First published 1999
Michael Perry travels from Wyoming's open plains to Budapest's city center, collecting stories from the road. He writes from the cab of a speeding Belizean sugarcane truck, observes life from a country musician's tour bus, and gets thrown from a runaway cutting horse. Perry finds himself in a basement while a building burns above him. He sleeps in a bunk room next to a determined Central American prostitute. He witnesses a gospel celebration in a grain storage building. When someone sends him a handwritten invitation to a Ku Klux Klan rally, Perry writes back to refuse. He hitchhikes with truck drivers and gathers material from publications like Esquire, Salon, and Road King. Perry tells these stories with straightforward wisdom, finding meaning in ordinary moments and unexpected encounters across two continents.
Genres: adventure, non-fiction, biography-memoir, americana
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water
Setting: Wyoming, Budapest, Belize
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
149 pages · Paperback · Whistlers & Jugglers Pr