September’s Book Recommendation
The Best American Travel Writing 2000
Each month we recommend one book/audio cd that we’ve had fun reading or listening to. This month it’s The Best American Travel Writing 2000, edited by Bill Bryson, the guy that wrote A Walk in the Woods.
Our “Trailer Truck” Rating System
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"5 Trailer Trucks" means it's the best of the best, and we couldn't recommend it more. In other words, it transports you to another world! Or should we say it's the high-octane fuel option at the pump?
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"4 Trailer Trucks" means we loved it! Great for listening in the truck or reading before bed. You learn something and are better for it. This is Midgrade fuel, generally 89-90.
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"3 Trailer Trucks" means it's still worth it, but don't expect life-changing. This is the lowest octane fuel that will get you to where you need to go, and sometimes that's all we need.
“This first collection of THE BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING reads like a good novel. Best-selling author Bill Bryson and series editor Jason Wilson have put together a book that will surprise knowledgeable travelers and entrance newcomers with the glories of new worlds.” - Amazon
🚛 🚛 🚛 🚛 (4 Trailer Trucks)
Why’d we love it?
Because it included a nonfiction piece titled “The World’s Toughest Trucker” by Tom Clynes, a photojournalist who travels the world covering the adventurous sides of science, the environment, and education for publications such as National Geographic, Nature, The New York Times, and Popular Science.
It’s a story about a 1,500-mile round trip—not a single foot on paved roads—that takes fuel truck driver Garry White through Australia’s most inaccessible wilderness. He has to plow through jungle rivers, chain-saw through downed trees, and shovel his way out of truck-gobbling mud holes. Every time he stops to change a flat tire or replace an axle, he’s bait for leeches, wild boars, taipans and giant crocs.
“Cheryl asks him about the longest he’s been stranded in the bush. There was the time he was “bogged in tight” for five days near the Gulf of Carpentaria. He had to dig a ditch to drain the track, then cut down trees and lash them together, finally driving out over his makeshift wooden road.
“Ran low on tucker, so I made some crab traps and put ‘em out in a billabong, not even thinkin’ about the crocs. I made the mistake of going back there the same time three days in a row, wadin’ right out into the tea. On the last day I had the boots off and was ready to go in when I got a feeling. Threw some rocks out and sure enough, a big saltie was out by the trap, waiting ’round for me. They’re smart. They’ll watch their prey for a few days; they’ll learn your habits.””
Tom Clynes has a Blog that we recommend you checking out and it even includes this story along with pictures of the trip.
Is that it?
No. This collection of tales from The Best American Travel Writing 2000 includes other true stories like picking up hitchhikers in Cuba, which supposedly is a custom. Or the story of spending the night camping out in Central Park with raccoons or being trapped on a boat in the Congo for days and then meeting a man named God.
