The Roamers Book Club

In 1995 travel writer Bill Bryson was living in the United States after residing in England for over twenty years and longed to reconnect with the country he once knew. Despite having little knowledge of hiking, camping, or the Great Outdoors he decided that an adventure on the 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail would be the best way to reacquaint himself with America. Not to be outdone in the inexperie...

In 1996 author Jon Krakauer joined a Mount Everest expedition to document the recent commercialization of the world's highest peak. As an experienced alpinist, Krakauer understood the inherent dangers of climbing at extreme altitudes, but nothing could have prepared him for the events that unfolded on May 10-11, resulting in one of the deadliest days in the history of Everest.  Into Thin Air recou...

Have you ever been lost in the woods? Did you immediately ball up in the fetal position and scream for help? Stephen King's, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon follows the story of Tricia McFarland, a nine year old girl who is lost in the woods with very few supplies and little water. Her only contact with the outside world is through her Walkman which is tuned into the Boston Red Sox and her favorite...

After a long fight on the front lines of the women's suffrage movement Edna Brush Perkins and her friend Charlotte Jordan needed a vacation so they did what anyone would do to unwind and traveled for a month in one of the most inhospitable places on earth- Death Valley. At the time it was unheard of for anyone to go to the Mojave Desert for a vacation let alone two cosmopolitan women.  The White H...

The Roamers dive into the book Sprinting Through No Man's Land by Adin Dobkin who painstakingly chronicled the journey of the 1919 Tour de France cyclists many of whom had recently completed service in World War I. The ink on the Treaty at Versailles had barely dried when the riders took off on a route around the country's border. Most of the competitors lacked the fitness, resources, and toleranc...

The Roamers discuss Cheryl Strayed's book Wild which was adapted into the film of the same name staring Reese Witherspoon. In 1995 Strayed set out on the Pacific Crest Trail to traverse 1,100 miles of the California and Oregon wilderness on foot while escaping the life she left behind. Prior to embarking on her hike Strayed was stricken with suffering and grief after the death of her mother and th...

Christine and Kyle read Lost in the Jungle by Yossi Ghinsberg which chronicles the time that Ghinsberg........got lost in the jungle. In 1981 he and three other backpackers tromped into the Amazon jungle of Bolivia hoping to make contact with a legendary indigenous village and strike it rich by finding a mother lode of gold. They were armed with a shot gun, machete and the hubris of youth, but thi...

The book club revisits Jedediah Jenkins book, To Shake the Sleeping Self by talking to some long distance cyclists about what they're experiences on the road and what they've learned from being on the bike.

For two years in the 1950's Edward Abbey worked as a park ranger in Arches National Park (then monument) spending most of his time alone, contemplating the desert environment, humans relationship to nature, and conspiracy theories! After it was published in 1968 Desert Solitaire became an influential piece of literature for the contemporary environmental movement of the 1970's. Christine and Kyle...

As a follow up to Running the Amazon by Joe Kane, Christine interviewed her younger brother Seth Peterson who is a high skilled whitewater rafting and kyaking guide in the Pacific Northwest.  Check out Seth saving the day here: 

In 1986 a ragtag team of twelve explorers attempted to kayak the Amazon from source to sea. Their journey began 16,000 feet up in the Peruvian Andes and ended 4,200 miles away at the Atlantic Ocean. They faced death at every turn, running class 5+ rapids, grappling with drug runners, negotiating with guerrilla armies, and overcoming a mutiny.  For the author Joe Kane the trip was transformative. "...

Throughout her teens and twenties Blair Braverman proved to herself that she could survive some of the coldest environments in the world while learning to drive sled dogs. Norway continuously beckoned and she made a second home in a tiny village north of the Arctic Circle ingratiating herself with the locals. Christine and Kyle discuss what it was like for a young woman in male dominated circumsta...

Would you quit your dream job for an epic bike ride? Does travel result in life changing epiphanies? What impact do your parents have on who you become as an adult? The Roamers discuss Jedidiah Jenkins's sixteen month cycling trip from Oregon to Patagonia and answer every last question about religion, sexuality, and the simple beauty of cycling.

In Travels with Charley John Steinbeck wrote, " Once you are in Texas it seems to take forever to get out and some people never make it. " Our Texas correspondent, MK Paulsen made it out, but will always be a Texan at heart and was kind enough to share his thoughts on the Lone Star State.

How does the current state of America compare to that of the 1960's? Has progress been made? Are cities doomed to fail? What great adventure is on your bucket list? Christine and Kyle attempt to answer these questions and more as they dive into John Steinbeck's book Travels with Charley: In Search of America .  ROAD TRIP! In 1960 John Steinbeck embraced van life hitting the open road in a camper-t...

This month the Roamers Book Club read Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman's Firsthand Account of WWII.  It is the remarkable story of Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr.--one of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen, African-American pilots and airmen that trained in Tuskegee, Alabama. From a young age Harry fantasized about flight and his story raises the question - To what lengths would you g...

We received a passionate opinion from a loyal Roamers member about Robyn Davidson's Tracks and we learned more about camels! Next week we'll be releasing our third episode which covers Peter Matthiessen's Snow Leopard. Call in to be featured on the show.

"The most difficult part of any endeavor is taking the first step, making the first decision." We discuss Tracks by Robyn Davidson and her empowering 273-day, 1700-mile trek across the western Australian desert with four camels and a dog. Why she did it, what total solitude in the desert (without screens) would be like, why people care so much about names, and how exciting it is to get to know pla...

This episode of Roamers covers Kon Tiki which was a 1947 expedition where the author, Thor Heyerdahl and five others set out on an adventure as they sailed on a log raft from Peru to the Polynesian islands. When it was first published Kon Tiki was a best seller and footage from the expedition was used for a film that won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 1951. Book club participants featured in th...

Mini-adventurers, Christine and Kyle, introduce The Roamers Book Club. Join the club and read the first adventure book, Kon-Tiki by Norwegian explorer and writer, Thor Heyerdahl. The Kon-Tiki expedition was a 1947 harebrained journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to the Polynesian islands.