united states

Just last week I returned from taking several of Jamie Jensen's road trips in the USA, and I can attest to the high quality of his book. We set out with Lonely Planet's USA guidebook which greatly failed us. Typical of Lonely Planet's laziness (their television series greatly outranks their travel books),their USA book was wrought with so many errors and outdated information that we quickly reverted to Road Trip USA thereby enhancing the remainder of our 8,200 mile trip around the USA and making it a truly educational, one month drive. We really saw the USA from beautiful back roads and will never regret it. Instead we owe a huge debt of graditute to the author and his editors.

I've used almost every travel book available when traveling, so I have absolutely no doubt that this is the best book available if you are considering taking a drive in the USA. We drove 3 of the major trips in this book--including Route 66, The Oregon Trail, and The Great River Road--and if we had depended on other books, the truth is, we would have missed almost every great site Jensen points out. He and his editors have accomplished more than I'd have ever hoped from a mere travel guide. If you use this book for even part of one road trip, you will see the real USA.

The book provides indepth coverage of eleven road trips in a lively, knowledgeable, and educated format highlighted with many great photographs and asides in the margins of corresponding trip narratives. All routes are readable from either direction one chooses to drive them as we found driving the Great River Road from south to north instead as outlined in the book--from north to south--and we had no problems whatsoever because Jensen has thought of every angle for us.

Road Trip USA is jam packed with hints, "secrets," history, gossip, lore, and myths, in addition to advice on great places to take photographs of unique sights, best spots to find perfect pie, local radio stations to tune in for local flavor, and out-of-the-way lodging and camping information that other books will not even mention. If you prefer the superhighway, this is not the book for you. If you want to see the America you hope is out there, this book will help you find it. I give it my highest recommendation. As far as I can tell, he didn't miss a thing! And I can now say without reservation, this is a beautiful country. END

This is an excellent, excellent book for anyone who wants to take a road trip as a vacation and see the country like you've never seen it before. I used this book to see so many funky pieces of Americana: everything from a miniature Stonehenge in Missouri to the world's largest ketchup bottle in Illinois. I traveled Rte. 66 and stayed at a great little motel in Missouri (Munger Moss) recommended by this book. That motel is a must for any Rte. 66 fans: its gift shop is filled with Rte. 66 memorabilia. And it's cheap!! $25 a night with clean rooms. The whole idea of this book is to get people to see that America isn't all the same, though it seems that way when you stay on the highways. It's filled with great road trips to take wherever you are in the country, north or south, east or west. It's really an amazing country we live in and you'll find out that you can have a great vacation traveling endless roads that provide new discoveries.

You'll get a whole new perspective on areas you may have visited. And the author offers suggestions on places to go to get a local flavor. So instead of eating at a McDonald's or Denny's for breakfast, you can try a diner in Memphis that Elvis used to frequent.

A couple of my Chicago-based colleagues were very impressed when I told them I ate at Berghoff's and Lou Mitchell's in downtown Chicago. They said nobody from out-of-town would have gone there.

It's like having a knowledgeable traveling companion with you wherever you go. I enjoyed every town and city I visited on a two-week trip thanks to this book.

I've looked at other travel guides and they don't compare to this book. High praise to Jamie Jensen for creating such an informative book, packed full of useful nuggets. This book was never far from my fingertips on that trip.

I'm planning a motorcycle road trip in the near future and will definitely have this book along. I only wish I had more time to take more of these road trips.

Enjoy and happy motoring.

It was an interesting read as we were traveling across the old roads of route 66 however, there was not much information that was helpful. We stayed at a motel in the midwest that was recommended but, it cost much much more than was indicated in the book and was on of the worst motels I have ever stayed in. Take the book as entertainment only.