars A Head-On Collision Between Endless Summer And Electric Koolaid Acid Test
There’s nothing like a surfing trip to Costa Rica with flashbacks to drug dealing days to make for a great literary achievement.
The book may be $10.00, but the chapter on “The Boat” is priceless! I’ve bought at least 10 copies to give to my friends to read. It is a true classic.
How this book has gone this long without being made into a movie is incomprehensible.
5 Stars Excellent thought provoking and fun read
This book appealed on so many levels. Want a good surf adventure, you got it. Like a nice travelogue, it hits there too. Want an excellent character study, absolutely. If you want to shake your head while laughing out loud, you get that here also. It was a book that was fun and yet thought provoking, strongly recommended.
Adventure Capitalist The Ultimate Road Trip
April 10, 2009 by Best Hotels · Leave a Comment
Adventure Capitalist The Ultimate Road Trip
Financier Rogers retired at 37 and motorcycled around the world, turning the trip into the book Investment Biker, a hybrid of business advice and travelogue. That journey, however, failed to squelch his wanderlust. Instead of enjoying his sedate life teaching finance, Rogers decided to take his fianc
Route 66 Backroads Your Guide to Scenic Side Trips and Adventures from the Mother Road Backroads of
April 10, 2009 by Best Hotels · Leave a Comment
Route 66 Backroads Your Guide to Scenic Side Trips and Adventures from the Mother Road Backroads of
“Route 66 Backroads takes us on some of those journeys and in the process makes us wish for more memory cards for the camera and more days to spend on the road…Jim Hinckley takes us to with his lively narrative that both informs and intrigues. Through excellent photography of Kerrick James, as well as Rick and Nora Bowers, the places come alive and entice you to visit. For many of us, Route 66 is the adventure, the moveable feast of cross-country journey, but close to the Road, there are places equally as interesting and exciting. Route 66 Backroads explores some of these places, and adds even more reasons for making that next Route 66 trip.” - Route 66 Magazine
“Sure, the interstate will get you there faster, but driving the Mother Road gets you closer to history. If you know someone who’s enchanted with the double six, “Route 66 Backroads,” by Jim Hinckley with photos by Kerrick James, Rick Bowers and Nora Mays Bowers, may be just the ticket (Voyageur Press, $24.99).
What’s different about this tome: It offers 50 side strips on the road from Chicago to L.A., detours that could bring you face to face with the neon/big fins/diners/motels feeling you’re looking for. If only I hadn’t gotten rid of my ‘57 Chevy….” - LA Times
“I have been enjoying in the last few days a beautiful book named Route 66 Backroads: Your Guide to Scenic Side Trips & Adventures from the Mother Road. It was written by Jim Hinckley and features photography by Kerrick James, Rick Bowers, and Nora Mays Bowers. The title is somewhat misleading, but not in a bad way. Before looking through the book, I had assumed that it would highlight 66 sites and other places of interest nearby. While sites such as these are covered, the scenic side trips take you far away from the Mother Road, showing many of the other interesting areas within the eight Route 66 states… The photography throughout the book is stunning, and the narrative compelling. I give the book my highest praise: it makes me want to jump in the car and take a road trip!” - http://windycityroadwarrior.com/,
