Customer Reviews

Road Fever

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You probably can't race through it in 23 1/2 minutes, a minute for each day of Cahill and partner Gary Sowerby's Guinness World Record trip from south of Ushuaia, Argentina, (a lovely little city, by personal and Road Fever testimony) to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, but you should speed through the pages as they sped along the roads. The trip was in 1987 and would be impossible today because some of the route through Colombia is under violent guerrilla control. I would have liked much more of the trip and much less of the preparations. The logistics of preparing for long-distance race driving are staggering, but -- alas -- they are also not very interesting and well over a third of the less than 300 pages cover the getting ready. Once on the road some of Cahill's descriptions of the people and terrains through which they drive are terrific, especially the accounts of the Atacama desert in northern Chile and especially scary driving through Central America. I'd have liked more of that, but too much of the writing is of the "by five o'clock we reached x where we stopped for gas and got directions out of town" variety. Kind of like reading your MapQuest driving directions; they fill space, (usually) get you there, but are more functional than interesting. In the end, while I enjoyed Road Fever I thought it would be more fun than it was. Final note: absence of a map or maps is inexplicable.

Tim Cahill is one of my favorite writers--he manages to be funny and touching at just the right moments. This book does both, although the emphasis is decidedly on "funny." I'm delighted to have experienced his trip vicariously, and would recommend this (or any of his other books) to anyone with a sense of humor and an interest in travel.

I would take issue with a comment by Rosseroo (below), however: I don't think enjoyment of these books is at all gender-specific; I'm a woman who is only sorry that she's read all of Cahill's books (I wish there were more!). And I haven't shared them with anyone, male or female, who didn't find them hilarious.

Cahill, a fellow who does interesting things and writes about them for a living, went with Garry Sowerby of Canada on an endurance driving trip from Ushuaia in southern Argentina to Deadhorse, Alaska; this is the story.

Where Cahill succeeds most here is in descriptive talent. From his conflicts with Sowerby to the smells of the inside of the vehicle to the terrain around him to the encounters with customs officials of a dozen nations, he never fails to paint a credible and interesting picture. Tim has always been good about telling the story even if it makes him look foolish, and this sense of literary integrity is strong here.

The only thing I felt a little shorted by was the virtual lack of any description of any activity between the US/Mexican border and Fairbanks. I can imagine them blazing across the US and Canada up to the Alcan in a day with no trouble, and maybe not much happened, but the real Alcan gets more interesting as you get into the Yukon and beyond; it seems it was glossed over. If I had a half-star markdown I might use it, but it wouldn't be fair to Cahill to mark him down a whole star on what is otherwise a great book--maybe not much really happened, which would explain why not much is said.

Recommended for adventure travel lovers, particularly those focused on South America.

Professional driver, Garry Sowerby and the admirable Tim Cahill put together a GM-sponsored race from Terra del Fuego, Argentina to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (in less than 24 days) and pull it off. This is the story of their 15,000-mile odyssey, the goal being to break the Guinness World Record.

Tim is his usual exuberant, one-of-guys, self-deprecating self. There is no one who can recount an anecdote with quite his flair. While speeding across Honduras, a flock of birds crossed the windshield while Cahill was driving. "Garry had snapped bolt upright from his slouching position in the passenger seat. He was holding his belly as if he had been shot. `Wah' he said in his strange, sleep clogged voice-----there seemed to be a dead bird in his lap. `I reached down there,' Garry said, `I felt something warm and wet. I was sure I had been shot. I thought I was feeling my own intestines. Then I started wondering why my intestines would have feathers and bird feet on them." Stories like this made me laugh aloud.

The book was nonetheless claustrophobic. By the time, Tim and Garry had reached Central America; my only thought was "let me out of this truck!" All but about 20 pages are devoted to South and Central America. The last 5,000 miles of the US, Canada and Alaska are barely mentioned. I suppose this is because the last third of the trip was without incident or terrors. But it did give the book an unbalanced feel. The section regarding how you get yourself considered for setting a Guinness Record was very interesting. Hint: If you plan on setting or beating a record, check with Guinness before (not after) you do it. There were about 35 pages devoted to how one went about getting sponsored, i.e., raising money (in this case about $350,000) that I found tedious.

The book was enjoyable for the most part, but I did get the impression Tim Cahill was as glad the trip was over as I was.

I gotta tell you that I didn't find the book as laugh-out-loud funny as many of the people here did. But that fact didn't cause me to love "Road Fever" any less then they did. What I loved about it is the care Tim Cahill spent in recounting in great detail the amount of preparation - especially in the area of paperwork - required to make a journey from Tierra del Fuego to the northern tip of Alaska in record time.

Because, frankly, it's not a question of how fast you can drive; rather, the BIG ISSUE is how much time it takes you to cross the border from Country X to Country Y. And then again from Country Y to Country Z. This ain't the European Community where you can whiz past the Germany - Netherlands border without realizing it. These are real border crossings - guards, official stamps, commissars, corruption, danger, you name it.

Garry Sowerby and Tim Cahill spent up to a year preparing for that aspect of the trip. Yes, GM sponsorship helped in places. Yes, the Canadian government helped in places. But what carries them through at the end of the day is the intense focus and planning these two guys put into the journey before the trip even gets started.

There's a lesson in there for everyone.

The book combines travel, places I've been, places I know well, and places I want to visit. The author mentions unusual landmarks that surprise me when I realize I've been to the places which he mentions. The book is very personal (for me); but I believe many people will feel the same. Also -- Mr. Cahill describes travel in a manner I admire. He characterizes himself as the ignorant and often dirty outsider; he isn't condescending in the manner of Scott Thoreaux or other travel writers. This is rather refreshing. The book is fast-paced and interesting; read it, you'll like it.

I expected a lot out of this book, and maybe that is why I was slightly dissapointed. I didn't think this was a bad book per se, but it was a little painful toward the end for me b/c it felt like the same thing over and over. I have been to a few of the countries they drove through, so it was nice to read about their adventures and feel a been there done that feeling. It is not as funny for me as it was for the others. I can't say this is one I would urge a friend to read.

Cahill has a talent with words. Who else can write a book about a 23-day trip along the Pan-American highway, make it interesting, witty and educational without excessive prose? Although this trip was taken in 1987 it's still a good read. Some of the political issues boiling in the 1980s still simmer today in some of the countries.

The first half of the book is just about the planning aspect of the trip. There's plenty of behind-the-scenes information he writes about, like collecting donations and sponsors, ie the "dirty secrets of adventure travel."

The focus of this book is the time spent in South and Central America on the Pan-American Highway. Argentinia and Peru get about 30 pages, Colombia about 20, and other countries even less. Costa Rica is lavished with great praise, Nicaragua gets shafted. Some things don't change. He devotes a mere 30 pages for Mexico, US and Canada; the trip truly ends with a press conference in Dallas.

Cahill writes with enough compassion, historical perspective and canny business sense. My only complaint, should there be any, is why drive through some of the most beautiful stretches of South America in record time?!

This was one of Cahill's first books. I still think it's his best. That's why it's in reprint.

Granted, I bought the book, years ago, because the cover looked like it would be a fun book. How true! A terrific ride...with tension and giggles throughout! (And a trip I'm GLAD I was only living vicariously!) One of the few books I've reread...a couple of time, in fact.

If you're looking for something to while away the hours on a road trip, this fits that niche to a T. Cahill's account of a world record-setting drive from Argentina to Alaska is laugh out loud funny. All his stuff is generally excellent, this one in particular is filled with compassion, insight, and an eye for travel detail like nobody's business. All written with a self-deprecating humour that's refreshing compared to a lot of self-serious travel authours. Perfect read for anyone, but travellers will particularly enjoy it.