Drive Me Wild: A Western Odyssey PDF File ebook Price: $4.99 Status: Available
New Book Takes Adventure Travel to Another Dimension… Literally!
Everyone has a secret Kerouac inside of them; a Steinbeck with a dog named Charlie who longs to take to the open road and discover hidden places as if they were the first. This dream became reality for author Nealson and her husband, who after ten years of marriage divested themselves of 95% of their possessions, sold their house in Taos and moved into a 35-foot motorhome with a 110-pound Newfie dog and high-strung Bengal cat. Not to worry that they’d never set foot in an RV. Or wait. Perhaps they should have.
The adventure travel account of their newfangled, middle-aged life begins normal enough, as Nealson weaves RV beginner’s efforts with hilarious acumen. Nealson and husband, however, had never envisioned a life in RV parks. They had a different route in mind; a palette of friends’ driveways and back roads seclusion, as they boondocked for weeks at a time in the spacious beauty of the West. It was this wanderlust that delivered Nealson to dimensions beyond an ordinary RV life. “When does journey become odyssey?” she asks, aware that she has crossed an invisible, soul-stirring line as wild animals show up with their young in a procession of awe; whales, dolphins, mountain lions, moose and grizzly bears, to name a few. Everyone hits a crossroads in their lives … few are extraordinary.
Nealson paints landscape and miraculous events with the brush of a rowdy poet, meticulously leading the reader through a spiritual maze. Drive Me Wild is the story of letting go into an unknown world and the willingness to question one’s purpose with the threat of losing what is dear. It unfolds along a physical route that crisscrosses the American West, from British Columbia to the tip of the Baja. It is a tribute to possibilities, an inspirational tale of one woman’s effort to let go of fear and move with verve to a larger calling. Dare to be dazzled.
Author: Christina Nealson is author of four books and photographer for four others. The geo-gypsy and photojournalist has followed her heart and freelance assignments to Africa, Central America and across the back roads of the U.S. West, Canada and Mexico. She teaches, lectures and blogs about the wild as she travels solo with Teak the chocolate lab and Hobo, an orange tabby who climbed onto the undercarriage of her truck in the British Columbia backwoods. Ultimately, she will tell you, wildness begins within.
