Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways

This book is very thorough not only in verbally mapping a road trip, but in describing what to see and why. I haven't taken any of the routes yet (I'm mainly an armchair traveler), but I have learned a great deal about some lesser known attractions to be found on two-lane highways. It reads like a travel diary, but is still instructive and informative.

"Road Trip USA" is organized by states and regions, so it is easy to read in sections for a virtual road trip or while actually travelling.

This series is great for roadtrippers. Gives you a lot of ideas for unconventional sites, interesting sidetrips, and good, usually casual, places to dine. Format is excellent for driving trips. I wish they would reissue Road Trip New England. It was outstanding, but is currently out of print.

I've used this for 4 cross-country trips over the years. Just got this new one at the beginning of summer to follow the Oregon Trail out west and return on the Loneliest Road. I don't follow every recommendation, but I am never disappointed by the ones I do follow.

The book's strenght is its outline. It's very well divided up but possible roads and by region. However my only criticism is because ALL roads are included there isn't a high level of detail for each. But great place to start thinking about an itinerary.

I love this book a lot. It's really heavy and when it cam, I was trying to work out what was in the box because of the weight. I love travelling and I love America and while I've been many times before, I usually fly from city to city (with the exception of the drive from LA to Vegas and back) and therefore miss out on the real America and all the in between stops. I bought this book because I swear next visit, even though gas prices are at an all time high, I want to do more exploring which I really think can only be done this well by driving rather than flying.
This gives you a lot more vacational options than shopping. From the Great Smokey Mountains to Tyringam, MA to Shamrock, TX, this is such a great book.
With the inclusion of maps and extra info and colour-coded route markers, the choice of drives you can do is endless. There appears as if the enitire mainland is covered. There is quirky facts about each place, information on where to get the best whatever in different towns, so I'm really looking forward to putting this excellent book to use. Can't wait and I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone.

For anyone who likes to travel, if only by reading a book, this is a great one. However, I gave this to my son as a gift, and he loved it. Took it with him while traveling to North Carolina, Washington and went to many of the suggested places in this book to eat, and take the backroads. A good one!

I love this book a lot. It's really heavy and when it cam, I was trying to work out what was in the box because of the weight. I love travelling and I love America and while I've been many times before, I usually fly from city to city (with the exception of the drive from LA to Vegas and back) and therefore miss out on the real America and all the in between stops. I bought this book because I swear next visit, even though gas prices are at an all time high, I want to do more exploring which I really think can only be done this well by driving rather than flying.
This gives you a lot more vacational options than shopping. From the Great Smokey Mountains to Tyringam, MA to Shamrock, TX, this is such a great book.
With the inclusion of maps and extra info and colour-coded route markers, the choice of drives you can do is endless. There appears as if the enitire mainland is covered. There is quirky facts about each place, information on where to get the best whatever in different towns, so I'm really looking forward to putting this excellent book to use. Can't wait and I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone.

For anyone who likes to travel, if only by reading a book, this is a great one. However, I gave this to my son as a gift, and he loved it. Took it with him while traveling to North Carolina, Washington and went to many of the suggested places in this book to eat, and take the backroads. A good one!

WE plan to take the Oregon Trail out to California from Boston and then a piece of the Pacific route and the the Great Northern route back to Boston. It should be a great trip to further get to know the USA.

This book details five north-south and five east-west journeys across the US. The book is arranged into 10 sections, one for each path, each of which lists, in order, all the sites worth seeing on the particular route in that section.

While it is a good collection of sites, the book is laid out in a way that makes it useful only if you read the entire thing. There is no easy way to look up the attractions by state or as dots on a map or by type or anything like that. There isn't even a table of contents at the beginning of the book or of each section. The only reference you have to a particular site is the blurb itself.

So while some may find this to be a useful guide, I'd say it needs a bit more work before it's a good reference.

I am taking it with me so I do not miss any sights . I will leave Texas Monday 2013, heading to Washington state going down the101. I am excited will be on road for 90 days. will update you on book upon my return. Thank you

un très bon bouquin pour les globetrotters qui souhaitent visiter les états-unis en voiture par leurs propres moyens.
De bons itinéraires, beaucoup d'explications, de cartes et de photos. exclusivement en anglais mais relativement simple à lire même pour un non anglophones.

Purchased for a cross-country road trip. Our trip did not follow one of the routes within the book so it was hard to make use of the book. If purchasing the book for drive suggestions, it would probably be more helpful, however if you are going your own way, you end up jumping all over the book.

Wanted to order Road Trip USA edition specific to Highway 93 but not available in print option. This book includes several rides, informative but a bit bulky for packing on the bike. Hoped material would offer milepost by milepost attractions/stops but found to be more general in nature.

The best USA road-tripping book. Have done portions of 3 or 4 of the routes (improvising along the way of course and combining some different routes. I had the previous edition as well (which I'm going to keep since one of the routes was inexplicably removed from this edition). I simultaneously bought the similar "Let's Go Roadtripping USA (3rd Edition)" but if you're just going to buy one, this one (Road Trip USA/Jamie Jensen) is way better (but they did complement each other somewhat). Lots of off-the-beaten track tips that must have been a labour of love to have discovered!

I found the book had too much information and not the right kind. It gave historical facts about the areas, picked out one or two highlights and that's it. It didn't give much information about the proper "touristy" sights, let's face it that's why we go on road trips, nor did it give you much of an in site to hotel, hostels, rv campsites or their costs in different areas. It did have some useful information but I wouldnt use it as my guide book.

This book is action packed with info, pictures and old postcard art. I love it. I look at it all the time. It has trivia, facts, history and just everything you'd want to know. I carry this book with me all the time, just in case I get bored somewhere. It has inspired me to stop at places I would not have stopped at before. I have a few trips planned and I have looked things up in this book to coordinate with the driving. I'm so happy I bought this book :)

There isn't a book out there that covers all the great rides and sites in this big beautiful country of ours so if you're really into it, you build a library of information. Put this one in easy reach. Lot of good information and well writtten.

I like this book as it gives you routes to take to get off the interstate and see the great USA. It only highlights certain things though so if you want something in depth you need to figure out your route and then do some research on what's on that route.

Well written, but it really has to cover too much territory to get into the nooks and crannies of rural America. If you drive an RV and want to stick to the larger highways then this is probably a pretty good book for you. If you drive a sports car and want to explore the small twisty roads that are hidden gems then this book will leave most of them hidden.

Purchased this book as a gift for my husband who enjoys traveling the back roads. While thumbing through the book, we noticed an error on page 166 in an article regarding the Lewis and Clark expedition. Anyone who has ever studied history regarding Lewis and Clark and the Louisiana Purchase knows that Sgt. Floyd of the expedition died south of what is now Sioux City, Iowa, not at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Fortunately, the author has directed you to page 572 where an accurate account of the location of Sgt. Floyd's monument exists. The author does interject an opinion ocassionally describing grasslands as "yawning expanses" to which we can only add, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Overall a very nice book with some interesting sites along the way. We don't regret the purchase.

the info is very useful to travelers. i am planning a cross country trip when i retire and this book is helpful in planning my route. the suggestions for sightseeing and dining will come in handy. my only complaint (if i can call it that) is that i ordered three editions of this book, under the impression that each book contained different routes. i was wrong. each edition is basically an updated version with mostly the same info. one edition is all you need.

Did the author actually drive any of these routes? I think they just used the standard hotel hand-outs to get information. As an Oklahoman, I was very disappointed. Yes, we have good stretches of Route 66, but it is not the only two-lane highway in our state. Since my home state was so poorly covered, I don't trust the reviews of other states.

I'm in love with this book! I have three different editions, and have given the newest edition as a gift to a friend who also shares my love of Roadside Americana. Not exactly a guide book per se, but gives blurbs and historical info from parts of the country that have become less traveled with the advent of the freeways.

Very good concept. Tired of traveling seeing the same thing on 4-lane highways. Helps you travel and actual see something besides McDonalds and Burger Kings and interchanges. The old concept of route 66 and the writer Jack Keroak.

I bought this book along with 'Old World Journal' a travel journal. I will be using both while on a trip to North America we are planning in 2014.
I am finding the book to be very informative, although it does have trips running north to south whereas we will be travelling west to east. Although I think we will have some 'detours' along the way. I am looking forward to using it.
Melanie in New Zealand

We have only just begun planning our next trip, and already we know to add to the budget (both time and money)to include a couple of things we might have missed, who knows what else we will find. Thank you Jamie!

When my girlfriend and I drove from LA to our new home in North Carolina, we decided to take a few weeks to tour the country. Even with all the smart-phone apps in the world, we relied on this book for >50% of our decision-making. It's a real gem, and written with obvious love for the road and the good ol' US of A.

Loved this book. Great ideas! We travel a lot and yet i have missed some things..not anymore. Love, love the layout! So easy to find fun things to do and see. Since we have a truck camper I of course missed that there weren't any description for that specific way of travel, but that is not what this is geard toward.

Needs better organization. Takes too long to find area and info I am looking for. I feel like I have to hunt and search. Does have maps in each section but area too confined on maps and can't see the whole picture. I haven't taken a trip since purchasing it, so I don't know how useful it will be.

A real disappointment. I thought this book would highlight interesting places all over the US. In fact, all it covers are places near to the dozen or so routes it lays out. So if you're not traveling along one of those routes, the book is basically useless. Expensive, and useless.

I first came across this book in our public library and decided it was just what we needed for our 6 weeks on the road. and how wonderful to be surprised with a new edition available thru the store! Readable, useful and fun!

I found this book almost useless in planning a road trip from Florida to Vancouver and back. The book is a collection of six north to south routes and five east to west routes that are basically semi-straight lines drawn on a map with descriptions of points of interest along the way. It's the sort of book you could write without ever leaving home. I found the following two books vastly superior if you're willing to do your own route planning (listed in the order of preference): Reader's Digest "The Most Scenic Drives in America" and Reader's Digest "Off the Beaten Path". Don't waste your money on National Geographic's "Drives of a Lifetime" if you're only interested in U.S. travel.

Disappointed in book, but this is most likely because I was expecting more specific information about the blue roads in the USA. Could be just the ticket for some readers. Much of the information is contained in my AAA guidebooks.

This book was delivered quickly and in good condition. The book was recommended to us by relatives and we have heard many good reviews for it. We will be using it when we make a cross country trip this spring. Thank you

I ordered this book for a road trip that I just took from Las Vegas to Orangeburg, SC. I found it very confusing and inadequate. There were set routes that the book used, and although I thought we had taken a direct route to the east, it wasn't in the book. When I looked up the cities I went through, there wasn't enough info. I felt I should have just taken a Lonely Planet USA book instead.Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways

Prior to leaving on my spring 2012 solo cross country road trip I purchased Route 66: EZ66 Guide for Travelers, 2nd Edition by Jerry Mc Clanahan (5 stars), Route 66 Adventure Handbook: Turbocharged Fourth Edition by Drew Knowles (3 stars) and Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways by Jamie Jensen (4 stars) from the store (best prices you'll find). My plan was to drive to Chicago, IL from Providence, RI and from there to Santa Monica, CA following old RT 66.

For the Providence to Chicago leg of my trip I used Road Trip USA. While this book gives you a general idea of the routes you want to take it is NOT a turn by turn guide (good driving directions would have been appreciated). It does give many sightseeing suggestions that I did use extensively. Paired with a good GPS unit or additional maps this book is idea for road trips throughout the USA.

On reaching Chicago I found RT 66 and switched over to Route 66: EZ Guide and Route 66 Adventure Handbook. I found RT 66: EZ Guide to be indispensible for traveling 66. I did manage to get lost in nearly every city I drove through as I was both driver and navigator but this would have been solved with the inclusion of the street name of 66 as it passed through cities. Route 66 Adventure Handbook was less useful. It does give you great ideas for sightseeing but finding these locations can be a problem. The addition of street addresses or GPS coordinates would be helpful! Highlights along 66 were Pontiac, IL, Meramec Caverns, the Painted Desert and Grand Canyon.

On reaching Santa Monica I had no plan so I pieced together several of the routes in Road Trip USA to return home. The highlights of the return trip were the Pacific Coast Highway and Yellowstone, not to be missed.

I received this book 2 years ago and again this year- so I have 2 versions. This book has exactly the same text... I do not see any variation, except some of the photos have been swapped out. The sad thing about this book is that it's not giving you the latest true review of the towns across the USA. We all know some towns/cities evolve to becoming more hip with new restaurants and shops, while others start to get stagnant and vacant. Unfortunately, this author has not gone back to do any updated research to provide you with "real time" info. If you are interested in this book- you might just purchase an old version for the information. I was hoping that the author might also choose a few different cities to highlight, so you could build on your adventure- but alas it is a re-copy from year to year. Even the Bars and restaurants are all the same :-(. So my review is that this "travel book" is a rehashed of years old info.

I received this book 2 years ago and again this year- so I have 2 versions. This book has exactly the same text... I do not see any variation, except some of the photos have been swapped out. The sad thing about this book is that it's not giving you the latest true review of the towns across the USA. We all know some towns/cities evolve to becoming more hip with new restaurants and shops, while others start to get stagnant and vacant. Unfortunately, this author has not gone back to do any updated research to provide you with "real time" info. If you are interested in this book- you might just purchase an old version for the information. I was hoping that the author might also choose a few different cities to highlight, so you could build on your adventure- but alas it is a re-copy from year to year. Even the Bars and restaurants are all the same :-(. So my review is that this "travel book" is a rehashed of years old info.

I think this book would be just fine if you were driving one of the exact routes and itineraries listed. But what I wanted from the book was a way to know the areas/sights that were worth going off an interstate and onto a 2-lane road for. The book doesn't do that (maybe an idea for a future edition?). The book focuses on set routes and I found it rather confusing to follow if you weren't on that exact route. There also wasn't any sort of priority assigned to places/attractions which would have been helpful in picking which attractions to stop and see versus which to skip. Instead of this book, I wound up mostly just using yelp and tripadvisor on my phone instead.

The book definitely has some interesting insights and facts. However, judging by the number of errors about places I am familiar with, I might not trust the rest of it.

Some of the two lane routes in the book have minimal things to see because they are so remote, which may explain the number of 'detours' that are included. The 'mile by mile highlights' are more like 'gobs of miles highlights.' If you like Americana trivia, it's worth buying the book, otherwise you might be better off looking thru it at your local library.

Road Trip USA is book that follows along some of the classic routes in North America. Along the way, the author gives you opinions on where to eat, where to stay, and what to see. I like the fact that it is the back roads of America that is discussed. The author has an insane amount of knowledge about many small towns you may have never heard about. The writer is really able to capture some Americana through the use of pictures and illustrations of old signs, postcards, etc. The book is very detailed and gives the reader a enormous amount of information about stops along the road. The information is almost too much. While very entertaining, the book can be hard to follow. I found myself getting lost between where I was in the book and where I was on the road. The author adds detours or stops you should see while you are a general area. I found this to be confusing. The writer attempted to reduce this confusion by color coding each of the routes in the book. However, many of the colors look similar. Therefore, I would keep turning back to the wrong road trip in my book. Also, the maps used in the book are very small and difficult to see. He only used a small section of the map in each section you are currently driving. It was extremely difficult to find the areas in the book and match them up with my road atlas. Thank goodness for GPS. All that being said, the amount information the author collected for this book is truly amazing. Also, I have to admit that I'm terribly jealous as it must have been tremendously fun writing this book. I think Road Trip USA would have been more effective if it been broken up into to smaller books with larger maps, pictures, etc. I feel the author was too ambitious to try and fit all of these trips into one book. I will look for other books written by this author as I did enjoy all of the information I learned as I traveled some of the routes in the book.

Turnpikes and superhighways have improved much about our lives, making commutes to work and other vital travel easier and faster. Sometimes, though, it's great to just slow down and enjoy the scenery - and that's just what Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways helps all of us to do.

In this book, you'll discover plenty about out-of-the-way places that can be reached by traveling on two-lane roads in the United States. Discover lesser known monuments, museums, restaurants and roads, and enjoy the offbeat sites that you'll see. It's likely that you'll even learn something new about your own state or hometown.

Road Trip USA recommends places to eat and stay and it provides survival guides to some of America's most intriguing cities. If you've fallen into a vacation rut, this book will break you of it, as at least one quirky destination - and probably many more - will grab your attention and cause you to go on your own road trip rendezvous.

My husband and I are planning a road trip to Annapolis, MD from CA. to see my niece graduate from Annapolis Naval Academy in 2010. I will fly but am terrified of it, and I have always wanted to "road trip" it. SO, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to do so. We are excited, well maybe me more then him! and I bought this book to help out with our adventure. It's a great book full of great places to see and tips. Not sure how this will go, I am hoping it will be a great experience for the both of us! but we are taking 2 dogs along too....so, to be continued!

When you think of summer, and of freedom and adventure, you automatically think "road trip." Sometimes, you just want to jump into your car for a day trip and, other times, you'd love to trek around America for an entire summer. Some trips you know exactly where you're going and what you plan to see and, other times, you go where the spirit of travel leads you.

In Jamie Jensen's book, Road Trip USA: Cross Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways, we're given quality information on fun places to visit, including places where celebrities stayed, restaurants with apple pie tasty enough for a visit (or two!) and scenic locations worth seeing just for their sheer beauty.

Trivia, myths and legends provided in the book makes trips even more entertaining. The tips of where to take photographs are terrific and provide a road trip traveler the chance to easily capture the most interesting sights for friends and family back home.

I like how Jensen covers 35,000 miles of road tripping in just one book and we appreciate his color-coded routes. Nobody likes getting lost and he pays attention to the smallest details that provide travelers comfort, including the call numbers of local radio stations.

Get off the major highways and use Jensen's book for eleven road trips that you'll never forget!

We drove over ten thousand miles in the last two months going acros the country on Route 2 and returning on Route 20 plus many side trips and some time in the Maritime Provicences. I drove and my wife read about what was coming. We found it fairly handy. Many of his resturant suggestions were very good. We found several errors like the address for a resturant listed that turned out to be an old garage on a graveled back street one block long.

This book has 16 road trips to choose from. The author travelled over 400,000 miles researching it ! Its the best road trip book I have found so far with every trip described in huge detail. The photos in the book give added value and I found it easy to read. From places to eat, stay and visit it also provides history on each location. I have taken it with me on 3 big road trips and its been really useful.

Love this book but wish you could make one reversing the drive down PCH. We are in Southern California and plan to drive north to Vancouver. We love the book but have to basically read it upside down. Just a thought, but could you create another edition going south to north?

The new edition of Road Trip USA is an amazing read. I've used a previous edition and this edition, now in full color, is filled with inspiring ideas as well as the practical, useful information you need to take a road trip. There's regional routes and bi-coastal routes all on two-lane highways. Amazing info and great photos and illustrations for armschair dreaming. I recommend this book to everyone.

Extensively researched and very well written - good humor makes the exhaustive details easy to read. Over the years, I have driven many of the roads travelled - and I wish I had this book with me in the past. I read through it and say "Oh yeah, now I get it" about many of the sights I have seen. Going to enjoy bringing it with me on future travels - this book gives me far greater insight than other such books I have read. Well laid out, great index and cross-references.

I kinda expected someone's journal as they traveled across the country. It's more like a travel agents guide to the back roads. I do like the book, it's very helpful whenever your on a trip and want to know what to do without the brochure stand at the motel.

Great insight into what is on the back roads in the US. We are from Australia and planning a road trip in the South and it has been incredibly useful for helping us see the "real" America. We have done all the big cities so now we want to hear music and talk to people who are "America". This book will let us do that.

We traveled 9,000 miles around the U.S. and covered portions of six of the routes outlined in this book in September/October 2012. The book was great for identifying random, interesting stops along various two-lane highways, but we found the restaurant recommendations extremely unreliable. Despite the fact that the latest edition of the book was published only four months before our trip, many of the places listed in the book were closed when we found them.

The author is a colossal ignoramus. He writes "In its 140-mile course across Iowa, the GRR passes swiftly but unmistakably across the cultural and geographical North-South Divide". This implies that Iowa is a southern state; nothing could be further from the truth. Iowa fought on the side of the union (check out the monument on the Shiloh battlefield), and had several stops on the underground railroad. He then writes "Separated by the Mississippi River from the rough topography of Wisconsin’s Driftless Region,...". It hasn't been called the "Driftless Region" in a long time. It's called the Paleozoic Plateau, and it covers parts of eight Iowa counties. The author continues "... the southeastern corner of Iowa offers instead a taste of the state’s trademark rolling plains covered with corn and soybeans." The southeastern corner? The route shown in the book is clearly in the NORTHeastern part of the state.

How could the author get so much wrong in so few sentences? Clearly, the reader shouldn't trust this book to present even the most basic facts.

I was looking for a book of maps of two lane highways, so this book really wasn't what I wanted. We are wanting to do a road trip across the country using ONLY two lane hightways-----want to stay off the Interstates and see MORE of the country------so unfortunately, this book didn't give me what I was looking for.