American Borders: A Solo Circumnavigation of the United States on a Russian Sidecar Motorcycle - Softcover

King, Carla

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0964644517 ISBN 13: 9780964644519

Publisher: Motorcycle Misadventures, 2007

Synopsis

An exploration of the borders between the United States, Canada, and Mexico on an unreliable Russian Ural motorcycle with sidecar becomes a comedy of breakdowns in small towns all around America. This four-month, 10,000-mile adventure spans moments of blissful backroads freedom, cultural connection, and roadside romance—interrupted by cracked welds, electrical gremlins, evil tow-truck drivers, tornadoes, and hurricanes. From British Columbia to the Blue Ridge, Boquillas to Beverly Hills, this is an intimate exploration of the United States and its neighbors.

About this title

From the Author:

This book was born as a series of dispatches from my American Borders travelogue on the internet, before they were called "blogs." It was exciting to share my adventure with readers in 1995, and exciting to create a book from it with the pace of a novel. But maybe not... as they say, sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction. I hope you enjoy it! If you did, please visit me on the web at CarlaKing.com for other stories via my blog and my email news. Thanks!

From the Inside Flap:

My Motorcycle Misadventures began when I was 14 years old in rural North Carolina. I identified the broken down old Honda Enduro in the barn as my escape vehicle and my dad said, "If you can fix it you can ride it." He helped me do just that and I rode through the tobacco fields to the woods and the creek and to the edge of town and back almost daily, sometimes falling down and sometimes breaking down, and either fixing it or walking it home. Thus began my love of motorcycling, which became a career, along with writing. In 1995, I rode this crazy Ural sidecar bike to test its viability for the American importers. It broke down every few hundred miles for a while, getting me stuck and depending on the kindness of strangers. On further trips, I've ached for such unreliability, having discovered that a trip without breakdowns lacks the kind of intimacy I enjoyed during this one. I hope that this story entertains and inspires you, and I hope you'll visit me on my Carla King website where I have more stories for you to explore. Thank you!

About this edition

• Publisher: Motorcycle Misadventures
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0964644517
• ISBN 13: 9780964644519
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240