Road Fever

I gotta tell you that I didn't find the book as laugh-out-loud funny as many of the people here did. But that fact didn't cause me to love "Road Fever" any less then they did. What I loved about it is the care Tim Cahill spent in recounting in great detail the amount of preparation - especially in the area of paperwork - required to make a journey from Tierra del Fuego to the northern tip of Alaska in record time.Because, frankly, it's not a question of how fast you can drive; rather, the BIG ISSUE is how much time it takes you to cross the border from Country X to Country Y. And then again from Country Y to Country Z. This ain't the European Community where you can whiz past the Germany - Netherlands border without realizing it. These are real border crossings - guards, official stamps, commissars, corruption, danger, you name it.Garry Sowerby and Tim Cahill spent up to a year preparing for that aspect of the trip. Yes, GM sponsorship helped in places. Yes, the Canadian government helped in places. But what carries them through at the end of the day is the intense focus and planning these two guys put into the journey before the trip even gets started.There's a lesson in there for everyone.

Cahill, a fellow who does interesting things and writes about them for a living, went with Garry Sowerby of Canada on an endurance driving trip from Ushuaia in southern Argentina to Deadhorse, Alaska; this is the story.Where Cahill succeeds most here is in descriptive talent. From his conflicts with Sowerby to the smells of the inside of the vehicle to the terrain around him to the encounters with customs officials of a dozen nations, he never fails to paint a credible and interesting picture. Tim has always been good about telling the story even if it makes him look foolish, and this sense of literary integrity is strong here.The only thing I felt a little shorted by was the virtual lack of any description of any activity between the US/Mexican border and Fairbanks. I can imagine them blazing across the US and Canada up to the Alcan in a day with no trouble, and maybe not much happened, but the real Alcan gets more interesting as you get into the Yukon and beyond; it seems it was glossed over. If I had a half-star markdown I might use it, but it wouldn't be fair to Cahill to mark him down a whole star on what is otherwise a great book--maybe not much really happened, which would explain why not much is said.Recommended for adventure travel lovers, particularly those focused on South America.

The story of this great journey by Garry Sowerby and Tim Cahill in driving from the tip of South America to Alaska in 23 1/2 days is told with such humour that any reader will be laughing out loud as they read about their adventures on they way to setting a World Record for this journey. The drive at times is very dangerous as they cope with so many different countries and political regimes on their trip south to north but their spirit and humour keeps them going as they go 'roto' and even catch 'Zippy's' disease along the way.

I have read every one of Tim Cahill's books, and have given my husband and friends the books to read as well. They are funny, scary sometimes, but always entertaining. He is a person I would like to meet, just to tell him how much I enjoy his writing. I also look forward to "Outside Magazine" every month, because he usually has an article in it.

Tim Cahill is one of my favorite writers--he manages to be funny and touching at just the right moments. This book does both, although the emphasis is decidedly on "funny." I'm delighted to have experienced his trip vicariously, and would recommend this (or any of his other books) to anyone with a sense of humor and an interest in travel.I would take issue with a comment by Rosseroo (below), however: I don't think enjoyment of these books is at all gender-specific; I'm a woman who is only sorry that she's read all of Cahill's books (I wish there were more!). And I haven't shared them with anyone, male or female, who didn't find them hilarious.