Wherever the Road Leads: A Memoir of Love, Travel, and a Van (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781734279641)

Wherever the Road Leads, a Memoir of Love, Travel, and a Van, takes you on a stunning two-year van-life honeymoon. Newlyweds Tom and Katie, an engineer and an artist, meet the rigors of travel and the ups and downs of married life in a Volkswagen microbus that continually needs repair. Surrounded by exotic backdrops from Panama to India and beset by mechanical problems, Tom and Katie drive 39,000 miles across four continents in a world before the internet or cell phones. Everything from engine trouble to personal sanitation, from running out of funds to illness, affects their goals and desires.

This beautifully written memoir describes the couple's travel experiences, as well as details of van-life chores, marketing and cooking on the road, mechanical problems, people encountered along the way, and intimate moments of love and discord. The author's memories were aided by a stash of saved letters, postcards, journal entries, and photos. Wherever the Road Leads overflows with the author's joy for travel and her devotion to and frustration with her new husband. Throughout the adventure the author reveals the intimacy of van living.

This book offers a panorama of destinations off the regular tourist track and a glimpse of overland travel in the 1970s. The author shares her interest in cooking and her love of exploring local markets, as well as her fascination with clothing and native dress. The memoir is beautifully illustrated with photos, pen and ink drawings, quick sketches, and hand-drawn route maps. Perfect for the armchair adventurer, Wherever will also inspire those who long to plan an adventure of your own.