Product Description
The first book came out in 2000. I had never written a book before, or sold one. I did not have a clue. Somehow I just expected that by writing a really cool book, people would be nice to me and want to help with my project. That was a bit of a wake up call and this book is about the four years Lucy and I spent on the road selling my first book. We covered 21 states and crossed Canada from Prince Edward Island, all the way across the TransCanadian highway to Vancouver, and then retracing the old bike route back through California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. I looked up some of the people I met on the first trip and met many more. We went from Key West north all the way to the Gaspe Peninsula in Canada. Lucy swam in the Artic watershed and chased Moose in Maine
On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again,
seeing things that I may never see again
- Willie Nelson –
We got thrown out of at least a dozen towns for not having a vendor’s license. We crashed a dozen high class art shows and did major bicycle tours across Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Georgia and Florida. We crossed the Trail Ridge road in Colorado at an altitude of 12,800 feet.
I had my house rented out to a parade of losers who never managed to pay rent during the two years I was gone. One of them was so nasty and so weird he poisoned some of Lucy’s pups. Another one called the cops on me after his electric bill was four months behind. If you have any illusions about the goodness of humanity become a landlord. It will help to dispel any such notions.
I blew out two cars. One was a used Subaru wagon that was one of the worst cars I have ever driven. Subaru is driven by what is inside, towed by what is in front. The other was a Plymouth Voyager that blew two transmissions and one engine. The last transmission went out on the big bridge in Yakima, Washington. I turned back to Yakima determined that the transmission was toast and then managed to trade the thing in by staying stuck in traffic during the test ride and never going over 35 mph. The guy gave me three thousand as a trade-in and I hauled ass. Of course, the new van would not start the next morning and had to be towed but you will just have to read that part for yourself.
We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest.
As you all know, first prize is a new Cadillac El Dorado.
Anybody want to see second Prize?
Second prize is a set of steak knives.
Third prize is you’re fired.
- Alex Baldwin in Glengarry, Glen Ross -
All in all, I sold well over three thousand books, eventually running out in Jasper, Alberta, while they were held up for months in a Canadian Customs strike. By the time I left, there was three inches of ice on the lakes. At one point I got snowed in on a back fire road for two days and nights. I had a twenty year old drunken Canadian girl, who looked just like Debra Winger, dragged out of the van one night for drunk driving and assault. That evening could have turned out better.
If you have not read Travels with Lucy, it will not matter much in your reading of this book, but as I said for almost two years on the road, ‘Hey, I’ll sell you one cheap.’ So read on, gentle reader, it is a hell of a story.
On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again,
seeing things that I may never see again
- Willie Nelson –
We got thrown out of at least a dozen towns for not having a vendor’s license. We crashed a dozen high class art shows and did major bicycle tours across Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Georgia and Florida. We crossed the Trail Ridge road in Colorado at an altitude of 12,800 feet.
I had my house rented out to a parade of losers who never managed to pay rent during the two years I was gone. One of them was so nasty and so weird he poisoned some of Lucy’s pups. Another one called the cops on me after his electric bill was four months behind. If you have any illusions about the goodness of humanity become a landlord. It will help to dispel any such notions.
I blew out two cars. One was a used Subaru wagon that was one of the worst cars I have ever driven. Subaru is driven by what is inside, towed by what is in front. The other was a Plymouth Voyager that blew two transmissions and one engine. The last transmission went out on the big bridge in Yakima, Washington. I turned back to Yakima determined that the transmission was toast and then managed to trade the thing in by staying stuck in traffic during the test ride and never going over 35 mph. The guy gave me three thousand as a trade-in and I hauled ass. Of course, the new van would not start the next morning and had to be towed but you will just have to read that part for yourself.
We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest.
As you all know, first prize is a new Cadillac El Dorado.
Anybody want to see second Prize?
Second prize is a set of steak knives.
Third prize is you’re fired.
- Alex Baldwin in Glengarry, Glen Ross -
All in all, I sold well over three thousand books, eventually running out in Jasper, Alberta, while they were held up for months in a Canadian Customs strike. By the time I left, there was three inches of ice on the lakes. At one point I got snowed in on a back fire road for two days and nights. I had a twenty year old drunken Canadian girl, who looked just like Debra Winger, dragged out of the van one night for drunk driving and assault. That evening could have turned out better.
If you have not read Travels with Lucy, it will not matter much in your reading of this book, but as I said for almost two years on the road, ‘Hey, I’ll sell you one cheap.’ So read on, gentle reader, it is a hell of a story.
