Blacktop trade paperback

Blacktop is available now on Blurb.

Two moms, a teen and a baby meet odd characters and discover awesome places as they seek the roads less travelled.

THE WHAT NOW?

Blacktop: Driving Across America is a 100-page, full-colour trade paperback chronicling a family’s road-trip adventures. It is not a travel guide, though there are lessons to be learned. It is not navel-gazing, though we are sometimes inspired to look inward.

It is a collection of vignettes and short stories married with stunning photos from the road. We meet odd characters—like the just-released convict in Florida—and discover true Americana on back roads where tourists rarely travel.

Blacktop is divided into three sections, including two epic road trips (Montreal-Texas, Montreal-California) and a How’d We Do That.

BUT WHY?

But why a book, you ask, when most of these stories are available for nothing at Life’s a Trip? Because you believe in print, just like I do. You love the look and feel and smell of pages in your hand and you know that a book is forever.

WHO ARE WE?

My wife, Melani, is the planner. Her itineraries, while flexible, showcase some of her favourite things: quirky museums, bizarre restaurants and treasure hunting. Our teenager, Trev, is a veteran road-tripper. He doesn’t much care where we take him, so long as there’s a Ripley’s museum and we don’t sing too loudly in the truck. Jilly’s the baby: She arrived in November 2011, so she’s just learning how spectacular life can be on the road.

Me? I’m into blacktop. I love the sense of power and peace you get when you’re sharing the road with no one but truckers and your passengers are asleep, trusting you completely to get them somewhere. I love the feel of the steering wheel and the smell of adventuring. I love meeting characters and quirky roads and getting lost.