Customer Reviews

Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways

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

 

 

When we drove across country last summer, we searched for a book that could lead us on an off-the-beaten-path American adventure. Jamie Jensen's Road Trip USA gave us more than we could have hoped for. Road Trip USA is filled with credible and detailed information regarding sites, hotels and restaurants. The book provides vivid history and current information, so you can get a real sense of the places you go. We ate crabs with the local beachhounds on the Outer Banks, had BBQ with the 9-to-5'ers in Montgomery, ate pizza with LSU fans in Baton Rouge, and drank the best beer we'd ever tasted in a tiny town off the California coast. The detailed, quirky tidbits the book includes are invaluable. What other book tells you about the B'Hai radio station that you can listen to as you drive through Myrtle Beach, SC? If you want to see the USA- not just check out the tourist sites, but see where and how other folks in the USA really live - this is the book for you.

This book is quite simply in a league of it's own. I have only done (partially) two of the eleven routes. It's the little things this book has that counts and the highlights of the trip that are listed at the beginning of each chapter are handy.
Of course, this book can't be everything and I would seriously recommend also taking a good comprehensive USA Guide Book from say 'Frommers' with you as sometimes the book misses out on some things along the way that a comprehensive guide book can fill in. I would also recommend having a good road map. The maps in the book aren't the best and since you're not on the Interstate you don't want to take a wrong turn and be in the middle of nowhere lost.
So, If you're planning a Road Trip in the USA check this book out. You won't regret it (plus it's just such a neat book to have in the bookshelf that will never grow old).

I used this book on a trip following the Mississippi, from New Orleans to Chicago, and it made my road trip epic. Without it, I would have missed spectacular yet obscure sights like the restaurant shaped like a mammy in Mississippi and the world's largest ketchup bottle in southern Illinois. You will miss so much if you just drive on the eight-lane interstates, yet seeing the cool stuff on the two-lane roads can be hit or miss without someone to show you the way. Let this book be your guide. A gem for all road trip pilgrims.

This book is a fantastic resource. Most guide books are arranged around a city or a state. But Jensen has built this book around the road. Dividing the country into a series of road trips, North - South, East- West, crisscrossing this country. Pick a route, and follow it in the book state to state to see what's near your route in terms of food, and interesting sites. Good for long or short road trips (as long as you are in the vicinity of the roads reviewed). It is such a relief from the more traditional guides. Copiously illustrated and made for bookmarking, this tome (and it is a surprisingly big book) has earned a place in my car when I need to just get away, or want to get there, but I'm willing to take the longer, but more interesting, road.

I love this book. I have used the section on the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco for planning a driving trip. It is a refreshing change to find so many local and low-key, even quirky places detailed, without neglecting the standards like Hearst Castle. The rest of the book is terrific armchair reading, fuel for fantasy travels.

This book is very entertaining to look through, and if you happen to be crossing paths with any of the places it visits it can be useful. But few people have the time to actually do what this book describes--travel a good part of the country on (what at least used to be) one of America's two-lane roads.

If you're planning a trip that overlaps one of this book's covered routes, then it's worth the money. But if your trip is primarily to get from point A to point B, try, for example, Let's Go USA.

If you are planning a cross country road trip -- you must have this guide along! The author touches the pulse of road-trippers eveywhere: the quest for the zany, unexpected and downright quirky! When you are ready to plan your trip of a lifetime, be sure to check out "Live Your Road Trip Dream: Travel for a year for the cost of staying home". The authors will get your moving from the dreaming to the doing in no time at all.

We used it on our tour of Route 66, and the book proved to be entertaining to read, as well as informational in helping us to set up our itinerary. I'm looking forward to using it to help plan more vacations across the US.

I mistakenly bought this as a travel guide supplement. There are few maps inside, and the content is a general skimming of oddities, curiosities and short historical blurbs of certain locations on each route. It's very interesting, but it's not something I'd take on a trip. I bought mine six years ago, and it's strictly bathroom reading. I do sometimes find interesting spots to google.

It was an interesting read as we were traveling across the old roads of route 66 however, there was not much information that was helpful. We stayed at a motel in the midwest that was recommended but, it cost much much more than was indicated in the book and was on of the worst motels I have ever stayed in. Take the book as entertainment only.