'A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow': An American Hitchhiking Odyssey

by Tim Brookes

A noted cultural critic and NPR essayist offers a lively and provocative account of his hitchhiking odyssey across the United States, documenting his experiences along the way and reexamining America's onetime love affair with the road trip. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Humor, Adventure, Essays, Memoir

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

I was born in England to parents who were poor, honest, and loved nothing more than going for long walks, preferably in the rain. My education consisted of being forced to take written exams every five or six weeks, and eat school lunches of liver and onions-until I got to Oxford, where we had written exams every eight weeks and had lunches of pickled onions and Guinness.
This was quite enough to make me flee the country and seek gainful employment in Vermont, where I have lived for 24 years, writing a great deal, playing the guitar, carving endangered alphabets, and trying to grow good raspberries.

Reviews

[Khanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow: An American Hitchhiking Odyssey is both a travelogue and a portrait of the human encounters that shape one man's journey. Tim Brookes recounts his experiences hitchhiking across the country, meeting strangers who offer rides, stories, and sometimes challenges. What emerges is not only a chronicle of miles covered but also an exploration of trust, risk, and the odd assortment of people one finds on the open road. His humor, subtle and understated, lightens the narrative while allowing moments of reflection to come through.

I do not know that I have any profound thoughts to offer on this book. I have never hitchhiked anywhere myself, and I doubt I would ever be brave enough to attempt it. For that reason, I found myself reading more as an observer than as someone who could deeply relate. Still, Brooks's encounters were fascinating, and his willingness to place himself at the mercy of strangers struck me as both courageous and vulnerable. Not all of the people he met were kind, but many were, and that trust in humanity gives the book a certain quiet strength.

My own cross-country travels have always been by bus, train, or airplane, rather than by thumb, so my perspective is very different. Yet I appreciated Brooks's stories, his subtle humor, and his observations of life on the road. This was not a journey I could imagine undertaking myself, but it was an interesting one to follow through his eyes.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

For an aging hitch-hiker this is a must read.

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sat on my shelf for 16 years. Didn't age well.

[Travelling Cari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copied from my BookCrossing review:
http://bookcrossing.com/journal/1401364

Although my interest petered out by the end, I found it to be a good and quick read. Brookes gets compared to Bryson and while that comparison usually makes me think of the polar opposite of Bryson, this wasn't as drastic. I still didn't think he was anywhere near as funny as Bryson.

I love that his original trip to the US was via BUNAC, who I travelled to Australia with.

"The vagabond when rich is called a tourist" was a sign he saw in a restaurant in Hubbard, Ohio and I have to say I agree. And non travellers don't always get it either. Rarely get it even. I like the stories of the people he ran into throughout his trips--from the man who changed his offer from a plane ticket, to a loan for a ticket to $ while hitchiking to people who 'don't pick up hitchers' doing just that.

I too want to know more about the places he saw, and I'd love to have seen more photos. In all, it was a nice follow up to One for the Road about a man who hitchhiked Australia. Not sure where the book will end up after its trip to Mexico.

[Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is the state of hitchhiking today? Tim Brookes, a Brit who made a journey across the USA in the 1970s as a college student, takes another go at it and captures his new journey in writing. He tells us about the good, the bad, and the weird. He tells us about places and people and even encounters a celebrity or two. He revisits friendships from the past and reflects on the changes that time brings.

I found this book to be interesting, thoughtful, and entertaining for the most part. Tim doesn't really linger too long in any one place, so some chapters move along far too quickly. Just like a real hitchhiking journey, this book doesn't always offer thrills, but you never know what to expect on the next interstate (or the next chapter).

[Sandy D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love travel books, and this was a good one. The author is an English college professor who lives in Vermont, who decided to re-do his youthful 1973 hitchhiking journey across America in 1999.

He absolutely hated Detroit and its outskirts: "a sight from hell, from a Hieronymus Bosch painting, but a modern Bosch, with no hellish, contorted people, just hellish contorted objects: refinery piping, tanks, high-tension wires. The air was hot and fetid; it smelled like a fume hood....The on-ramp to I-75 was one of the nastiest palces I've hitched in my life. The roadside was littered with bits of fiberglass, a steel flotsam and jetsam of car parts, a syringe, and a plastic tampon applicator. People in huge American cars stared at me as if I were a hunchback."

[HeavyReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book from a free pile and didn't pick it up to read for about three months. What a great surprise! I ended up REALLY enjoying it.

The author, Tim Brookes, grew up in Great Britain. In the 1970s, when he was in his early 20s, he got a cheap ticket to NYC, and ended up hitchhiking across the United States. Twenty-five years later, he decides to retrace his hitchhiking route. He has more resources this time and can easily rent a car or buy a bus ticket when he needs to, but he hasn't lost his interest in people or his love for and wonder at the U.S.

Brookes has great faith in humanity, and it shines through nearly every page of this tale of an epic travel journey.

[Lester · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the worst, but nowhere near the best travel book I have read about the US. The author sets off on a hitchhike across the US, but disappointingly also takes the bus a lot, as well as lifts from his photographer. There is a lot of small-town America that he comes across, but not any more so than Bill Bryson finds travelling by car. Most infuriatingly, he keeps talking about the fabulous photos that the accompanying photographer took, but all we get in the book are about 10 average photos. I gave up halfway.

[Abbey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave up before finishing. I was hoping for a memoir and an interesting travel book - I really got neither. The current travel was partially taken by hitchhiking, but, more often by bus or in his photographer's car, and the interactions with people along the way were superficial. Mr. Brookes does seem to have a few passions, most notably for music, and the few passages concerning it are among the best in the book. He CAN write - now he just seems to need something to write about.

[Laurie Stoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a true story of a man who hitch-hiked across America as a young man.. The author recreates his journey around 30 years later. Hoping to find some of the people that touched his life the first time around. He successfully meets a few.

I was expecting this to be much more interesting than it was. Also, I felt that he cheated a great deal on his second trip. Using buses, trains, and a photographer that traveled by car which he could call whenever he needed to.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for traveler stories, whether they be hitchhiking, train riding, sailing...whatever. This author hitched across America in the 1970s and in this book, revisited some of the people and places while discovering new ones. I wish it included more of the photos that his National Geographic photographer sidekick took on the trek, but it was still a satisfactory read. At the end, though, I was ready for it to finish, just like the author was ready for his journey to end.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read...but I found it hard to relate as I don't believe as a woman I'd be assured of the same experiences if I tried to hitchhike across the US. But it seems to speak of an era (ie 1960's) where hitchhiking was a more accepted activity even though the author attempts throughout the novel to insist that this is still alive and kicking in present day.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely a 3.5. It was really fun to read, and an easy and pondering read at that. Brookes has some great insights into both the American landscape as well as into the "art" of hitchhiking. Considering his timeline lines up with the particular time of year we're in now, it was a nice summer escape with lots of funny, inspired observations. A really great summer book.

[Jod · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing about this memoir about travel and hitchhiking is the author's central premise that the best way to travel is to make yourself as vulnerable as possible and then wait for people and fate to treat you kindly. He shares a number of anecdotes where this rather miraculously happens on the road.

[Sally Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not great! The author was comparing a hitchhiking adventure from 1973 to a 1998 trip across the USA. From a single 20 year old to a married 45 year old with a photographer driving the route and available at any time. Well written but I wasn't convinced that it was a fair comparison considering the different eras.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing and tedious at times. I chose this travelogue because of the year 1973, when I graduated from high school. Yes the times were very different then. I did some hitchhiking myself back then, but mostly out of necessity. Its a risky practice, not to be entered into lightly. There's no place like home.

[Nitrorockets · Rating 5 out of 5]

For humor, photos and perspective, this is a good fun read. I recommend this to read if you are interested in people and parts of America you would never see. There are some illuminating pictures of very unusual places, which I found to help visualize some of the sites he sees.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting take on the idea that we can have is "the now"... nostalgia and memory will fail us so better to take each experience as it comes
Still I could never hitchhike so experiencing it this way was fun no harm came to him, etc...

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but expected it to be better. More about the adventure and less about his getting along on the road.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow: An American Hitchhiking Odyssey by Tim Brooks (National Geographic 2001)(917.3). The author hitchhikes across the US and lives to write about it. The focus of the book is on "The Great American Road Trip." My rating: 7/10, finished 2004.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, funny, thought-provoking, and often counterintuitive and encouraging. I thoroughly enjoyed this author's memoirs about hitchhiking around the US and the people and places he found.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the title! The author hitchhiked across the US in the sixties and comes back to do it again.

[Ronnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by a local author, talking about a cross country hitch hiking trip. Awesome to see his views, the people he meets, and to know he writes in my hometown paper, and for NPR.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brookes recreates his hitchhiking
adventures from the early 1970's
as he attempts to hitchhike across
America. Recommended.

[Kendra Haggerty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny at interesting at times. Often slow and plodding.

[Sheryl Osgood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the author's journey but I wished to see more photos that the National Geographic photographer took.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it years ago and still sticks with me. Adventuresome and it solved the mysterious as to why Americans think hitchhiking is crazy dangerous.