 Excerpts from Chrome Horse Chronicles
 |
|
The Grand Canyon
1 July through 11 July 1999
Follows the author's initial apprehension as it turns into a realization of the wonders offered by the open road. From the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde to the majestic rock gardens of Canyonlands, Zion and Capitol Reef National Parks, a wide road of discovery is revealed. The fulfillment of a dream to ride to the Grand Canyon serves only to awake a sleeping traveler. It is an acknowledgement of the cathedral-like simplicity of Monument Valley over the flashing glitz of Las Vegas, a reminiscence of American pasts on a ride along Route 66 and a disoriented stomp through Roswell's UFO museum. It is the beginning of a personal tradition.
Read More>>
|
|
|
|
The Continental Divide
15 July through 27 July 2000
Join the author in his journey along the Rocky Mountains to the Canadian border and a ride home through the scorching heat of the GreatPlains. This trip addresses the yin and yang of riding with others versussolo travel. The author discusses his experiences riding through rain andhail in Colorado and camping in Yellowstone. Share the perfect beautyof an afternoon in Glacier and the long ride across Montana. America isshown through the stone faces of Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse and,in real faces at Medora and Belfield, ND. The author visits Sturgis in theweek before the feast, and Little Bighorn and Wounded Knee more than acentury after the battles. It is a ride where the past and present merge ondistant highways.
Read More>>
|
|
|
|
The Mississippi River
30 June through 11 July 2001
The trip begins with a graveyard visit, in a small Louisiana town, to pay respects to the author's grandmother and aunt. Then we follow Mississippi's Blues Highway to the legendary “Crossroads” and on to Memphis and the gates of Graceland. The author stops at river towns like Cairo, Illinois, Keokuk, Iowa and Hannibal, Missouri and celebrates figures like Mark Twain, John Hartford and Robert Johnson. Travel from Lake Itasca (and watch children splash in the knee-deep stream that eventually becomes the mighty Mississippi) to the cold, southern shore of Lake Superior, into the shadows of Lambeau Field in Green Bay and, finally, through the deep-wood back roads at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. The river, and the country itself, are never far from the surface.
Read More>>
|
|
|
|
The Atlantic Coast
29 June through 15 July 2002
After riding with a group to Washington, D.C., the author takes off on his own to experience the 137th anniversary of Gettysburg at the Pennsylvania battlefield. He then spends the 4th of July at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The solo trip winds through the north woods of New Hampshire and Maine, into Quebec and on through the almost constant rain of the Canadian Maritimes. There is an emotional stop in his place of birth in Vermont and an even more wrenching visit with his dementia-stricken mother in a Connecticut nursing home. The ride home, by freeway and ferry boat, covers much of the Atlantic Coastline. Beginning at a secluded cabin on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, and making historical stops at Campobello, Plymouth, Newport, Kitty Hawk and Charleston, the author meets a wide range of travelers and at one point becomes a tourist attraction himself. It is a very personal journey.
Read More>>
|
|
|
|
The Golden State
14 June through 26 July 2003
The trip begins with a grueling two-day desert journey from Houston to Palomar Mountain, California and then slows down with a stunning ride up the Pacific Coast Highway. From the heights of Yosemite to the depths of Death Valley, the beauty and wonders of the state are explored. The author is humbled by the generosity of a true guardian angel in Tehachapi and entertained by a homeless man on roller skates in Bakersfield. This incredible scenic diversity continues in his ride through the forest cathedrals of Redwoods and Sequoias, the thick fog of the Coastal Range, and a sandstorm on Arizona's Navajo Nation. It is the story of a man much more at ease with the road.
Read More>>
|
|
|
|
The Midnight Sun
3 July through 16 August 2004
This is the dream within the dream—the great adventure. The names and places take on an almost romantic mystique: The Icefields Parkway, the Yukon Territory, and the Signpost Forest. The remote beauty of the Alaska Highway is carefully noted, along with the hundred miles of cold rain on Alaska's Glenn Highway and the fresh patches of snow in Montana's Beartooth Pass. The vivid colors of Oregon's Crater Lake, the muted tones of Alaska's Denali National Park, and the sunlit drops of water from irrigation sprinklers near Moab, Utah occupy small portions of this huge canvas. Readers will encounter the small man who pointed out the house of the black witches in White Sulphur Springs, Montana, the ER nurse in Fort St. John, BC who affixed a temporary tattoo to thea author's arm, and the Christian Motorcyclist who shared the ride to Fairbanks. The author shares his exhilaration when riding through the Canadian Rockies on a perfect afternoon and the profound sadness in an Anchorage motel upon hearing of his mother's death. It is a story of how life goes on—even during the journey of a lifetime.
Read More>>
|
|
|
About the Book
