Playing in Traffic: America from the River Niagara to the Rio Grand, by Bicycle [Paperback]

Stan Purdum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

If you wanted to drive from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, and needed to make time, you wouldn’t select U.S. Route 62. Interstate highways connect the cities in fewer miles and much less time. But if you did take 62, you’d be rewarded with a fascinating and diverse portrait of America. U.S. Route 62 takes 2271 miles to get from Niagara Falls to El Paso. On his bicycle, he got up close and personal with every one of them. Stan found the route to have many identities. Sometimes it meanders through quiet countryside while other times it roars along as a busy expressway. Occasionally it shows an urban face, climbs mountains, rolls over wooded hills, flirts with Interstates, stretches out in flatland boredom and crawls across blazing desert. Route 62 travels through 10 states, spending the most time in Oklahoma and Texas (404 miles in each state) and the least in Illinois (2 miles). Route 62 also crosses the path of numerous early trails, pioneer routes, historic journeys and primitive roads, the oldest dating from at least 1598. Although 62 bears the same number over its entire length, in some places it’s designated as a north-south route; at others, an east-west one. In various places, it picks up additional monikers: Blue Star Memorial Highway, Everly Brothers Boulevard, Texas Mountain Trail, Blue Moon of Kentucky Highway, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway, Trail of Tears, the Ozark Trail. If Route 62 was the medium for his journey, people who live and work near the highway were the substance of it. Mr. Purdum listened to what they had to say, and relays it in their own words, recording their comments as faithfully as memory and post-conversation note-taking allows. This then is the story of a highway, of people and of a journey. Stan welcomes you along for the ride.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stan Purdum has been a carpenter, bike mechanic, teacher, minister, drama director, journalist, writer and editor. His published works include material as varied as a study on the Gospel of John, a how-to book for newsletter editors, numerous direct-mail campaigns, articles on preaching, short stories, family humor columns and bicycle travel-narratives. He is also the author of "Roll Around Heaven All Day," an account of his coast-to-coast bicycle journey. He lives with his family in Ohio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Creative Works Publishing (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930693869
• ISBN-13: 978-1930693869
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,772,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)