Miles to Go: An African Family's Journey Along Route 66 - Travel Memoir & Cross-Cultural Exploration | Perfect for Road Trip Enthusiasts & Cultural Studies

When I saw that "Miles to Go" would be released by the University of New Mexico Press, I placed a pre-publication order through Amazon, and I certainly was not disappointed after the volume arrived and I began reading. African-born Brennen Matthews with wife and son traveled from their Canadian home to Chicago and then used Jerry McClanahan's EZ Guide to lead them all the way down the historic pavement of former U.S. Highway 66 to the Pacific Shore. Having driven the same roadway several times during the mid-2010s, when Brennen and family made the two-month sojourn recounted in the book, I can vouch personally for the accuracy of his descriptions of locations along the way. He provides details that I would have neglected, and they greatly enrich the text. More than a road-trip journal, however, "Miles to Go" helps readers gain an understanding of former Route 66 and the country it traverses that may only be available from writers who have grown up in different places; these observers from elsewhere "see" significance in many personal experiences that natives of the region typically take for granted. Beautifully written "Miles to Go" was a literary treat, and I have returned time and again to savor any number of its chapters. Strongly recommended. T. Lindsay Baker