For a short time during the 70s, my sister and I traveled all over the West, living out of a camper shell on the back of her pick-up truck with her Doberman, my German Shepherd, and all our worldly possessions. We had the time of our lives and took home many awesome memories. Here is an old photo of me posing in front of the mighty Grand Canyon.
Below is a selection of my most favorite "women traveler" books, and none of these ladies let their gender keep them at home.
THE LAST OF THE SADDLE TRAMPS
by Mesannie Wilkins
I can't believe only one other person on Shelfari has this book on their shelf. What a shame for it to fade into obscurity!
The book, which was published in 1967, tells the real life story of a 63 year old Maine woman who, when she's warned by her doctor that she only has 2 to 4 years to live, bought a horse and set out in November, 1954 with her little dog, to ride all the way to California with only $32 in her pocket. Along the way she slept in barns, jails, motels, out under the stars, and in the homes of welcoming strangers. Her many adventures on the long trip to California are told with the warmth and humor of a little old lady who has a big dream and the courage to make it happen. I doubt she ever stopped to think how far it was from Maine to California. She just trusted in God and took things one day at a time.
Sixteen months, 7,000 miles, and 8 filled diaries later, she arrived in California. She, along with her horse and dog, was featured on the Art Linkletter Show and became something of a celebrity. This is a classic "road trip" story of a truly inspirational woman traveler seeing America from the back of a horse.
P.S. She proved her doctor wrong and lived well into her 80s.
LOIS ON THE LOOSE
by Lois Price
I laughed all the way through this insane book! "One woman, one motorcycle, 20,000 miles across the Americas" is what it says on the cover. True story. Lois quits her boring job at the BBC in London, flies with her Yamaha 225 dirt bike and camping gear to Anchorage, Alaska, and begins an 8-and-a-half month trek south, headed for Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost tip of South America. What utter lunacy for a young lady, traveling alone on a small bike not meant for long distance travel, with very little knowledge of motorcycle mechanics or the Spanish language, to set off on such a hair-brained adventure!
Along the way, she's befriended by all kinds of bikers, learns to communicate (mostly by miming) with the Hispanic locals, and deals with all kinds of bureaucratic nightmares at border crossings and airports. The only country she skips, for obvious safety reasons, is Nicaragua. The trip, fraught with endless frustrations and danger, is accomplished through the sheer tenacity and bravery of a little gal with a great big dream. This is not a book of flowery prose about the people and places she visits; nonetheless, the reader gets a realistic feel for this kind of extreme travel adventure. Lois' great sense of humor at her endless predicaments and her determination to stand with her bike at the "end of the world" keeps this easy read moving at an almost frantic pace.
Bill Bryson's A WALK IN THE WOODS cured me of any ideas I ever had about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Lois' book did the same for any wacky notions I may have had of biking south of the border. I'll have to be content to let books take me there.
BREAKING THE LIMIT: One Woman’s Motorcycle Journey Through North America
by Karen Larsen
©2004 This is the best Road Trip book I’ve ever read, and I read every one I can get my hands on. Road trip books, FYI, are a sub-genre of travel books. Travel books tell the reader how to get there and what he will find. Road trip books are personal travelogues that go much deeper, recounting the adventures that the traveler experiences while on the road.
Karen Larsen is one remarkable young woman. Born in Canada to an unwed mother, she was adopted as an infant and grew up in Massachusetts. She’d hiked a significant portion of the Appalachian trail and was a world traveler. After a two year stint with the Peace Corps, serving in Bulgaria and Macedonia, she returned to Princeton to earn her Masters.
A breast cancer scare motivated Karen to locate her biological family, to assess her family history of the disease. It also brought to mind the fact that life is uncertain, so if a person has any untried dreams, it’s a good idea to go for them before it’s too late. So the day after graduation, she packed up her little Harley Sportster, “Lucy,” and hit the road for a summer of freedom, adventure and pure adrenaline.
She was a little gal on a little bike, alone as she headed into the unknown: west to the Pacific Coast and then north to Alaska. She caused quite a stir every day as she stopped to gas up Lucy or get a bite to eat in a roadside café. Some people were rude or even outraged at the foolishness of a woman traveling alone on a motorcycle. But most were awed that she was brave enough to follow her dream and face the unknowns of each day: the weather, the road conditions, and the dangerous wildlife, including some of the people she came in contact with.
Karen and her story were amazing enough. While on the road, she makes it a point to connect with her biological parents and half-siblings, and learns a lot about herself in the process. But what made this a first-rate, road trip saga was the perfect balance of colorful description of the places she passed through, the variety of interesting people she met, and the many (sometimes scary) adventures she experienced.
I love it when I come to the end of a book feeling like I actually lived it!
No comments:
Post a Comment