Customer Reviews

The Road of Dreams: A Two-Year Bicycling and Hiking Adventure Around the World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Bruce & Tass (authors) tell their cycling story in such a way that can only inspire the spirit of travel in each of us! We all dream to experience the world: the authors allow us to travel with them on their bicycles...13 miles/hour...1 new culture a day. Through this narrative and collection of photos we are able to see literaturaly the world thru their legs & eyes...and dream of the day we too can slowly traverse the thousands of miles that we pretend to be obsticles in the pursuit of that dream.

i am currently tour-cycling across the united states. started in neah bay, wa and going first to wash. d.c. then to nova scotia, canada...only to bike back to my native minnesota thru canada. 7000 miles in 5 months. have fealt so much of their experience. appreciate their allowing me to follow them along their personal journey into their hearts and around the globe. this book is such a great companion and model for what my trip has been and will be with every mile. thank you!

A very enjoyable book. Not so deep & philosophical like a Bruce Chatwin or Peter Matthiessen travel journal, but it is much more approachable and readable. He writes the real story about travel - the hassles and hardships you endure to see and experience people and places that forever change the person you are. It inspires us to travel on a budget without trivializing the sheer time and labor involved.

Written in a simple, readable style, it is a page turner for sure.

Bruce Junek writes well, and Tass Thacker's photographs are excellent. They give you a good idea of the people and places they visit. They are also very kind and likable people.

Whether they are trekking, biking, meeting the locals, learning the languages, eating the local food (occasionally becoming ill!), you really like these two people. This cannot always be said of other adventurous types who might seem self-centered or petulant. And while not many will want to duplicate their entire trip, there are parts of it that could be easily copied (e.g., Nepal, New Zealand and Australia).

Wish they'd had even more time to explore and write about their adventures.

Bruce and Tass relate their experiences biking around the world. Share in their emotions and experiences as they learn more about those with whom we share the planet.
They are truly great people with whom I would have gladly travelled. I have met the author (he puts on slide shows for schools) and he is a terrific person. He makes you believe that anyone can do what they did. I didn't want the book to end...I wanted them to keep going

This book started off with great Promise, of an adventure. However,the writer was all over the map, Figuratively, and did not seem to be able to flesh anything thing in detail. A mish mash of ideas and things thrown together for a book. Yes there was adventure there, He maybe should have hired a ghost writer instead of spending five years for this effort, I think money would have well spent if he had done this. I am sure that the slide show is much better.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable odyssey of two intrepid wanderers as they make their way around the world. While many adventure travel writers feel they have to interject the authors philosophical inquiry into the nature of man or use a stilted writing style to achieve literary accolades, The Road of Dreams sticks to the simple idea of presenting their adventure and their discoveries in an engrossing, easily readable story. Bruce is a good story teller and draws you into their experiences without distractions.

I began the book thinking, I would love to do something like this, and as the tribulations of illness, accident and sleepless nights unfold, I realized how wonderful I can just share in their journey in my comfortable chair. Bruces' writing is clear and unpretentious. In a matter of fact way, he shares their belief and philosophy about being a vegetarian and their egalitarian relationship, both of which are challenged by the culture in some of the places they travelled. Some situations made me cringe, as the discomfort of finding oneself an outsider in the mountains in Thailand standing at a door of a friends friends friend looking for hospitality. Inevitably many of their stories made me envious of their life changing experiences. I found their ability to adapt to and embrace their ever changing surrounding laudable.

The last section of the book in Europe and the US was very rushed in comparison to the earlier sections, but so was their travel. Tass' photos are super, the B&W printing in the book is a little dark, but you can see the photos in color on their website. The equipment list in the appendix is a great addition too. Having finished this book in February, I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can dust off my own camping gear again.

A well written book about exploring this world and the people in it..A very personal experience I can imagine doing...

If you're interested in traveling the world, this is the way to do it. This book was inspirational and tremendous.