America Unchained by Dave Gorman

I didn't know who Dave Gorman was  or is - actually I'm still a little unclear - but when I mentioned that I like travel-writing an internet friend suggested this and then sent it to me. Cool.

I like travel books to have a theme and this one is quite interesting. Very interesting in fact. The plan was to drive from the west to the east coast of America using only independent retailers to refuel, overnight and buy supplies at. The great American tradition of the Mom & Pop store was to be tested, in fact. I like the idea of this because although I've not been to America I have seen it on film and on TV and I have a lot of American friends. I live in Europe and I am often surprised (and not in a good way) that I could be in Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, London or Berlin (or Soltau, Sittard or Sheffield or countless other towns in Europe) and there will be retail outlets, hotels and petrol stations that I recognise.

Some are American, some European - but one thing is for sure: you could spend your life buying well-known and /or branded petrol, food and whatever and never know you'd left your home town. I occasionally travel for work and it's quite depressing (since my trips are usually short) that I could be anywhere: Istanbul, Seoul, Paris... when I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder where I am, the room gives no clues.

Dave Gorman, and countless others, are of the same opinion: this can't be good. And therefore he decided to give it a kind of fun stress test. Becuase I'm sure, at least in the planning, it must have been huge fun. According to Plan A he was to start in LA, buy a car and drive accross the States. Buying the car was difficult, but eventually he bought a 70s Ford (don't ask me - I know nothing even about my own car outside of the fact that it is an estate (combi, station wagon - take your pick), silver and it runs on diesel. I tell a lie: he bought a Gran Torino station wagon. Apparently something of a classic.

Coast to coast the trip is around 3,000 miles but that sounds so much easier than it was. Especially since you consider that Plan A consisted solely of: buy car, drive accross without giving money to The Man (TM), sell car. He was writing the book along the way, and partly in order to fund the trip he took someone along to film the journey too. That in itself is a bit of an exciting side story.

That's all I'm going to say about the actual trip. About the book only a little more. It's well written, he definitely has a great turn of phrase, and it jogs along nicely giving the right amount of information about their search for independence. It is also very heart-on-sleeve about his beliefs in certain respects and there are some interesting asides in Salt Lake City and one Mom & Pop store in particular.

Give this one a try - if only to read about a bed 'n' breakfast place built in the shape of a beagle. Yes the dog.