Best of
Road-Trip

2012

The Driving Lesson


Ben Rehder - 2012
    Even more unexpected, his partner in crime is his own ailing grandfather. Now they're on the run, trying to make it across the country to see a special kind of doctor, while the world becomes mesmerized by their journey. They are the subject of heated debates on cable news channels. Thousands of people voice their support on Facebook fan pages. And Charlie's own parents appear on live TV to plead for him to come home safely. But Charlie isn't ready yet. He's determined to get his grandfather to Seattle. The only question is, will the police stop him first? **Recommended for ages 13 to adult.**

From What I Remember...


Stacy Kramer - 2012
    Graduation is TODAY! Wait! Is this a wedding band on my finger??MAX: It started with Kylie’s laptop and a truck full of stolen electronics and it ended in Ensenada. It was hot, the way she broke us out like some chick in an action movie. But now we’re stranded here, with less than twenty-four hours before graduation.WILL: Saving Kylie Flores from herself is kind of a full-time occupation. Luckily, I, Will Bixby, was born for the job. And when I found out she was stuck in Mexico with dreamy Max Langston, sure, I agreed to bring their passports across the border – but there’s no reason to rush back home right away. This party is just getting started.LILY: This cannot be happening. It’s like some cruel joke. Or a bad dream. I close my eyes and when I reopen them, they’re still there. Max and Kylie Flores, freak of the century. In bed together. If Kylie thinks I'm giving him up without a fight, she's dead wrong.

Goodbye Emily


Michael Murphy - 2012
    One final roadtrip. One last chance to say Goodbye Emily. They met at Woodstock, and the love lasted a lifetime. Then she was gone, and so was his college teaching job. Heartbroken but determined, he calls on his two best friends to help him return to the place it all began.The professor and his Woodstock buddy need the third tripper from back in the day, now in a nursing home with early stage Alzheimer’s. When the home refuses to allow their friend to come along, the professor and the vet bust him out, attracting the attention of the cops and the media, fascinating the public.   The roadtrip turns into a flight from “the man” and not even the professor’s defense attorney daughter can help. In a psychedelic van, the trio dodges cops and prosecutors. Against all odds, they close in on their destination, where thousands of supporters and cops await them.   Goodbye Emily is the irreverantly funny story about a journey of self-discovery for a man who thought he’d left all important journeys in life behind.

The Long Way Home


Karen McQuestion - 2012
    For Wisconsinites Marnie, Laverne and Rita, life isn't working out so well. Each is biding time, waiting for something better, something to transport them out of what their lives have recently become. And then there's Jazzy: bubbly, positive, and happy even though she hears voices of the departed. Brought together by a chance meeting, the women decide to join Marnie on a road trip from Wisconsin to Las Vegas where she intends to reunite with Troy, the boy she raised as her own—and who she’s been separated from since her boyfriend’s death. Little do they know that as the road trip unfolds, so will their lives—in directions they never anticipated. Humorous, heartwarming, and bittersweet, the journey has something special in store for each woman.

Song of the Open Road


Walt Whitman - 2012
    The famous poem "Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman.

Lady Ann's Excellent Adventure


Candice Hern - 2012
    Fans of the traditional Regency romances of Georgette Heyer, Barbara Metzger, and Carla Kelly will enjoy this story of a highborn bride about to embark on an important arranged marriage. Before sacrificing herself on the altar of duty, Lady Ann decides to experience one last day of unchaperoned fun. Her attempted escape, however, appears to be foiled when she gets stuck in a tree. She is fortunate to be rescued by a gallant gentleman, who then accompanies her on a most excellent adventure. When she finds herself falling in love with her handsome rescuer, Lady Ann must now face an arranged marriage that not only tests her sense of duty. It might also break her heart.

Charly's Epic Fiascos


Kelli London - 2012
    Big time. But guess what? I’ve got a dream no one can kill, and I’ve been planning how to make it come true.Charly’s holdin’ it down—she’s got the attention of Mason, the new cutie around the way, she’s setting the style for her crew, and if you get in her way, she’ll mush you. Despite her frontin’, her game is shaky—she’s got no phone, no ride, and she’s living on the outskirts of Chicago. Even worse: she’s got a dream-killing mother and has to work part-time to help pay the bills. But Charly’s got a plan to rise above it all—using the acting skills she’s honed over the years to save face around the haters. All she’s got to do now is get to New York without dropping the ball on making her and Mason official.But between the most messed up travel plans ever and a bunch of broken promises, Charly’s got a long journey ahead of her. That’s okay, ’cause nothing will stop her, not even the biggest challenge of all that’s waiting at her destination….

Wanderlove


Kirsten Hubbard - 2012
    In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.Kirsten Hubbard lends her artistry to this ultimate backpacker novel, weaving her drawings into the text. Her career as a travel writer and her experiences as a real-life vagabond backpacking Central America are deeply seeded in this inspiring story.

Celia on the Run


Sarah Mandell - 2012
    On the eve of his beloved grandmother's funeral, danger finds him by the motel swimming pool. Her name is Celia and she's everything he's not. This foul-mouthed beauty is hitchhiking across the country to make amends with her estranged father and doesn't carry an ounce of fear or hesitation in her tattered suitcase. She's bad news all around, but for a rule-follower like Nick, she's intoxicating.Twenty-four hours after speaking to Celia for the very first time, following one extremely lucky night, Nick is hopelessly hooked and "borrows" his parents' car to join her cross-country mission, even though her story is full of holes. It's the mistake he's been waiting his whole life to make. Together, they dodge a train, jump off a bridge, and scam everyone in their path. Nick is blossoming into a teenage fugitive, just like Celia, and he's never been happier. She may not be who she says she is, but she's got his vulnerable heart.After weeks of detours, with hundreds of miles left to go, their wild adventure starts to unravel. The money dries up, Celia's dark secrets begin to surface, and it's clear they both want vastly different things out of this partnership. Celia is all about no strings attached and severing whatever they may have between them once they reach their destination, while Nick is head over heels in love and wanting a future with the girl in his passenger seat. They seem to reach a new low on a daily basis, but she won't turn back, no matter how desperate things get. After all, this is her trip and Nick is just the driver. Celia's got a charming smile to pay her way, a willing accomplice, a hidden agenda, and an endless supply of lies. Not to mention a gun.

Cadillac Chronicles


Brett Hartman - 2012
    But his mother has a knack for sabotaging his plans. To advance her political career, she takes in an elderly black man named Lester Bray. Lester arrives with a vintage Cadillac and an old man's personality. It takes only a week for Alex's mother to ask Lester to leave. That makes Alex angry. On the morning of his eviction, Lester and Alex set out on a road trip, ostensibly to find the boy's father in Fort Lauderdale. But the two don't just head south. They also cross through un-navigated political, racial, and personal territory. A wild ride, Cadillac Chronicles explores what it means to—finally—find a real friend.Brett Hartman lived an unremarkable life in Fort Lauderdale until May 18, 1983, when he was arrested for aggravated battery. While away at Auburn University, he suffered a psychotic breakdown and months of intensive treatment. Though he made a full recovery, the events of that period never left him. He continued his education at Indiana State, where he received a doctorate in clinical psychology; he has worked as a psychologist ever since. His memoir Hammerhead 84 covers his journey through the mental health industry. Cadillac Chronicles is his debut novel. He lives in Albany, New York, with his wife and their two sons.

Hazelet's Journal


George Cheever Hazelet - 2012
    Diary kept in the late 1890's offers riveting insight into the breed of men who pioneered America's last frontier, the great Alaska Territory, through grit and bootstrap entrepreneurship. This saga tells the true-life story of publisher's John H. Clark IV's great-grandfather, whose adventurous quest to seek his fortune in Alaska at the turn of the century reflects the great American spirit upon which the nation relied. The diarist and voice of the new book, George Cheever Hazelet, was inspired by the great tycoons at the dawn of the Industrial Age. He became one himself in the chicory-coffee market, only to see his fortunes evaporate during the calamitous financial crisis of the late1890s. Determined to secure a comfortable life for his beloved wife and two small sons, he took what he had left and headed for Alaska in 1898 to seek his fortune."And if parting from my boys was hard, that from my wife was torture. I had know for days that it would be difficult but the sad look in those eyes I can never forget as she said, 'I know I shall never see you again,'" writes Hazelet as the journal begins. From here he records his motivations, his frustrations, his dispair at being separated from his family, and his determination to keep prospecting in spite of all manner of deprivation, including fronzen tundra, snow-covered glaciers, and seasonal mosquitos so ferocious their bites swelled one's face and hands beyond recognition. Hazelet's Journal contains never-before-published maps, illustrations, and more than one hundred black and white photographs from private collections and from museum archives. In this span of time 1898 to 1902, Hazelet reaches "the last frontier"-the Copper River Country-where he stakes his claim and struggles to make his fortune in spite of forest fires, claim jumpers, earthquakes, and inevitable heartbreak. Early Review: "Cocooned as we are in the comforts of civilization, most of us have all but forgotten the 'grit' required of our ancestors as they settled the wilderness...Reading Hazelet's Journal will cause thoughtful people to reconsider life as we know it." ~ Tori Murden McClure, explore, adventurer, the first women to row alone across an ocean, and author of A Pearl in the Storm, HarperCollins Publishers.