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Slow Road to San Francisco
From Ocean City, Maryland to San Francisco, Reynolds traverses the US and observes - with remarkable honesty and insight, not to mention a humorous and sometimes skeptical eye - Trump’s America, and the Americans’ way of life.
As he moseys from east to west, driving slowly, and stopping frequently, he meets a huge variety of Americans - white, black, Hispanic, Asian, native American; Christian, Muslim, atheist, Mormon, Mennonite; rich, middling, poor. They talk about everything from slavery, Indian reservations, fracking, and forest fires to baseball, beer, the blues, Butch Cassidy, and Marilyn Monroe. Everyone has something to say about Donald Trump, from those who "love him" to those who "hate him."
Reynolds follows the direction of history, the direction taken by explorers and pioneer settlers. As he travels he conjures a vivid picture of the US then and now; its landscape and its people in all their diversity.
RUNNING TIME => 13hrs. and 51mins.
©2020 David Reynolds (P)2020 W.F. Howes Ltd
As he moseys from east to west, driving slowly, and stopping frequently, he meets a huge variety of Americans - white, black, Hispanic, Asian, native American; Christian, Muslim, atheist, Mormon, Mennonite; rich, middling, poor. They talk about everything from slavery, Indian reservations, fracking, and forest fires to baseball, beer, the blues, Butch Cassidy, and Marilyn Monroe. Everyone has something to say about Donald Trump, from those who "love him" to those who "hate him."
Reynolds follows the direction of history, the direction taken by explorers and pioneer settlers. As he travels he conjures a vivid picture of the US then and now; its landscape and its people in all their diversity.
RUNNING TIME => 13hrs. and 51mins.
©2020 David Reynolds (P)2020 W.F. Howes Ltd
- GenresNonfictionTravel
Audible Audio
First published August 20, 2020
About the author
David Reynolds
102 books2 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Disambiguated authors:
(1) David Reynolds - Disambiguation in progress (Current Profile)
(2) David Reynolds - Memorial U., Eng. Lit., Philosophy, Superheroes (GR Author)
(3) David Reynolds - Prof. of International History, Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge
(4) David Reynolds - IT, .Mac Visual Quickstart Guide
(5) David Reynolds - Improving Education, School Effectiveness, High School Exams
(6) David Reynolds - Founded Bloomsbury Pub., Autobiography, Swan River, Brownsville
(7) David Reynolds - Christian books on the family and teaching, Alpha Bible
(8) David Reynolds - Teacher of Island School AP Literature and Composition Class
(9) David Reynolds - Prophecy, Bible analysis
(10) David Reynolds - Banking IT consultant who wrote for AlexInformation.
(11) David Reynolds - American, self-published romance author, technical writer
(12) David Reynolds - US Graphic Designer, author of With A Hint of Lemon
Disambiguated authors:
(1) David Reynolds - Disambiguation in progress (Current Profile)
(2) David Reynolds - Memorial U., Eng. Lit., Philosophy, Superheroes (GR Author)
(3) David Reynolds - Prof. of International History, Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge
(4) David Reynolds - IT, .Mac Visual Quickstart Guide
(5) David Reynolds - Improving Education, School Effectiveness, High School Exams
(6) David Reynolds - Founded Bloomsbury Pub., Autobiography, Swan River, Brownsville
(7) David Reynolds - Christian books on the family and teaching, Alpha Bible
(8) David Reynolds - Teacher of Island School AP Literature and Composition Class
(9) David Reynolds - Prophecy, Bible analysis
(10) David Reynolds - Banking IT consultant who wrote for AlexInformation.
(11) David Reynolds - American, self-published romance author, technical writer
(12) David Reynolds - US Graphic Designer, author of With A Hint of Lemon
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 7, 2022
While I do not read books on travel experiences very frequently, I like them for being informative on new places, culture and other experiences, including some humorous. A road trip from the east to the west coast spanning 3000 miles looked like it might be an interesting read.
David Reynolds travels to the US from London, UK to make a US east to west coast road trip. He starts from Ocean City, Maryland to keep on Highway 50 till San Francisco, described as a lonely road for much of its length. He has no pre-booked places to stay, strangely does not use GPS (getting lost on and off as a result) and just keeps driving, stopping and looking around where he feels like it. Quite a bit of his travel is through “Trump Country” where the former US President has a strong base. The conversation at each of stops starts with his appeal. An explanation he most likes, is when a man tells him that he supports Trump as he wants him to swagger on the behalf of commoners (who are fighting every day challenges) against intellectual snobs.
While the political discourse dominates a lot of his conversations (quite unnecessarily, and comes across as stale after a point), there are also some good conversations around history, slavery, ethnic Indians & weather. There is too much of detail around what he ate & drank at his stops – indicates meticulous note-taking but is tedious to read. I liked how he was able to strike conversations with strangers quite easily, but the topics could have been more diverse and interesting. Overall, a decent read though should have been a lot crisper.
My rating: 3.5 / 5.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a free electronic review copy.
Past the half-way mark in the book, the author mentions that he did a road-trip from the Canada to the Mexico border and wrote about it – just maybe I will look that up.
David Reynolds travels to the US from London, UK to make a US east to west coast road trip. He starts from Ocean City, Maryland to keep on Highway 50 till San Francisco, described as a lonely road for much of its length. He has no pre-booked places to stay, strangely does not use GPS (getting lost on and off as a result) and just keeps driving, stopping and looking around where he feels like it. Quite a bit of his travel is through “Trump Country” where the former US President has a strong base. The conversation at each of stops starts with his appeal. An explanation he most likes, is when a man tells him that he supports Trump as he wants him to swagger on the behalf of commoners (who are fighting every day challenges) against intellectual snobs.
While the political discourse dominates a lot of his conversations (quite unnecessarily, and comes across as stale after a point), there are also some good conversations around history, slavery, ethnic Indians & weather. There is too much of detail around what he ate & drank at his stops – indicates meticulous note-taking but is tedious to read. I liked how he was able to strike conversations with strangers quite easily, but the topics could have been more diverse and interesting. Overall, a decent read though should have been a lot crisper.
My rating: 3.5 / 5.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a free electronic review copy.
Past the half-way mark in the book, the author mentions that he did a road-trip from the Canada to the Mexico border and wrote about it – just maybe I will look that up.
November 27, 2020
DNFed at 40%. An elderly British travels from East to West across the USA, hanging on Highway 50. I thought that would be a good idea, because Covid-19 bars me to travel to the states.
He stubbornly refuses to use a GPS, gets lost every couple of pages in recurring patterns, and describes his panic and finding back in details. I can’t figure out why I should be interested in this dumbness, but maybe there’s some hidden message to be released in the second half of the drive which I didn’t read.
Most of the descriptions are about him going to bars, ordering chicken salad or salmon, commenting on Baseball plays. When he talks to people in the bars, nearly always the topic of „how stupid can Americans be to vote for Trump“ comes up. His dialogue transcripts are boring, as are his comments on loo rolls and peeing.
While some of his touristic visits along the way are in fact very interesting - with remarks on the Underground Railway or the Founding Fathers - they were to scarce within all his minute descriptions of uninteresting details of his journey.
I stopped bothering in Ohio, and stopped reading this overlong travel diary.
He stubbornly refuses to use a GPS, gets lost every couple of pages in recurring patterns, and describes his panic and finding back in details. I can’t figure out why I should be interested in this dumbness, but maybe there’s some hidden message to be released in the second half of the drive which I didn’t read.
Most of the descriptions are about him going to bars, ordering chicken salad or salmon, commenting on Baseball plays. When he talks to people in the bars, nearly always the topic of „how stupid can Americans be to vote for Trump“ comes up. His dialogue transcripts are boring, as are his comments on loo rolls and peeing.
While some of his touristic visits along the way are in fact very interesting - with remarks on the Underground Railway or the Founding Fathers - they were to scarce within all his minute descriptions of uninteresting details of his journey.
I stopped bothering in Ohio, and stopped reading this overlong travel diary.
June 26, 2020
I’ve never done a road trip. I’ve always wanted to. For now the best (cheapest and safest too) option is to hitch a ride with someone who’s doing it and take a slow road to San Francisco. Settle in, it’s going to take weeks, and most places you’ll visit along the way will be small towns often with a wealth of historical past, Your driver will be a mild mannered amicable older British gentlemen with a fondness for IPAs and chatting up strangers. Actually, the chatting up is deliberate, as Reynolds traverses the country following US Route 50 from East Coast to the West, he talks to as many people as he can to understand the results on the 2016 election. Reynolds as a liberal, as an educated man, as a decent humanistic person, etc…is, of course, appalled. But slowly, one conversation after the next, he begins to gain perspective, which is, well basically, that people are just not that smart and are too steeped in their small worlds and prejudices. They also really don’t like when someone calls them out on it. This seems to be the main fault of the qualified candidate, the famous deplorables quote no one forgot or got over. More so than her gender even, seems it was the calling deplorables deplorables that really did the trick. Turns out honesty is so far from the best policy that a constant barrage of mendacity is still preferable. Alas, here were are now, all these years later, who’s happy? Anyway, going way from politics and you got yourself a travelogue, a pretty good travelogue of Americana, vistas and sites, past and present. From the time Reynolds swims in Ocean City Maryland until the time he dips his toes in the Pacific on a San Francisco beach. I actually really enjoyed the author’s historical insights, though American history is much too young and aggressive to be all that interesting in the global range of things, he still managed to highlight a lot of fascinating aspects and figures from it and I liked the way he framed it all within sociopolitical context of the then and now. And now is a really pivoting time in US, a time when history is quite literary being toppled down from its pedestals. Some of which is understandable and some of which is selectively much too far and I say selectively, because how much past can one really deny and try to erase in a (this is a quote from the book) country built on genocide and made wealthy on slavery. No one is out there burning $20 bills, are they. You know, the bills featuring the main who authorized the Trail of Tears. Ok, shoot, turns out it’s really difficult to write an objective unbiased review on a book featuring politics. In fact, Reynolds did a much nicer job of staying objective and unbiased in his interviews and chats, but then again the man is British and thus naturally granted a certain mild calmness. At any rate, I did enjoy his travels and this book. It seems to have represented 2018 well, it represented the middle of the US well, it was educational, it was personal in just the right way (not overpowering) and plenty entertaining. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
December 31, 2021
I’m always interested in travelogues as I love to travel and record my experiences and impressions. I was intrigued by an Englishman, who grew up on American western movies and books, traversing the continent along route 50. He traveled right through the heart of the Midwest, where I am from, even stopping in my home town, but strangely he didn’t mention the albino rodents that have made it famous. He mixes with the locals in most towns, but it was irritating how he kept bringing up politics. He also got lost a lot. I kept asking myself why doesn’t he get a GPS?
It was interesting to read his interpretation of American history, but I disagree with some of his explanations and definitions. Thanks to Muswell Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.
It was interesting to read his interpretation of American history, but I disagree with some of his explanations and definitions. Thanks to Muswell Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.
June 25, 2020
I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review
The book is written like a diary and it tells you with details everything the author saw and experienced during this long trip from Delaware to San Francisco. It isn't exactly what I expected because there's no photos at all and it makes it a little hard to picture the things the books is saying. It's a very long book and there are lots of good informations, tips, and thing the author went through during this trip. This trip is something my husband and I are planning on doing at some point in our lives but we will probably take the Hwy I40 instead, since we live in Raleigh. Some feelings you have during a trip like this are hard to explain and the author managed to write all the details and the book is pretty rich. I just wish they had added some photos because then this book would be perfect.
I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review
The book is written like a diary and it tells you with details everything the author saw and experienced during this long trip from Delaware to San Francisco. It isn't exactly what I expected because there's no photos at all and it makes it a little hard to picture the things the books is saying. It's a very long book and there are lots of good informations, tips, and thing the author went through during this trip. This trip is something my husband and I are planning on doing at some point in our lives but we will probably take the Hwy I40 instead, since we live in Raleigh. Some feelings you have during a trip like this are hard to explain and the author managed to write all the details and the book is pretty rich. I just wish they had added some photos because then this book would be perfect.
I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review
September 11, 2020
As I live off of US Route 50 in one of the various Podunk towns mentioned by David Reynolds, I was keen to read a foreigners experience of small route America. That all crashed and burned within the first several chapters. This unfortunately went immediately from the travel essay I was yearning for into a rant on American politics (both historical and recent) and really weird ethnic descriptions of every person he passes. Such snap judgments and hate. If you don't like our country, why did you come over here? Stop discussing our history with any sense of authority. When I traveled the A2 in Northern Ireland, I did not diatribe about The Troubles or Brexit. I met the locals and fell in love with their identities no matter their affiliations or life choices. There was so much negativity I eventually had to put the Kindle down before I snapped it.
July 30, 2020
While I realize that the synopsis does state that Trump will be mentioned, I felt that it was at times too much of a focus. I expected the book to be more of a travelogue from the point of view of british traveller. It was, however, it came across at times as a criticism of America not an attempt to understand its idiosyncrasies.. For example he muses about the term "good 'ol boys" but he never truly understands it and actually ends up making it into an insult instead. Throughout the book, in describing his encounters with locals, there is almost a feeling of superiority on his part. At the end of his journey when he has finally made it across America, there is no feeling that he actually enjoyed that journey either. While I agree with some of the political points made, that was not what I expected the purpose of this book to fill.
February 26, 2024
English writer David Reynolds starts his journey at Ocean City, Maryland. It’s a place I’ve never heard of but it’s one end of America’s Route 50, a 3000 mile road that that once traversed the country, ending (or beginning, depending from which side you begin your journey) at San Francisco. On the map the route looks like a pretty straight line, passing through Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. He’s completing the journey alone, taking as much of the original road as possible and he’ll be taking his time, driving for around seven weeks.
Reynolds is good company as he travels sans Sat-Nav and therefore frequently gets lost. This isn’t helped by the fact that he has to navigate himself around regular interruptions to his chosen path. He stays at cheap hotels, accommodation he hasn’t booked in advance as he’s not sure where he’ll be at the end of any given day. In the evenings he usually grabs a stool at the bar in a promising looking joint and grabs a beer or two as he chats to locals about his journey, their life and Donald Trump.
Set in the year 2000, Trump is in the White House and the author is clearly not a fan, being a self-confessed middle-class, white, liberal. In fact most of the people he chats to aren’t Trump fans either, though some of them confessed that they did vote for him. It seems that many found the appeal of Hilary Clinton to be even less attractive than that of The Donald. Many, it seems, liked neither and chose not to vote at all.
En route, he visits a good number of museums, meets some interesting people (nearly everyone he meets being extraordinarily friendly) and reflects on the history of the places he passes through. I’ve read quite a bit about ‘manifest destiny’ and the Westward expansion, but this book still filled in some gaps in my knowledge. But above all, the author filled me with the pleasure of the journey – his journey. I loved the pure adventure of it. I’ve taken one road trip of around 2500 miles through parts of California, Nevada and Arizona and I’d love to take another trip, plotting a very different route. This book fuelled my ambition no end.
Reynolds is good company as he travels sans Sat-Nav and therefore frequently gets lost. This isn’t helped by the fact that he has to navigate himself around regular interruptions to his chosen path. He stays at cheap hotels, accommodation he hasn’t booked in advance as he’s not sure where he’ll be at the end of any given day. In the evenings he usually grabs a stool at the bar in a promising looking joint and grabs a beer or two as he chats to locals about his journey, their life and Donald Trump.
Set in the year 2000, Trump is in the White House and the author is clearly not a fan, being a self-confessed middle-class, white, liberal. In fact most of the people he chats to aren’t Trump fans either, though some of them confessed that they did vote for him. It seems that many found the appeal of Hilary Clinton to be even less attractive than that of The Donald. Many, it seems, liked neither and chose not to vote at all.
En route, he visits a good number of museums, meets some interesting people (nearly everyone he meets being extraordinarily friendly) and reflects on the history of the places he passes through. I’ve read quite a bit about ‘manifest destiny’ and the Westward expansion, but this book still filled in some gaps in my knowledge. But above all, the author filled me with the pleasure of the journey – his journey. I loved the pure adventure of it. I’ve taken one road trip of around 2500 miles through parts of California, Nevada and Arizona and I’d love to take another trip, plotting a very different route. This book fuelled my ambition no end.
October 16, 2020
I tried to have an open mind as I approached “Slow Road to San Francisco: Across the USA from Ocean to Ocean” by David Reynolds – I read his book on Brexit and was not too impressed, but I thought that a travel essay about my home country would be something much more interesting. Of course, I’m not sure if it’s the same person since there are several authors with this name, but I’m giving it a try anyway.
The book seemed to elicit the same feeling as the Brexit book – this book was OK, nothing spectacular, and I’m not really sure what the point of this book was or who the target audience is. As a travel guide, Mr. Reynolds doesn’t really explore a lot of the touristy or historical things on his trip. As a sociological study, Mr. Reynolds basically only gets the viewpoints of people sitting at the bar of wherever he stopped for dinner. As a travel essay, there is very little other than some basic descriptions.
The stories started to get a bit repetitive – drive to a new town, mention one or two things about it or see a museum, go to a bar and talk to locals while watching baseball, maybe somehow bring up Trump (though not always), repeat the next day. Some of the encounters, like with the couple who played music together, were interesting. But I also must admit that I was angry when he would get lost and refuse to use GPS – who drives around lost in the dark for three hours when the answer is right in the palm of his hand? Kind of describes my whole feeling about the book.
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Muswell Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
The book seemed to elicit the same feeling as the Brexit book – this book was OK, nothing spectacular, and I’m not really sure what the point of this book was or who the target audience is. As a travel guide, Mr. Reynolds doesn’t really explore a lot of the touristy or historical things on his trip. As a sociological study, Mr. Reynolds basically only gets the viewpoints of people sitting at the bar of wherever he stopped for dinner. As a travel essay, there is very little other than some basic descriptions.
The stories started to get a bit repetitive – drive to a new town, mention one or two things about it or see a museum, go to a bar and talk to locals while watching baseball, maybe somehow bring up Trump (though not always), repeat the next day. Some of the encounters, like with the couple who played music together, were interesting. But I also must admit that I was angry when he would get lost and refuse to use GPS – who drives around lost in the dark for three hours when the answer is right in the palm of his hand? Kind of describes my whole feeling about the book.
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Muswell Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
Read
September 28, 2020David Reynolds took the slow road across the US, from Ocean City in Maryland on the East Coast to San Francisco on the West Coast.
His roadtrip takes him through states, cities, small towns, bars, museums, national parks, and everywhere he stops, looks around, chats and chats.
Just like I imagine the journey was for Reynolds, the book is slow but pleasurable. Though it has no big unexpected twists or surprises in store and just follows the Highway 50, telling the stories of each place in geographical and chronological order, it is entertaining; relaxing.
Unusual due to its pace and lack of pointe of turning point, The Slow Road to San Francisco will have a different highlight for each reader, just like travelling is a different experience for everyone. For me, it was a little modern green town that could my attention, for someone else it may be the history.
The recurring themes (aside from the Highway 50) and US History and Trump. Somehow, in every little town, Reynolds manages to ask about Trump. And what seems like a dangerous move to most of us turns out to just be a natural chat, which is probably due to Reynolds’ friendly character which shines through in the book.
His roadtrip takes him through states, cities, small towns, bars, museums, national parks, and everywhere he stops, looks around, chats and chats.
Just like I imagine the journey was for Reynolds, the book is slow but pleasurable. Though it has no big unexpected twists or surprises in store and just follows the Highway 50, telling the stories of each place in geographical and chronological order, it is entertaining; relaxing.
Unusual due to its pace and lack of pointe of turning point, The Slow Road to San Francisco will have a different highlight for each reader, just like travelling is a different experience for everyone. For me, it was a little modern green town that could my attention, for someone else it may be the history.
The recurring themes (aside from the Highway 50) and US History and Trump. Somehow, in every little town, Reynolds manages to ask about Trump. And what seems like a dangerous move to most of us turns out to just be a natural chat, which is probably due to Reynolds’ friendly character which shines through in the book.
October 7, 2021
Depressed me because I didn't want it to end.
I loved this book as much as David Reynolds's others.
It really depressed me towards the end - it was that good a book. I hung onto every little piece of information and description of all the visited areas and simply did not want my journey to end.
David Reynolds has done an excellent job of capturing the readers attention with his fine descriptions of the places he visited.
I escaped to each and every town, village, bluff, plain or mountain that he mentioned. I googled and Wikipedia'd every little place or situation that I read about and feel that I have lived the road trip myself.
I could not bear for it to end - but other referred to books have now joined my library too.
Many thanks to the author for this fine piece of literature.
I loved this book as much as David Reynolds's others.
It really depressed me towards the end - it was that good a book. I hung onto every little piece of information and description of all the visited areas and simply did not want my journey to end.
David Reynolds has done an excellent job of capturing the readers attention with his fine descriptions of the places he visited.
I escaped to each and every town, village, bluff, plain or mountain that he mentioned. I googled and Wikipedia'd every little place or situation that I read about and feel that I have lived the road trip myself.
I could not bear for it to end - but other referred to books have now joined my library too.
Many thanks to the author for this fine piece of literature.
November 23, 2020
The Slow Road to San Francisco is David Reynolds’s relaxed and easy-going account of his solo US coast-to-coast road trip that I would guess a good number of us have contemplated making at some stage in our life. It’s a great read!
Throughout his journey, David is happy to make acquaintance with total strangers in bars and other places to get a sense of how the locals live their lives and how happy they are with their President 2 years after his election. He encounters a wide variety of characters with views that are interesting to hear. It took me a little bit longer than normal to read the book as I was regularly referencing Google maps to see images of places visited (the author however avoided any navigation tools on his trip adding a few extra pages as a result!)
Throughout his journey, David is happy to make acquaintance with total strangers in bars and other places to get a sense of how the locals live their lives and how happy they are with their President 2 years after his election. He encounters a wide variety of characters with views that are interesting to hear. It took me a little bit longer than normal to read the book as I was regularly referencing Google maps to see images of places visited (the author however avoided any navigation tools on his trip adding a few extra pages as a result!)
February 4, 2023
Slow road to boredom.
I bought this book thinking I bought a book about travelling.It's not.
This book is an excuse for the author to constantly express his political opinions.We understand he doesn't like Donald Trump but then why does he have to tell us so every 2 pages?If I want to read a book about Mr Trump I can buy one, there's plenty of those on the shelves.
Apart from this annoying part, I found the book quite boring, very slow indeed and way too bias when it comes to the American History.
While the skin tone of everyone he meets continually pointed out is quite unnecessary.
I bought this book thinking I bought a book about travelling.It's not.
This book is an excuse for the author to constantly express his political opinions.We understand he doesn't like Donald Trump but then why does he have to tell us so every 2 pages?If I want to read a book about Mr Trump I can buy one, there's plenty of those on the shelves.
Apart from this annoying part, I found the book quite boring, very slow indeed and way too bias when it comes to the American History.
While the skin tone of everyone he meets continually pointed out is quite unnecessary.
July 7, 2021
I love San Francisco and the USA, its beauty, diversity and people, but I loath Trump, so I approached this book with slight trepidation.
I found this travel diary very well written, I could see and feel each place and felt as though I was there which was entertaining and educational and reignited my desire to visit again and plan another road trip, thankfully it was more wonderful roadtrip and not too much Trump!
I found this travel diary very well written, I could see and feel each place and felt as though I was there which was entertaining and educational and reignited my desire to visit again and plan another road trip, thankfully it was more wonderful roadtrip and not too much Trump!
April 30, 2021
Nice road trip, but…
I enjoyed the trip, but endlessly getting lost was, I want to idiosyncratic. The best parts were the authors conversations with strangers - he describes people well and it will likely lead to me reading his other writing.
I enjoyed the trip, but endlessly getting lost was, I want to idiosyncratic. The best parts were the authors conversations with strangers - he describes people well and it will likely lead to me reading his other writing.
July 13, 2022
I always like a good travel blog and was hoping a Bill Bryson, notes from a big country type account. Sadly this is both amateurishly written and the constant mocking of the American right becomes boring and repetitive.
July 14, 2020
Good read but a bit slow at times - really don't need to know about how long it takes to find his car!
March 4, 2024
This book was pretty good. Took me a while to get into it but I enjoyed most of the whole book. It was just wordy in some parts and lost my interest.
September 12, 2020
As a travel book this deserves 5 stars but I quickly grew tired of the author questioning everyone he met about whether they voted for Donald Trump. His criticism of America’s History was also something I could have done without.
The travel writing was first class spoiled by the author’s seemingly obsessive political opinions.
The travel writing was first class spoiled by the author’s seemingly obsessive political opinions.
October 14, 2020
A fascinating travel memoir following route 50 across America. Beginning with a selfie photo standing in the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast, the author David Reynolds embarks on a solo drive across America.
In David’s new travel memoir he uncovers fascinating stories and events that have shaped American history. Travelling across the country, state by state I enjoyed reading David’s views of the people he met and the ever changing landscape that he sees.
In David’s new travel memoir he uncovers fascinating stories and events that have shaped American history. Travelling across the country, state by state I enjoyed reading David’s views of the people he met and the ever changing landscape that he sees.
November 7, 2021
This book caught my attention when I saw San Francisco, almost lost me with the mention of Trump, but got me back when I saw Ocean City, Maryland. I love those two cities, with the latter being full of summer memories from my youth.
Being a people watcher myself, I like to observe and see people just living life. So the writing an observations made me feel like I met my travel doppelgänger. An interesting route and view of the people and roads that make America what it is.
Being a people watcher myself, I like to observe and see people just living life. So the writing an observations made me feel like I met my travel doppelgänger. An interesting route and view of the people and roads that make America what it is.
February 29, 2024
Great, worth a listen
A pleasant chap from the UK drives across the USA, noting his experiences and tidbits of history along the way. That’s how it reads, but as he’s actually a historian, those tidbits have substance and are presented in context. Light, upbeat and whimsical. His chats with locals add charm. I found it a pleasant listen.
A pleasant chap from the UK drives across the USA, noting his experiences and tidbits of history along the way. That’s how it reads, but as he’s actually a historian, those tidbits have substance and are presented in context. Light, upbeat and whimsical. His chats with locals add charm. I found it a pleasant listen.
November 7, 2021
A Brit on Rt. 50 in the age of Trump. Slow Road to San Francisco follows Londoner David Reynolds from Ocean City, MD to the West Coast, mixing humor (his takes on baseball and roadside motels are hilarious), familiar locations & history that many Americans don't know.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews