RoadTrip
America is the joint effort of editors, book reviewers,
contributing writers, forum moderators, information
technologists, Web designers, photographers, and hundreds
of knowledgeable road trippers who share their discoveries,
concerns, and dreams about roadtripping in North America.
In the months ahead, we'll be adding new planning tools
and articles about getting out there. For
a list of articles by contributing writers, click
here.
Mark
C. Sedenquist took his first
solo road trip (a 10,000-mile, two-week,
cross-country cruise in a Fiat 128)
shortly after graduating from high school
and is an ardent supporter of the "mosey
style" of road tripping. Founder,
publisher, and managing editor of RoadTrip
America, Mark has never passed a back
road country lane or a dirt road without
wanting to follow it to the horizon.
These days, his adventures are often
virtual, gained through participation
in the Great
American RoadTrip Forum, the remarkably
creative and knowledgeable community
that shares tips, suggestions, and road
trip tales with newbies and old hands.
Megan
Edwards is founder, editor,
designer, writer, and book reviewer
for RoadTrip America. RTA's "idea
person," she's always on the lookout
for new ways to enhance the site and
better serve the road tripping community.
Her incurable case of wanderlust may
have been inherited from her forebears
who came west on the Oregon Trail, or
maybe from her parents who often took
her on roads less traveled. Megan chronicled
RoadTrip America's unlikely beginning
in a Southern California wildfire in
Roads from
the Ashes. Also a novelist,
Megan writes features
about life in Las Vegas, Nevada,
her current hometown.
Del
Albright is an internationally published
columnist who has been exploring and writing about
off-highway destinations for over 20 years. He
is an advocate for sensible management of public
lands and works tirelessly to ensure access for
motorized recreational users through his work
with the BlueRibbon
Coalition. His articles have appeared in magazines,
newspapers and off-highway enthusiast periodicals.
Del shares advice for properly equipping road
trip vehicles and insider tips about little-known
off-road destinations. If you have any questions
about off-highway adventuring, Del may be reached
here.
Mike
Booth
keeps his mobile office/home, a 2001 Freightliner
Classic XL, on the road at least 28 days a month.
We met "Moon Rider" in an ice storm
in the Texas panhandle in November, 1999, when
the Phoenix One
was marooned with more than 200 eighteen-wheelers
one frigid night. Since then, Mike has shared
his knowledge of the trucking industry and the
technology he uses to stay connected and run a
business on a roll with RoadTrip America. When
he's not on the road, Mike calls Chesterfield,
Virginia, home.
Matthew
Brennesholtz of Pleasantville, New York, is
RoadTrip America's New York guide. Pictured here
aboard a vintage subway car in Brooklyn's Transit
Museum, Matt has guided RTA on a number of
trips, including a subway ride to Brighton
Beach & a boat
trip around Manhattan.
Joel
Briggs is an avid part-time archaeologist
who has turned soil at the Lost City of Caral
in Peru, ventured deep into the Sahara Desert
to find lost ruins, and is currently surveying
and documenting many Native American prehistoric
trails that wind through California's deserts.
He is a regular tour guide for the Coso Petroglyphs
located within the China Lake Naval Weapons Center.
On any given weekend, you can find Joel in his
FJ40 Land Cruiser, exploring Death Valley, Baja
California or somewhere else he can learn about
hard rock mining. Joel was the inspiration for
an RTA roadtrip to
the former mining camp at Skidoo in Death Valley.
Joel is currently pursuing a master's degree in
Archaeology.
George
Bruzenak, after a 35-year career in computer
engineering and weekend camping, hit the road
full-time in a fifth-wheel trailer in 2002. He
has now been on the road for over four years,
collecting gadgets and staying connected via satellite
WiFi and HAM radio. His hobbies include fishing,
hiking, photography, and amateur astronomy.
Judy
Carter, a resident of Hoquiam, Washington,
and pictured here in her roadtrip car "Bilbo,"
longs for the day when she can start a moseying
road trip with no end date and no firm destination.
Until that time arrives, she takes frequent daytrips
around Oregon and Washington and is an accomplished
contributor to and Moderator on the RoadTrip Forum.
Judy's posts are treasure troves of information
about exploring
the northwest, outfitting
a roadtrip vehicle, and in "The
Art of the Speed Run," she provides tips
for driving safely when you're in a hurry. Judy's
wanderlust has led to trips to Roswell,
New Mexico, the southwest, and parts of the
midwest in the company of fellow VW Beetle owners.
If your roadtrip plans include travel in the Pacific
Northwest, get
in touch with Judy.
Lynne
Christen is a travel addict and freelance
writer and photographer specializing in travel,
food and wine. Her passion for travel began as
a flight attendant with Eastern Air Lines for
over 22 years. Through her airline years and as
a present day leisure traveler, Lynne has traveled
to 47 countries, throughout the U.S. and on 22
cruises in recent years. She is author of Travel
Wisdom - Tips, Tools, and Tactics for All Travelers,
101 Cruise Tips and 101 Vacation Rental
Tips.
Born
in Cincinnati, Michael H. Dickman has also
lived in California, New Hampshire, the Washington,
DC area, and Bremen, Germany. Currently residing
in Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael's interests include
games and puzzles, computer programming, science,
cooking, and ceramics.
Tamara
Dwyer's love of travel started with a roadtrip
from Washington State to Tennessee at the age
of three. She has lived in and traveled through
most of the US. Texas is her adopted home state,
where she designs computer software by day and
enjoys Austin's live music and great food by night.
Chris
Epting is an accomplished roadtripper, cultural
historian, and the author of nine books featuring
roadside attractions. He is a regular contributor
to a variety of travel publications and the spokesperson
and co-creator for the Hampton Inn's "Hidden
Landmarks" program. Originally from New
York, Chris now lives in Huntington Beach, California,
with his wife Jean and their two children. Chris
has written about baseball and rock'n roll icons
for RoadTrip America.
Mark
Helmlinger is a Northrop Grumman planetary
sciences engineer who builds radiometric sensing
equipment and is usually found testing it in some
of the most remote places on earth. His field
work allows him to pursue his interest in geo-caching,
and he provides RTA with expert tips about RV
boondocking in off-the-beaten-path places all
over North America. He also contributes funny
roads signs (like
this one from Massachusetts) to RTA, and he's
an incredible source of information about GPS,
satellite communication systems, and exploring
desert playas. Mark can be reached here.
Mark
Holloway of Anniston, Alabama, has guided
RTA to Leadfield
and other ghost towns & little known destinations
in and around Death Valley. Mark and his wife
Freda own the popular Web site www.KittyMother.com.
Currently, Mark is working for the Defense Logistics
Agency at the Anniston Army Depot, which builds
and supports the U.S. Army's tank program.
Craig
Howie has covered motor shows as far north
as the Shetland Isles and safely negotiated the
world's most dangerous road in Bolivia (though
he thinks California's 405 Freeway shades it as
world's craziest). His writing has been published
on the home pages of CNN.com, AOL.com, LAsplash.com
and in the national newspaper of his home country,
The Scotsman. Currently, he works as a
home-page producer at the Los Angeles Times,
and lives with his wife and dog in Long Beach,
Calif. Likes: vineyard trips. Dislikes: misplacing
things.
Jillian
Imilkowski is a fearless
roadtripper and photographer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In her wanderings, she has immortalized roadside
wonders and funny signs in California,
Wisconsin, and
Florida. She works
for a wine distributor and spends most of her
work days on a roll throughout southern Wisconsin.
If your roadtrip plans call for local intel in
the Milwaukee area, Jillian can be reached here.
Sylvia
"Syv" Johnston is "hooked on
travel". Born and raised on a farm in Ontario,
Canada, she attended university in South Carolina.
Sylvia is a licensed insurance adjuster who also
works part-time in police communications. Adventures
include bus tours of Europe and Great Britain,
and solo driving trips across Ireland, Canada
and the USA, usually sleeping in the car. "Half
the fun of travel is the months of fine-tuning
to plan itineraries in meticulous detail,"
she says. Syv is a "RoadTrip Advisor"
on the Great
American RoadTrip Forum.
Dr.
Bruce Jones of Pasadena, California, pictured
here capturing wildflowers on film in California's
Antelope Valley, is RTA's train expert. Click
here for a day of train watching in the Tehachapi
Range, where freight trains circle the world-famous
"Loop" to pull the grade over the mountains.
David
Kirby of San Mateo, California, has directed
RTA to a number of great destinations in Northern
California, such as the Jelly
Belly jelly bean factory in Fairfield. He's
pictured here listening to ocean music at the
Wave Organ in
San Francisco.
Lea
Lane is founder/editor of the lifestyle Web
site SoloLady.com
and author of "Solo
Traveler: Takes and Tips for Great Trips."
She is an award-winning writer and communicator,
hosts a TV travel show in the New York City area,
and writes for magazines, newspapers and Web sites.
She wrote a column called "Going It Alone,"
for Gannett newspapers and was managing editor
of "Travel Smart" newsletter. She is
a frequent, featured blogger for The
Huffington Post.
An
expert solo road tripper, Geneviève
Lauzière is an ex-lawyer and ex-professional
truck driver. Gen is on a roll much of the year,
spending fall and winter in Quebec City, spring
in Phoenix, Arizona and summers in the Eastern
Townships of Quebec. She is a jazz aficionado
and likes to tour alternative clubs when traveling
around North America. Gen is always on the lookout
for funny
road signs. A frequent contributor to the
Great
American RoadTrip Forum, Gen files field reports
from locations as diverse as northern Quebec,
Key West and the desert regions of the southwestern
United States.
Breckenridge
tour guide Lisa Marie Mercer is the author
of Open Your Heart with Winter Fitness,
the owner of Mountain Sport Pilates and the key
blogger for Flyaway-Weblog.com. Her novel, Reflections
in the Snow, is under contract with Calderwood
Books, and is set in the locations featured in
this
road trip. Read
more of her articles.
John
Mormon is a retired teacher from Henderson,
Nevada, who has taught subjects ranging from math
and history to landscape design and horticulture
to students from Head Start to college level.
A WW II Marine veteran and survivor of Iwo Jima,
John's keen wit and sense of humor has transformed
his recent severe loss of vision into an asset.
He has gone from "avid reader to impassioned
listener" as a reviewer of audio
books for RoadTrip America. John may be reached
here.
Ruth
Mormon of Henderson, Nevada, is a librarian
and experienced world traveler who listens to
audiobooks on her daily 55-mile roadtrip (commute).
She has served as advisor for several reference
works including Grzimek's Student Animal Life
Encyclopedia, Chemical Compounds,
and Major 21st Century Writers. An avid
roadtripper, Ruth enjoys spotting funny signs
(like this one in Las
Vegas and this
one in Buffalo). She also contributes resources
for scenic drives
and reviews audiobooks.
Ruth can be reached here.
Olivia
Neri was bitten by the travel bug after getting
her first passport at 8 years old, and to date
has visited 45 countries on 6 continents. While
earning a B.A. in Journalism and a Minor in Creative
Writing from Pepperdine University in Malibu,
she was spoiled with daily drives along Pacific
Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon. One of her favorite
road trips is Vegas! She has been published in
magazines, newspapers and Web sites in several
countries. A native Californian, she has lived
in Costa Rica and currently calls the Netherlands
home.
Rod
and Judy Ness of Hermantown, Minnesota, are
intrepid roadtrippers and primary contributors
to RTA's Roadside
Marvels and Roadside
Murals departments. Pictured
here at the source of the Mississippi River, they
can be found prowling the back roads of Minnesota,
Michigan, Wiconsin, and Ontario in their "40th
Anniversary" 1993 Corvette.
Troy
Paiva is a commercial artist living in the San
Francisco Bay Area. For his entire adult life
he has been an abandonment explorer and back-roads
wanderer, especially at night. Sneaking around
in junkyards and dead roadside towns in the middle
of the night, he was doing urban exploration years
before the term even existed. Troy is the author
of the critically-acclaimed Lost
America which features over 145 color
and black-and-white photographs. On April 27th,
2007, Troy launched a new version of his Lost
America Web site with hundreds of evocative
photos from around the west.
Aaron
Reed is a native Texan and works as a news
writer for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department,
based in Austin. An avid outdoorsmen and roadtripper,
he has written for Texas Fish & Game magazine
(where he was boating editor), Texas Parks
and Wildlife magazine, Texas Outdoors Journal,
Gulf Coast Connections, Lone Star Outdoor
News, Good Old Boat magazine and scores
of other publications. He is currently the paddlesports
editor for Texas
Sporting Journal and is hard at work on
"Paddling Texas", forthcoming from Falcon Guides
in 2008.
"I
live for road trips" could be Bob Schaller's
mantra. His love for exploring began at the age
of three when he explored his neighborhood by
tricycle. Following a stint in the US military,
Bob was a long-haul truck driver, a commercial
pilot, an industrial supply salesman, a college
student, and a civil servant working in Arizona's
judicial branch for thirteen years. A recognized
expert in Arizona traffic law, Bob teaches defensive
driving classes all over the state and is author
of the online defensive driving manual Drive
Safe with Uncle Bob. His wanderlust remains
as hearty as ever, and when he isn't wandering
the West on "the Yellow Streak",
he is an occasional contributor to the Great American
RoadTrip Forum.
Dan
Sedenquist's gorgeous photography often illustrates
the featured Forum posts on the home page of RoadTrip
America. Dan is an expert roadtripper and has
traveled extensively in Alaska, the south and
throughout the West in conjunction with his professional
background in geology and mineralogy. These days,
Dan is a real estate broker in Santa Cruz, California.
To view more of his gorgeous photography around
Monterey Bay, click
here. In addition to providing real estate
services, this Web site is an excellent resource
for recreational and homeowner information in
the area. Dan can be reached here.
Suzanne
and Craig Sheumaker, a husband-and-wife team
from California, have a long history of exploring
and discovering. While searching out scenic locations
for Craig's stock photography business, the Sheumakers
became intrigued by the many historical places
that bring America's past to life and make history
meaningful in today's world. They picked their
favorite pre-1845 destinations to showcase in
their specialty traveler's guide, America's
Living History - The Early Years. Craig
is also a RoadTrip Advisor on RTA's Great American
RoadTrip Forum.
Craig
Smith's passion is sailing his 27-foot Aloha
271 on Lake Ontario, but he has also found
time to field test some of the software
and gear reviewed in RTA's Dashboarding department,
hike to the top of the Kelso
Dunes in the Mojave Desert Preserve, capture
some outstanding photos
of Las Vegas, Nevada, and even immortalize
a funny sign or
two. If you want some local Toronto road tripping
intel, Craig is your man -- reach him here.
Garry
Sowerby, holder of four world driving records
and author of Sowerby's Road has been pushing the
envelope of road trip adventure for the last twenty-five
years. Garry is our go-to-guy for resources and
suggestions for taking road trips in the Nova
Scotia and Maritimes provinces.
Anne
Sponholtz has traveled the eastern coastline
from Key West to Canada and west to the Mississippi
River. She and her husband are former tent campers
who have discovered the fun of RVing. They set
off in their RV almost weekly, taking road trips
through Florida and Georgia. And even when on
the road, Anne writes her weekly column for the
Florida Times-Union's "My Clay Sun"
section, coming home to cover news stories and
features for the newspaper. Yet she always remains
anxious to set out on the next road trip in hopes
of discovering a new adventure to share. On the
road or at home, Anne can be reached here.
Robert
Spurlock of
Boulder City, Nevada, is an expert on petroglyphs
and native American archaeological sites. He has
guided RTA to little known destinations in the
mountains around Las Vegas, including Grapevine
Canyon. Also an avid handcar racer, Robert
invited RTA to the
Rattlin' Rails International Short Course Handcar
Championship!
James
Teitelbaum has been writing about nightlife, pop
culture, film and travel for 15 years. His 2003
book Tiki Road Trip has been rewritten
and remixed into a new, updated, expanded and
more Tikified second
edition. His newest research project is a
search for the best places to find great cocktails.
You can follow along with his cultural research
efforts online
here. James also works professionally in the
music business, teaches music technology, and
is interested in photography and anything 1930s-1950s.
Forty-eight
weeks a year, England-based writer Peter Thody
finds different ways to say essentially the same
thing again and again about IT-based consumer
goods. This pays for the trips to America where
he and wife Carole indulge their love for exploring
"the bits in between," risking cheap
motels and making friends in the type of bars
their daughters would be horrified to know they
were visiting. More of Peter's evocative prose
and extraordinary photographs are online
here. Peter may be reached here.
Gerald
D. Thurman's motto is "Learn It, Do It,
Teach It." A resident of Tempe, Arizona,
Gerald is a Computer Science Instructor at Scottsdale
Community College who blends his knowledge of
computer programming with a passion for roadtrip
adventure. Gerald has a keen eye for detail and
the ability to bring his roadtrips to life in
his field
reports. Two examples of his photographic
acumen can be found in the Rice
Shoe Tree and the Krazy
Greek articles. One of his many pursuits is
a personal
crusade to eliminate litter wherever possible.
Gerald can be reached here.
Dennis
Weaver -- having burnt food from Miami, Florida
to Point Barrow, Alaska -- is RTA's road food
expert. He has logged thousands of hours on the
roads, trails, and waterways of America including
many of Alaska's wilderness rivers and has consistently
been elected the trips' "chief cook and bottle
washer." Dennis is currently general manager
at The
Prepared Pantry, a company in Rigby, Idaho,
that produces ready-to-eat meals and baking mixes
packaged in Mylar. Weatherproof, bug-proof, and
critter resistant, they're ideal for both roadtrips
and back woods camping. Dennis may be reached
here.
In his Road Food
articles, Dennis shares tips, advice, and recipes
to make good eats a part of every road trip experience.
Carol
White is an avid road tripper, author, speaker,
and book marketing coach. In addition to co-authoring
the best selling, award-winning book, Live
Your Road Trip Dream. Carol's writing
has appeared in such publications as Me* Magazine,
AAA Living, Perceptive Travel, Cyber-Sam
and more. She is frequently quoted as a travel
expert in such publications as Publisher's Weekly,
National Geographic Traveler, Real Simple and
Health. She and her husband Phil are national
spokespeople for RVIA, the RV Industry's association
that produces the "Go RVing" campaign.
When they aren't traveling, Phil and Carol are
at home in Wilsonville, Oregon where they enjoy
golf, yoga, community activities and most of all,
their eight (soon to be nine) grandchildren.
Gerry
Wingenbach is a long-time freelance journalist
currently based in Salt Lake City where he operates
a mountain/ski guiding company. Every year, he
spends part of the off-season teaching school
at a village in Indonesia. Gerry has traveled
in and reported on more than 80 countries and
is the author of three travel books.
Donald
Woodmancyof
Mesquite, Nevada, is an avid historian and is
especially interested in the Civil War, steam
trains, and gunfighters
of the Old West. Don has written about some
of his road trip adventures in Southern
California and Talkeetna,
Alaska.
Andrew
Youderian is the founder and manager of Right
Channel CB Radios, an online store specializing
in CB equipment for vehicles. Right Channel CB
Radios carries a large selection of CB radios
and antennas, and hosts a CB
Radio Resources Library, containing numerous
CB-related articles and guides. Youderian lives
in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has traveled extensively
throughout the American West. His most recent
excursion was a 10,000-mile, five-week road trip
across the United States.
Matthew
Brennesholtz of Pleasantville, New York, is
RoadTrip America's New York guide. Pictured here
aboard a vintage subway car in Brooklyn's 
Joel
Briggs is an avid part-time archaeologist
who has turned soil at the Lost City of Caral
in Peru, ventured deep into the Sahara Desert
to find lost ruins, and is currently surveying
and documenting many Native American prehistoric
trails that wind through California's deserts.
He is a regular tour guide for the Coso Petroglyphs
located within the China Lake Naval Weapons Center.
On any given weekend, you can find Joel in his
FJ40 Land Cruiser, exploring Death Valley, Baja
California or somewhere else he can learn about
hard rock mining. Joel was the inspiration for
an 
George
Bruzenak, after a 35-year career in computer
engineering and weekend camping, hit the road
full-time in a fifth-wheel trailer in 2002. He
has now been on the road for over four years,
collecting gadgets and staying connected via satellite
WiFi and HAM radio. His hobbies include fishing,
hiking, photography, and amateur astronomy.
Judy
Carter, a resident of Hoquiam, Washington,
and pictured here in her roadtrip car "Bilbo,"
longs for the day when she can start a moseying
road trip with no end date and no firm destination.
Until that time arrives, she takes frequent daytrips
around Oregon and Washington and is an accomplished
contributor to and Moderator on the RoadTrip Forum.
Judy's posts are treasure troves of information
about 
Lynne
Christen is a travel addict and freelance
writer and photographer specializing in travel,
food and wine. Her passion for travel began as
a flight attendant with Eastern Air Lines for
over 22 years. Through her airline years and as
a present day leisure traveler, Lynne has traveled
to 47 countries, throughout the U.S. and on 22
cruises in recent years. She is author of Travel
Wisdom - Tips, Tools, and Tactics for All Travelers,
101 Cruise Tips and 101 Vacation Rental
Tips.
Born
in Cincinnati, Michael H. Dickman has also
lived in California, New Hampshire, the Washington,
DC area, and Bremen, Germany. Currently residing
in Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael's interests include
games and puzzles, computer programming, science,
cooking, and ceramics.
Tamara
Dwyer's love of travel started with a roadtrip
from Washington State to Tennessee at the age
of three. She has lived in and traveled through
most of the US. Texas is her adopted home state,
where she designs computer software by day and
enjoys Austin's live music and great food by night.
Chris
Epting is an accomplished roadtripper, cultural
historian, and the author of nine books featuring
roadside attractions. He is a regular contributor
to a variety of travel publications and the spokesperson
and co-creator for the Hampton Inn's "
Mike
Fousie of Portland, Oregon, created the 
Jaimie
Hall-Bruzenak is an
experienced dashboarder and RV fulltimer who has
lived on the road since 1992. Jaimie is the author
of 
Mark
Helmlinger is a Northrop Grumman planetary
sciences engineer who builds radiometric sensing
equipment and is usually found testing it in some
of the most remote places on earth. His field
work allows him to pursue his interest in 
Craig
Howie has covered motor shows as far north
as the Shetland Isles and safely negotiated the
world's most dangerous road in Bolivia (though
he thinks California's 405 Freeway shades it as
world's craziest). His writing has been published
on the home pages of CNN.com, AOL.com, LAsplash.com
and in the national newspaper of his home country,
The Scotsman. Currently, he works as a
home-page producer at the Los Angeles Times,
and lives with his wife and dog in Long Beach,
Calif. Likes: vineyard trips. Dislikes: misplacing
things.
Jillian
Imilkowski is a fearless
roadtripper and photographer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In her wanderings, she has immortalized roadside
wonders and funny signs in 
Sylvia
"Syv" Johnston is "hooked on
travel". Born and raised on a farm in Ontario,
Canada, she attended university in South Carolina.
Sylvia is a licensed insurance adjuster who also
works part-time in police communications. Adventures
include bus tours of Europe and Great Britain,
and solo driving trips across Ireland, Canada
and the USA, usually sleeping in the car. "Half
the fun of travel is the months of fine-tuning
to plan itineraries in meticulous detail,"
she says. Syv is a "RoadTrip Advisor"
on the 
Dr.
Bruce Jones of Pasadena, California, pictured
here capturing wildflowers on film in California's
Antelope Valley, is RTA's train expert. 
David
Kirby of San Mateo, California, has directed
RTA to a number of great destinations in Northern
California, such as the 
Lea
Lane is founder/editor of the lifestyle Web
site 
An
expert solo road tripper, Geneviève
Lauzière is an ex-lawyer and ex-professional
truck driver. Gen is on a roll much of the year,
spending fall and winter in Quebec City, spring
in Phoenix, Arizona and summers in the Eastern
Townships of Quebec. She is a jazz aficionado
and likes to tour alternative clubs when traveling
around North America. Gen is always on the lookout
for 
Breckenridge
tour guide Lisa Marie Mercer is the author
of Open Your Heart with Winter Fitness,
the owner of Mountain Sport Pilates and the key
blogger for Flyaway-Weblog.com. Her novel, Reflections
in the Snow, is under contract with Calderwood
Books, and is set in the locations featured in
John
Mormon is a retired teacher from Henderson,
Nevada, who has taught subjects ranging from math
and history to landscape design and horticulture
to students from Head Start to college level.
A WW II Marine veteran and survivor of Iwo Jima,
John's keen wit and sense of humor has transformed
his recent severe loss of vision into an asset.
He has gone from "avid reader to impassioned
listener" as a reviewer of 
Ruth
Mormon of Henderson, Nevada, is a librarian
and experienced world traveler who listens to
audiobooks on her daily 55-mile roadtrip (commute).
She has served as advisor for several reference
works including Grzimek's Student Animal Life
Encyclopedia, Chemical Compounds,
and Major 21st Century Writers. An avid
roadtripper, Ruth enjoys spotting funny signs
(
Olivia
Neri was bitten by the travel bug after getting
her first passport at 8 years old, and to date
has visited 45 countries on 6 continents. While
earning a B.A. in Journalism and a Minor in Creative
Writing from Pepperdine University in Malibu,
she was spoiled with daily drives along Pacific
Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon. One of her favorite
road trips is Vegas! She has been published in
magazines, newspapers and Web sites in several
countries. A native Californian, she has lived
in Costa Rica and currently calls the Netherlands
home.
Rod
and Judy Ness of Hermantown, Minnesota, are
intrepid roadtrippers and primary contributors
to RTA's 
Pictured
here at the source of the Mississippi River, they
can be found prowling the back roads of Minnesota,
Michigan, Wiconsin, and Ontario in their "40th
Anniversary" 1993 Corvette.
Troy
Paiva is a commercial artist living in the San
Francisco Bay Area. For his entire adult life
he has been an abandonment explorer and back-roads
wanderer, especially at night. Sneaking around
in junkyards and dead roadside towns in the middle
of the night, he was doing urban exploration years
before the term even existed. Troy is the author
of the critically-acclaimed 
Aaron
Reed is a native Texan and works as a news
writer for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department,
based in Austin. An avid outdoorsmen and roadtripper,
he has written for Texas Fish & Game magazine
(where he was boating editor), Texas Parks
and Wildlife magazine, Texas Outdoors Journal,
Gulf Coast Connections, Lone Star Outdoor
News, Good Old Boat magazine and scores
of other publications. He is currently the paddlesports
editor for 
"I
live for road trips" could be Bob Schaller's
mantra. His love for exploring began at the age
of three when he explored his neighborhood by
tricycle. Following a stint in the US military,
Bob was a long-haul truck driver, a commercial
pilot, an industrial supply salesman, a college
student, and a civil servant working in Arizona's
judicial branch for thirteen years. A recognized
expert in Arizona traffic law, Bob teaches defensive
driving classes all over the state and is author
of the online defensive driving manual 
Craig
Smith's passion is sailing his 27-foot Aloha
271 on Lake Ontario, but he has also found
time to field test some of the 
Garry
Sowerby, holder of four world driving records
and author of 
Anne
Sponholtz has traveled the eastern coastline
from Key West to Canada and west to the Mississippi
River. She and her husband are former tent campers
who have discovered the fun of RVing. They set
off in their RV almost weekly, taking road trips
through Florida and Georgia. And even when on
the road, Anne writes her weekly column for the
Florida Times-Union's "My Clay Sun"
section, coming home to cover news stories and
features for the newspaper. Yet she always remains
anxious to set out on the next road trip in hopes
of discovering a new adventure to share. On the
road or at home, Anne can be reached 
Robert
Spurlock 
Forty-eight
weeks a year, England-based writer Peter Thody
finds different ways to say essentially the same
thing again and again about IT-based consumer
goods. This pays for the trips to America where
he and wife Carole indulge their love for exploring
"the bits in between," risking cheap
motels and making friends in the type of bars
their daughters would be horrified to know they
were visiting. More of Peter's evocative prose
and extraordinary photographs are 
Gerald
D. Thurman's motto is "Learn It, Do It,
Teach It." A resident of Tempe, Arizona,
Gerald is a Computer Science Instructor at Scottsdale
Community College who blends his knowledge of
computer programming with a passion for roadtrip
adventure. Gerald has a keen eye for detail and
the ability to bring his roadtrips to life in
his 
Dennis
Weaver -- having burnt food from Miami, Florida
to Point Barrow, Alaska -- is RTA's road food
expert. He has logged thousands of hours on the
roads, trails, and waterways of America including
many of Alaska's wilderness rivers and has consistently
been elected the trips' "chief cook and bottle
washer." Dennis is currently general manager
at 
Carol
White is an avid road tripper, author, speaker,
and book marketing coach. In addition to co-authoring
the best selling, award-winning book, 
Donald
Woodmancy
Andrew
Youderian is the founder and manager of 
Alice
Zyetz has been on the road for over a decade.
She writes an