Travels With A Road Dog: Hitchhiking Along The Roads of The Americas

Travels With A Road Dog is a non-fiction, coming of age travel memoir that will take you on a hitchhiking adventure from the comfort of your reading chair.

Or maybe even inspire you to "hit the road" and create your own journey to trace out on a map!

Routes taken while hitchhiking in the U.S.

Woman's Hitchhiking Adventure

It was early summer 1993, near the end of June. I packed all I needed into a small shoulder bag, left a note on my boyfriend's pillow, and headed out onto the open road. 

I was twenty years old and my childhood dreams of traveling were about to be realized. For years, this feeling had been gnawing at my soul and I didn't know it was wanderlust until that day when I walked out the front door.

Love Affair with the Open Road

With little to no money, my thumb took me around North America- from the dangerous streets of East Hollywood Blvd to a little known beach on Canada's Vancouver Island and the warmer climes of Key West, Florida. Along the way, I picked up a three month old Lab/Shepherd mix puppy, named Jambalaya (spoiler alert: he lives to be twelve years old).

I was well suited for the road, hence the nickname "Road Dog" given to me by the old, grizzled hitchhikers I met along the way.

The freedom of living underneath an open sky and going wherever I wanted. With only a cooking pot, blanket, tarp, rope, and some matches, it was a grand adventure.

Non-fiction Adventure Stories

During the mid-1990's when U.S. tourists were warned to stay away from Mexico, I entered Mexico illegally with a companion and we hitchhiked down the Mexican East coast across Chiapas and up the West coast where we had a run in with a Mexican cartel.

My travel adventure continued when I caught a ride to the Bahamas on a sailboat with no engine, where I was deported from a couple months later. I then flew to Venezuela where I spent almost five months hitchhiking while experiencing student riots and barely escaped the anger of a madwoman.

A Unique Travel Memoir

Travels With A Road Dog are the true stories of how I discovered myself and my place in the world through my 4 year love affair with the open road.

Hitchhiking is an unconventional way to travel, and even more rare to find such a journey that can be told from the perspective of a woman.