Highway 50: Ain't That America

This is one of my favorite "road" books. It's a fun, well-crafted story about a great neglected highway. Very different from Blue Highways and many other road books because it's about a single highway. It's in the same tradition, the way Blue Highways is in the tradition of Travels With Charley and Travels with Charley is in the tradition of Mark Twain, etc. A fun read.

This book is kind of a small classic, idiosyncratic and funny. I agreed with the review in The Times when it was first published, saying that it's best enjoyed as a collection of individual stories. I still like picking it up and reading a chapter now and then. Each creates a portrait of some aspect of America that is certainly worth knowing, and is often poignant.

I cannot understand why this book is not better known. I found it to be in the same vein and every bit as good as Blue Highways and Travels with Charley, and it should take it's rightful place alongside those classic American travelogues. It is the classic story of a man who drives across America, reporting on the people he meets and the discoveries that he makes. One interesting aspect of this book is that the author, who quit his job as a journalist to make this trip, has to stop now and then and work to make a little cash when he is running low. It is filled with odd people and interesting places, and Lillefors thoughtful commentary is often poetic. If you have been looking for something to read since finishing Blue Highways, this is the book that you have been waiting for!