Lost Angel Walkabout: One Traveler's Tales [Paperback]

Linda Ballou (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2010

Lost Angel Walkabout: One Traveler's Tales is a spirited collection of travel narratives recounting the haps, mishaps, and serendipitous adventures that have given travel writer Linda Ballou her sense of wonder and delight. Some of the stories might make you glad you stayed home, while others will inspire you to toss the TV clicker out the window and get up off the couch to explore our beautiful planet. All of these tales let you share the sensual experience of being there without straining one muscle, getting altitude sickness, or tipping your canoe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A love triangle of extremes has proven to be a solid base for my writing. From my roots in Alaska I receive strength, solitude, centeredness and respect for the awful power of nature. Numerous adventure articles including my most recent "Raven Brings the Sun" about my float down the Tatshenshini River take place in my homeland. While living in Hawaii I found nurturing, a spiritual awakening, sensuality, peace and my heroine for my historical fiction, Wai-nani-High Chiefess of Hawaii. In proud California I obtained a degree in English Literature from Northridge University and a doctorate in urban savvy. I continue to enjoy opportunities here in Los Angeles for intellectual stimulation, exciting contacts and friends. In my travel collection Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler's Tales I share my most memorable outdoor adventures. You may go to my website to view a host of articles published in national magazines, reviews of Wai-nani, interviews and much more. www.LindaBallouAuthor.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (May 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449971520
• ISBN-13: 978-1449971526
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,005,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A love triangle of extremes has proven to be a solid base for my writing. From my roots in Alaska I receive strength, centeredness and respect for the awful power of nature. Numerous adventure articles, essays on my website are set in my homeland. In Hawaii I found a spiritual awakening, sensuality, peace and my heroine for my historical novel, Wai-nani--High Chiefess of Hawaii. In proud California I obtained a degree in English Literature from Northridge University and a doctorate in urban savvy. I continue to enjoy opportunities here for intellectual stimulation, exciting contacts and friends. My travel collection, Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler's Tales, is filled with chills, spills, giggles and squeaks! www.LindaBallouAuthor.com

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN ADVENTURE WRITERS BEST, December 27, 2010

By 

Yolanda Renee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler's Tales (Kindle Edition)

Recent poor health had me looking for an escape. When I picked up Linda Ballou's book LOST ANGEL WALKABOUT, I found my salvation. Linda combines her most favorite things to create a book of adventures like nothing I have ever read. She blends her love of travel, and writing, and in several stories her love of horses, and with unsurpassed skill she takes the reader with her to places like Raven's River, Alaska, to windswept Donegal Bay, Ireland, to Waipio Valley in Hawaii, and North Island, New Zealand to name just a few. Linda not only takes you on a journey to exciting places and distant lands she shares herself along the way. Her stories are personal, enlightening, and captivating.

Raven's River is a particularly touching tale because it is a memorial to Matthew Wayne Bell, her nephew. It is a trip that entails a 140-mile journey, on the Tatshenshini, or Raven's River and includes white water rafting and hiking on bear trails. Linda shares her adventure and her love for Matt, as she educates us on the environment. Raven's River is a beautiful story of honor and discovery that is shared with grace and love.

I particularly enjoyed her journey in Golden Horseshoe or Bust. Linda, her 83-year-old mother, and nephew take off on a road trip. Her mother is insistent on driving. It is a typical family argument that adds amusement to this beautiful journey. Linda shares this memory of a courageous woman, with adventure in her soul, with a view in to her own. We learn even more about Linda and her mother in Water Dogs. These personal insights make this book of travel stories more like a novel.

LOST ANGEL WALKABOUT is more than a travel log, it is about Linda, the family she loves, the history of the lands and peoples she visits, and the folks she admires most, including adventure writer Tim Cahill and Horsewoman Lari Shea. I highly recommend this book: whether you are trying to plan your next journey, escape from your own couch, or want to inspire a young trailblazer.

5.0 out of 5 stars "Lost Angel Walkabout" is A Heavenly Read, October 6, 2011

By 

Dick Jordan "Tales Told From The Road" (Marin County, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost Angel Walkabout: One Traveler's Tales (Paperback)

Adventure travel writer Linda Ballou knows how to bring home a great story when she goes on a trip: Get into trouble. For her, the deeper the water, the fouler the weather, the more hazards underfoot and overhead, the better the story will be to tell.

Think about the alternative. You come back from your journey and tell your friends and family that you encountered no flights delays, no bad meals, no lost or stolen personal items, no bed bugs at your hotel, and not a drop of rain fell on your head. How do they respond to this tale of no-woe-at-all? By yawning.

There is no danger that you will nod off reading Ballou's Lost Angel Walkabout: One Traveler's Tales. Lost Angel Walkabout: One Traveler's Tales Instead, you want to yell "No, Linda don't go there!' or "Linda, whatever we're you thinking?", or "Watch out, Linda! Watch out!"

Linda's travels have taken her on a wide path across much of the globe. One of the reason I enjoyed her book such much is that I have actually ventured--albeit as a less adventurous traveler--to several of the places she writes about in Alaska, Arizona, the British Virgin Islands, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, and Wyoming

In "Irish Mist" Ballou is--as often as the case in Lost Angel Walkabout--on horseback. She says "The Irish ride like they drive--with cheerful abandon!" Then she throws caution to the wind in the willows and goes on the equestrian equivalent of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride."

While arm-chair travelers may deem Ballou possessed by a devil-may-care approach to danger on the road, to me her stories express a confident "What's the big deal? I can do this!" attitude that probably comes from growing up in Southeast Alaska where self-sufficiency is an essential trait.

For example, when on a walk in a marshy area frequented by bears near Glacier Bay, Alaska, she found the tide beginning to rise rapidly and herself at risk of spending a cold night far from the comfort of her lodgings. She obviously lived to tell about her escape, so I'm not giving too much away be quoting from the penultimate paragraph of her story, "Bird Walk on the Wild Side," while leaving you, the reader, to enjoy the final, humorous conclusion to it:

"My panic rose at the sight of matted areas of grass where large animals had bedded down the night before. I was over-heating from exertion and lectured myself out loud to stay focused, to mind each step, and to not hurry--twisting an ankle now would spell disaster. Keeping my center of gravity low, knees bent for balance on the boulders, I made a Groucho Marx exit through the marsh to the forest trailhead."

Not all of Ballou's travels involved risk of life and limb; some were emotionally challenging. In "Water Dogs," she recounts a sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands with her mother. It was not their first trip together, and she writes:

"Traveling with Mom is like swimming in embryonic soup. It's as though the cells that once divided and multiplied seek to rejoin themselves. A calm feeling, like being rocked in the lap of creation, fills me when I hold her hand. Our hearts beat in perfect rhythm. I feel grounded in the presence of my eternal witness, the only person who has been waiting for me at the end of all of my twisted adventures."

But this time, it was stress, not calm, that both mother and daughter encountered. Her mother, who had wanted for years to make this trip, became frustrated when neither swim fins nor mask fit properly, thwarting her initial attempts at snorkeling. The story has a happy ending in the water that involves food--hot dogs-- but you will have to buy the book to learn how this humble American wiener saved the day and the trip.

"Lost Angel" in the book's title comes from her place of residence--Los Angeles, the City of Angels, not from Ballou being constantly lost when away from home. And the "Walkabout" part? Well, if I lived in L.A., I'd be wanting to head for remote parts of the world as often as possible to get away from the press of humanity in that city, too.

4.0 out of 5 stars Adventure travels around the world, September 11, 2011

By 

Inga's Adventures "Inga" (Kenwood, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost Angel Walkabout: One Traveler's Tales (Paperback)

In this collection of short stories, author Linda Ballou takes the reader on journeys near and far. Escaping the pressures of civilization in her hometown, Los Angeles, Ballou seeks personal growth and enlightenment, testing herself against the elements.

After reading a review copy I came away with an appreciation of the barriers to exploration and discovery that had to be faced by the author, such as fear of heights. Ballou is to be commended for challenging herself so she could experience the exhilaration of mastering new skills, and sharing her successes to inspire others. Many of Ballou's quests take place on guided trips, which reduce the risks and makes it practical for a single woman traveling alone to experience challenges that might not otherwise be possible.

Horses are a special passion of the author, and her writing comes alive as she describes flying over obstacles on Ballymerrigan, a horse she was paired with in Donegal, Ireland, after a rough start. You'll find yourself tense and nervous as they approach four foot fences on the cross-country course, cheering every successful jump.

Disparate stories from around the globe are tied together with a spiritual theme. Early on, Ballou introduces us to her spirit horse, Winddancer, a dream traveler of the Anasazi Indians of the American Southwest. Her spiritual companion encourages her to push beyond her fears. Ballou maintains this spiritual theme, stimulated in Hawaii as she seeks the trail of King Kamehameha I, who united the islands two centuries ago, and again shooting rapids on the Tatshenshini River in Alaska, channeling the spirit of her deceased nephew who was raised there. She uses the awakening of her senses to vividly illustrate the special places on our planet and how they have been revered through the ages.

Several stories are accompanied by short Eco-alerts, where Ballou cites evidence that some of the places she has visited are in danger from various man-made activities. It is her hope that some will be inspired by her experiences to join in the efforts to preserve these exceptional locations for future generations.

Lost Angel Walkabout is a good read that will take you around the world, experiencing it through the escapades of a daring traveler.