Soul Ride: When You Believe You Are On Your Own

“Soul Ride is like going on a road trip with a buddy, listening to old memories set to the background music of a good playlist. With brave transparency, this wild ride takes raw twists and turns through the dangers of longing for relationship and belonging during a tumultuous time in American history. The ultimate destination is evidence that no one is ever too lost or too broken to find redemption.” ‒J. Wiggin, former hippie from New York

"The Lord often takes us into dark places for a time to refine us." ‒Steve Hemmeke

With a mistrust in organized church during the cultural upheaval of the Jesus Revolution movement, Sherwood finds solace in rock ‘n’ roll and genuine stories on his transistor radio. Soon he trades his small Michigan town for California’s golden beaches and North Star Ranch and hitchhikes across the American highway. Every mile feels like freedom and loneliness.

Hippies swear in angels, a bull rider’s unkindness keeps him alive, gamblers, an Indigenous fellow, and strange tales pique curiosity, a pastor’s hypocrisy nearly destroys his faith for good, and a bootlegging uncle shatters what remains.

Soul Ride: When You Believe You Are On Your Own is a reckoning of the chaotic sixties and seventies counterculture scene of psychedelic drugs, Woodstock and rock music, and miles of highway from Southern California and hippies to the Deep South and blues. The adventures of a young man who believes he is steering, only to discover he was never driving at all. Honest, gritty, and unexpectedly tender, it reroutes summers of wandering to the quiet, patient love that never stopped pursuing him.

In the spirit of On the Road by Jack Kerouac and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, this 1970s hitchhiking memoir is sure to take you on the soul ride of your life.