The Impossible Road Trip: An Unforgettable Journey to Past and Present Roadside Attractions in All 50 States

Description

Filled with color photography, entertaining site descriptions and histories, and five specially commissioned maps, The Impossible Road Trip is your ultimate look back at America's most famous-and quirkiest-roadside attractions, past and present. The great American road trip is back. With its advantages for your health, budget, and the environment, now is the time to plan the road trip you have always dreamed of taking. Following in the great tradition of the mid-century golden age of car travel, join the new wave of road warriors with a targeted itinerary chosen from the 150 roadside attractions explored in this colorful guide. From famous to quirky and covering all 50 states, author Eric Dregni gives you an unprecedented look at the breadth of roadside attractions in the US, illustrated in part by the photography of architectural critic and photographer John Margolies (1940-2016). Specially commissioned maps capture the spirit of mid-century automobile travel. Each site depicted is accompanied by a lively and insightful history and color imagery. From autumnal New England to the gothic South, from the homey Midwest to the great expanses of the Desert Southwest, the dizzying heights of the Rocky Mountains, and the breathtaking Pacific Coast, The Impossible Road Trip encompasses it all: - Neon-shrouded motels - Mimetic architecture - Tourist traps - Roadside sculpture - And much more You'll see sites both famous and esoteric, including the Cardiff Giant in Cooperstown, New York; the five-story Haines Shoe House in York, Pennsylvania; Solomons Castle in Florida; the worlds largest fish in Hayward, Wisconsin; one of several Paul Bunyan statues; Bobs Big Boy in Burbank, California; and so many more. With The Impossible Road Trip in hand, set out to discover the nation's oft-overlooked nooks and crannies.

Eric Dregni is assistant professor of English and journalism at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of Ads That Put America on Wheels, Scootermania!, The Scooter Bible, The Life Vespa, Lets Go Bowling!, all from Quarto, as well as In Cod We Trust: In Search of the Norwegian Dream and Vikings in the Attic: In Search of Nordic America, both from the University of Minnesota Press.

"Reading this book can act like a guide for what to expect to know and understand about each place's monuments and the significance of why it was discovered, built, and rebuilt in the state it was from. * The Sword *