Travels With Macy [Paperback]

If you are a "dog" person then this is definately a book for you. Recreating Steinbecks Travels with Charlie, Bruce Fogle sets off across America, accompanied by his faithfull companion Macy the Golden Retriever. A great travelogue in addition, this book made me almost want to jump in a camper van myself and head off into the wilderness.

If you own a dog, enjoy travel writing or have an interest in North America, I can thoroughly recommend Travels With Macy.

It is enlightening, witty, involving - and extremely well written. It tells the story of the author's journey round rural and small-town North America, broadly following the route taken by Steinbeck in his 1962 classic, Travels With Charley. For transport, Fogle chose an iconic thirty-year-old GMC motorhome, and for company his adored - and adorable - golden retriever Macy. Their adventures are recounted with the exuberance of Macy herself, and after covering 10,000 miles in the author's easy company I felt that I had gained a new insight into the rich diversity of a continent which is often surprisingly - and in a nice way - out of step with the march of time.

'Is there anything better', says Fogle, 'than bacon and eggs, buttered toast and dark coffee, all by yourself on a cloudless morning, on a mountain top under the big blue sky of Montana?' Well, no. This is one of so many passages where I found myself nodding, and smiling. Along the way, Fogle talks freely to the people he meets, itinerants like himself in RV camps and pull-offs, farmers, pump attendants and fellow dog-lovers; and it says much about the man that he finds these people almost universally giving, of their stories, their politics and, strikingly, their hospitality, in return.

Towards the end of the book Fogle says, 'I hadn't expected to fall in love', and although he's referring specifically to the charms of Northern New Mexico, he also means the continent at large, the place of his birth, and if I understand him correctly - 'home'.

I am a huge fan of Bruce Fogle - it is his "Dogalog" which I used to memorise the names and characteristics of almost 200 different breeds of dog, and I find his regular columns in Dogs Today Magazine interesting and insightful. So when I heard he had written two travel books I had to give them a try.

I actually have to admit that I enjoyed "A Dog Abroad", the follow up volume, ever so slightly more than "Travels With Macy" - mostly because I am much more interested in Europe than America - but that should by no means put you off this book. This is a highly entertaining account, which reads more like an adventure volume than a travel guide.

Bruce skilfully mixes anecdotes from history with those from his own experiences as he circumnavigates the United States of America. It's educational, and you get a real flavour for the places and people he encounters. He is a fantastic writer, evoking the senses as well as keeping up an informative narrative and ripping pace which will make this book difficult to put down.

And, unlike the Steinbeck version - I read "Travels With Charley" in conjunction with this book - where the writer is disappointed and disillusioned with almost everything he comes across, Bruce's discoveries are much more positive. He leaves expecting to meet a spoilt and unworldly America, as painted by Steinbeck and as remembered from his own childhood, but arrives to find it on the whole much more pleasant and surprising.

The other main difference between this volume and its original is the importance of the dog on the journey. Steinbeck's book is called "Travels with Charley" but the silver Poodle is barely mentioned in it, added almost as an afterthought to his escapades in deference to the title. Macy, however, well and truly takes centre stage on this journey. Bruce talks about how she enjoys all the various trailer parks and historical sites that they visit, and isn't above listing her faults either. This is a must read book for anyone thinking of taking their dog on holiday with them - you may have a romantic vision of beach walks and forest treks, but there are the realities of fox poo to be rolled in, ticks to check for, and border controls to pass.

This version is also much longer and more in depth than Steinbeck's, as Bruce traced parts of his route and then also added his own jaunts up into Canada. He also actually stops in places, where Steinbeck barrelled through them or glossed over them when writing. I feel I know more from the Brit visiting America version than the American re-discovering America one!

Overall, I give this book 4 paws up out of 5. (The European chapter (A Dog Abroad: One Man and his Dog Journey into the Heart of Europe) gets 5/5 just for being that little bit more my area of interest.) It's a great holiday read, and I hope you all enjoyed it too.