Road Fever

Garry Sowerby and Tim Cahill pursue the speed record for driving a GMC truck from Tierra del Fuego in South America at the southernmost, to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska at the north, a total distance of 15,000 miles! The record was 50 days, but that was unverified. So they enlist Ross McWhirter of the Guiness Book of Records to ascertain that their achievement would be a verified record. They believed they could make the journey in 25 days.

The book was not that entertaining to read. The two men were traveling at such a break neck pace and didn't really stop through the entire journey, save for border crossings. What observaional detail there was, is crammed into such short space that it is lost. There was some interesting drama between the men show more as they endured the experience,but that didn't make up for the lack of any real fleshed out story detail. And after the first 95% of the book tells of the journey through Mexico, the rest of the journey is told in about 15 pages!

If the authors goal was to make the reader experience the slam bang pace of the journey as if they were along on the trip he succeeded. But to me there were many situations and places on the trip that could have been fleshed out better. Maybe even add a map or two. And about the second half of the journey? I guess nothing happened. By the end I just wanted the trip (and the read) to be over. Oh, by the way, they set the record in 23 and 1/2 days. show less

Really enjoyable account of an attempt to break a speed record for a long distance road trip from the southernmost tip of South America to Alaska - including the rigorous work that went into facilitating their relatively speedy progress through multiple South and Central American border crossings, how they talked and documented their way through military check points and customs and how they planned to deal with anticipated frightening situations. I thought the book was really crying out for maps of their progress and photos and excerpts of their media coverage.

Tim Cahill is one of the best adventure/travel writers out there. He tells his true tales with a combination of great humor and honesty, and is always a great read.

My first introduction to Tim Cahill. He drives from Tierra del Fuego to the northernmost north part of North America with one other guy and a lot of bottled yogurt drinks. Funny, funny, funny.

A description of a journey, completed as a road race, from one end of the American continent (Tierra del Fuego) to another (end of the road in Alaska). Life without leaving a car as you try to get into the Guiness book of records. Funny, but not as good a read as it would be if they left the car for reasons other than border crossings.

Hilarious and original

This book is barely readable. The author takes what could be a great concept and destroys it with droning.