Humorous travel memoir expands horizons to more parts of U.S., Canada, Mexico
New version of Mad, Mad Trip includes best value vacation destinations for 2024, many more attractions, lists of trivia, and tips
A humorous travel memoir about the longest two-week United States cross-country road trip in history has expanded its horizons to include the best value vacation destinations for 2024, attractions in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico, and more fairly obscure trivia and tips.
So now you can discuss matters like crime rates in big cities, the highest mountains, tallest trees, deepest lakes, most popular beaches, threatening volcanoes, and dangerous parks in North America while driving in your vehicles and trying to figure out what to say that won’t trigger an argument.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Trip: On the Road of the Longest Two-Week Family Road Trip in History has been expanded to 262 pages from 160 a decade ago. An enlarged Amazon Kindle edition is also being released in time for the 2024 summer road trip season. It’s on sale for 99 cents starting April 14.
The single dad who took his 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter on a wild, 6,950-mile odyssey across the United States and back in just 17 days is still taking them on long trips. That included a 4,867-mile journey in 17 days through the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, and California coast in 2022.
“We really had a blast at Mount St. Helens,” said Preston Shay, a graduate of West Virginia University who works as a youth counselor and football coach. “We looked for Bigfoot but only found my dad, who does have big feet.”
McKenna Shay, a graduate of the University of Maryland working on a master’s degree in library sciences, still declines to comment.
Some new parts in this version include:
* Listings of attractions in every U.S. state and some in Canada and Mexico. U.S. states are arranged in order of when they were admitted or ratified. This travel book is the only one that arranges states this way, which lends some history and trivia at the same time as basic info.
* Many more lists of trivia, including the highest and lowest crime in bigger cities, the highest and lowest-priced travel destinations for 2024, the tallest buildings and mountains in North America, the most dangerous national parks, the deadliest earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters, and the highest grossing movies.
* Many more tips, such as stopping at public libraries to rest and give kids a local view of a town or city, best places to rest if driving at night, and how to locate the nicer neighborhoods of a city that you haven’t visited.
* New places visited in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Canada, and elsewhere.
* Updates on key places and trends. Noah’s Ark, a 70-acre water park in Wisconsin Dells that stopped reporting attendance figures after 666,000 visitors entered the park in 2012, still hasn’t reported attendance figures after that devilish number arose. And the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D., still offers free admission and parking.
While the U.S. may not have the most populous city in North America, it does have the eight most visited cities, the five most popular museums, 12 most visited theme parks, two most popular water parks, and highest mountain on the continent.
Canada has the tallest building in North America, the highest observation deck, largest casino, deepest lake, and largest lake. Well, it shares boundaries with the U.S. for the latter. Mexico also has the most visited beach, highest bridge, and the two cities with the highest murder rates.
The 2024 print book retails for $14.95, while the ebook price is $3.99.
If interested in details of some of the longest road trips, such as a more than 460,000-mile worldwide journey by a Swiss couple, check out this trivia list.
