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Roads: Driving America's Great Highways
As he crisscrosses America—driving in search of the present, the past, and himself—Larry McMurtry shares his fascination with this nation's great trails and the culture that has developed around them.Ever since he was a boy growing up in Texas only a mile from Highway 281, Larry McMurtry has felt the pull of the road. His town was thoroughly landlocked, making the highway his "river, its hidden reaches a mystery and an enticement. I began my life beside it and I want to drift down the entire length of it before I end this book." In Roads, McMurtry embarks on a cross-country trip where his route is also his destination. As he drives, McMurtry reminisces about the places he's seen, the people he's met, and the books he's read, including more than 3,000 books about travel. He explains why watching episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show might be the best way to find joie de vivre in Minnesota; the scenic differences between Route 35 and I-801; which vigilantes lived in Montana and which hailed from Idaho; and the histories of Lewis and Clark, Sitting Bull, and Custer that still haunt Route 2 today. As it makes its way from South Florida to North Dakota, from eastern Long Island to Oregon, Roads is travel writing at its best.
210 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 10, 2000
124 people are currently reading
939 people want to read
About the author
Larry McMurtry
150 books4,070 followersLarry Jeff McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas. His novels included Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry's works earned 34 Oscar nominations (13 wins). He was also a prominent book collector and bookseller.
His 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries that earned 18 Emmy Award nominations (seven wins). The subsequent three novels in his Lonesome Dove series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations. McMurtry and co-writer Diana Ossana adapted the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned eight Academy Award nominations with three wins, including McMurtry and Ossana for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.
In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry: "Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter. If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass. If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books. When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."
His 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries that earned 18 Emmy Award nominations (seven wins). The subsequent three novels in his Lonesome Dove series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations. McMurtry and co-writer Diana Ossana adapted the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned eight Academy Award nominations with three wins, including McMurtry and Ossana for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.
In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry: "Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter. If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass. If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books. When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."
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May 31, 2024
Last week I read an award winning biography of Larry McMurtry. I have noted patterns in my reading lately, how one book leads to another and the links I am finding between series of books that I read. At the beginning of the year I set out to make a dent in my personal tbr list, the one I have tabulated on a spreadsheet off of goodreads where I list master authors and their life’s opuses. Other than two books at over one thousand pages in length, I decided that this would be the year to read the best of the best authors, award winners. those highly regarded by their writing brethren. On the nonfiction side of things, a group of us are reading the work of David McCullough, spacing out his historical tomes throughout the year. After reading this new biography about McMurtry’s life, I knew that he would be the fiction writer that I would honor by reading a selection of his works. With school out and me craving every road trip book I can get my hands on, ironically, the first of McMurtry’s books that I chose to read this year is a slim nonfiction volume of essays about his life on America’s roads. With a title like this, how could I resist.
Larry McMurtry grew up with a view of US- 281, a road that starts just over the Canadian border and ends at the one with Mexico. As a kid he would assist his father on trips to horse yards, beginning a lifelong fascination with traveling the open road. As a student at Rice University in Houston, he drove either home to Archer City or to visit his fiancée in Denton most weekends, racking up miles on his odometer. Driving never bothered Larry McMurtry. He could drive six to eight hundred miles on a good day as his life necessitated him traveling from Texas to Los Angeles back to Tucson then Texas and sometimes to New York and then suburban Washington, D.C. and eventually arriving home in Texas. McMurtry descends from cowboys who rode the open range for miles at a time. He naturally felt at home on the open road. After undergoing open heart surgery, McMurtry lost a piece of him and did not write with as much frequency as earlier in his life. To jumpstart his writing life at the dawn of the 21st century, his agent suggested that he write a book of essays about his life traveling America’s highways. Although most known for his epic novels, McMurtry published a variety of nonfiction throughout his career. Roads would be an ode to his traveling life.
Those people looking for detailed descriptions of America’s towns and cities are not going to find them here. McMurtry’s aim was to write about roads. He felt most at home in Texas and the west where the sky spanned for miles, but he balanced this volume with trips in the eastern half of this country. He is not a fan of I-95, but few of us are. He finds most of I-75 boring, and, having traveled a large chunk of this road many times, I can’t blame him for that. His favorite parts of the east are the areas least traveled away from cities- Hiawatha National Forest in northern Michigan, a one time home of Ernest Hemingway, the lesser populated areas of Florida, and Hope, Arkansas, birthplace of President Clinton. A day would start off on a positive note if he could watch the sun rise over a river, and he thus timed his driving times accordingly. I grinned when traffic near Nashville prevented him from reaching Memphis on the same day, forcing him to rise early to reach the mighty Mississippi in time for the next day’s dawn. Being an easterner, I appreciated these descriptions of sections of the country that I know well. Other than coming close to Washington, a city McMurtry called home for nearly twenty years, he avoided eastern metropolises. McMurtry felt happiest west of the Mississippi and wrote the most about his travel in these sections of the country. As stunning as Key West is to some, McMurtry only gave the keys eight pages of print; he would rather be home.
McMurtry equates highway travel with 19th century river travel. The I-75 of truckers is the modern Mississippi thruway. Roads have replaced horse travel, steamboats, and trains. Although impersonal, the highway provides people with the most direct route between two points. Some Americans, myself included pine to travel the open roads and visit tourist sites both on and off of the beaten path. Having traveled some of these roads many times, McMurtry only meant to drive and enjoy the scenery from the driver’s seat. He has traveled I-10 too many times in his life to count and holds the most special place for US -281 right outside his home; however, his perfect road of the the entire country could end up being US-2, a road that starts in central Washington and skirts southeast through Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, taking the travelers through some of the most beautiful land they might ever see. The inspiration for the northern terminus of Lonesome Dove, the Milk River, can be found off of US-2. The land sounds breathtaking, and, if I ever take the bucket list trip traveling I-90, I will have to make a scenic detour and view the country from the passenger seat off of this road. This is the country that Lewis and Clark once surveyed, the land of Teddy Blue, America’s last unblemished land. As breathtaking as this section of the country may be, even there McMurtry pined for home and took less than two full days to arrive at his destination.
My family has two short road trips planned for this summer. Neither of them will take as long as any of McMurtry’s daily drives. Those are for another time or place. Many readers commented that this essay collection lacks depth, that it is devoid of McMurtry’s character development and does not describe the people and towns that make up the fabric of this country. I beg to differ. The purpose of these trips was not to sightsee although McMurtry visited many of America’s famous sites on these drives. McMurtry drove America’s roads because he loved to drive for hours at a time. It was his favorite mode of travel and he hit the open road often. As I continue to read McMurtry’s works this year, I do appreciate his words in describing the beautiful land that he calls home. As a veteran road traveler, he must have been one of the best people to take a road trip with. The rest of us can only be so fortunate to travel these inviting roads in our lifetimes.
4 stars
Larry McMurtry grew up with a view of US- 281, a road that starts just over the Canadian border and ends at the one with Mexico. As a kid he would assist his father on trips to horse yards, beginning a lifelong fascination with traveling the open road. As a student at Rice University in Houston, he drove either home to Archer City or to visit his fiancée in Denton most weekends, racking up miles on his odometer. Driving never bothered Larry McMurtry. He could drive six to eight hundred miles on a good day as his life necessitated him traveling from Texas to Los Angeles back to Tucson then Texas and sometimes to New York and then suburban Washington, D.C. and eventually arriving home in Texas. McMurtry descends from cowboys who rode the open range for miles at a time. He naturally felt at home on the open road. After undergoing open heart surgery, McMurtry lost a piece of him and did not write with as much frequency as earlier in his life. To jumpstart his writing life at the dawn of the 21st century, his agent suggested that he write a book of essays about his life traveling America’s highways. Although most known for his epic novels, McMurtry published a variety of nonfiction throughout his career. Roads would be an ode to his traveling life.
Those people looking for detailed descriptions of America’s towns and cities are not going to find them here. McMurtry’s aim was to write about roads. He felt most at home in Texas and the west where the sky spanned for miles, but he balanced this volume with trips in the eastern half of this country. He is not a fan of I-95, but few of us are. He finds most of I-75 boring, and, having traveled a large chunk of this road many times, I can’t blame him for that. His favorite parts of the east are the areas least traveled away from cities- Hiawatha National Forest in northern Michigan, a one time home of Ernest Hemingway, the lesser populated areas of Florida, and Hope, Arkansas, birthplace of President Clinton. A day would start off on a positive note if he could watch the sun rise over a river, and he thus timed his driving times accordingly. I grinned when traffic near Nashville prevented him from reaching Memphis on the same day, forcing him to rise early to reach the mighty Mississippi in time for the next day’s dawn. Being an easterner, I appreciated these descriptions of sections of the country that I know well. Other than coming close to Washington, a city McMurtry called home for nearly twenty years, he avoided eastern metropolises. McMurtry felt happiest west of the Mississippi and wrote the most about his travel in these sections of the country. As stunning as Key West is to some, McMurtry only gave the keys eight pages of print; he would rather be home.
McMurtry equates highway travel with 19th century river travel. The I-75 of truckers is the modern Mississippi thruway. Roads have replaced horse travel, steamboats, and trains. Although impersonal, the highway provides people with the most direct route between two points. Some Americans, myself included pine to travel the open roads and visit tourist sites both on and off of the beaten path. Having traveled some of these roads many times, McMurtry only meant to drive and enjoy the scenery from the driver’s seat. He has traveled I-10 too many times in his life to count and holds the most special place for US -281 right outside his home; however, his perfect road of the the entire country could end up being US-2, a road that starts in central Washington and skirts southeast through Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, taking the travelers through some of the most beautiful land they might ever see. The inspiration for the northern terminus of Lonesome Dove, the Milk River, can be found off of US-2. The land sounds breathtaking, and, if I ever take the bucket list trip traveling I-90, I will have to make a scenic detour and view the country from the passenger seat off of this road. This is the country that Lewis and Clark once surveyed, the land of Teddy Blue, America’s last unblemished land. As breathtaking as this section of the country may be, even there McMurtry pined for home and took less than two full days to arrive at his destination.
My family has two short road trips planned for this summer. Neither of them will take as long as any of McMurtry’s daily drives. Those are for another time or place. Many readers commented that this essay collection lacks depth, that it is devoid of McMurtry’s character development and does not describe the people and towns that make up the fabric of this country. I beg to differ. The purpose of these trips was not to sightsee although McMurtry visited many of America’s famous sites on these drives. McMurtry drove America’s roads because he loved to drive for hours at a time. It was his favorite mode of travel and he hit the open road often. As I continue to read McMurtry’s works this year, I do appreciate his words in describing the beautiful land that he calls home. As a veteran road traveler, he must have been one of the best people to take a road trip with. The rest of us can only be so fortunate to travel these inviting roads in our lifetimes.
4 stars
July 28, 2014
A modest travel book that takes you pleasantly on a number of long trips through the U.S.A. Unlike Least-Heat Moon's "Blue Highways" or Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley", he is less interested in profiling people along the way than in reflecting on the broader landscape and on writers who succeed in evoking the character of regions. I liked the vignettes of various writers. But along the way, he bad-mouths and dismisses a number of regions and cities in a rather cavalier and overgeneralized way. He loves the open praries of Kansas and other Great Plains states more than the rolling hills of Missouri that I appreciate. Here is an example of dissing the Texas Hill Country: "I have always been a little puzzled by the popularity of the hill country. The soil is too stoney to farm or ranch, the hills are just sort of deforested speed bumps, and the people, mostly of stern Teutonic stock, are suspicious, tightfisted, unfriendly, and mean." Despite these asides, I appreciated his playful mind at play on his journeys, especially his perspective on the high plains and mountain valleys of Montana, which he has also captured well in some of his books.
January 24, 2009
There's really nothing wrong with this; the writing style is fine, and the topic -- an interesting meld of book reviews and road trips -- encompasses two of my favorite topics. BUT McMurtry is just so dang negative. He doesn't like any of the places he visits, and even if he does like them, he still focuses so much on what's wrong with them or the negative things about them. And while he states early on that his purpose was to drive the "great roads" meaning the big interstates and talk about the writers who live in those places, that doesn't come through very well. Everything seems to random, too pointless. The only really decent chapter (that should've come much earlier in the book, not as the second-to-last chapter) is the one about the dirt roads and his childhood.
May 4, 2022
I love road trips. Not just the kind to get from point A to point B, but the kind where you just take off, stop at any random point, and truly take in the countryside. Therefore, my rating comes primarily from how this one speaks to me personally. Truth be told, I'm not even sure this would have been a publishable book if not for the national treasure of McMurtry's prior novels including Lonesome Dove and Terms of Endearment. It is, in essence, a book about very little. At an advancing age and following a serious health scare, McMurtry decides to drive all of the interstates in the US from start to finish. He isn't doing this to meet people or gain some insight into the human experience - at one point in the book he specifically points out he said less than 25 words on an entire 770 mile trip - but just for the sake of having done it. The result, other than driving a lot of miles, is this journal of his thoughts while traveling, an incredibly well written, beautiful, deep journal of random, not much of anything. I enjoyed it due to my own experiences on long road trips, but I'm not sure this one would be enjoyed by everyone.
October 12, 2010
I really enjoy McMurtry's essays in this book and others. They weave in and out among travel, writing, great reads, depression. This short book is about auto trips on America's highways. McMurtry, a writer of novels, essays and screenplays, is primarily a book antiquarian. Traveling the roads in Montana he is reminded, of course, by Norman MacLean, A.B. Guthrie, Ivan Doig, etc. but also by little known writers who, he feels, capture the essence of a place in a way not to be missed by the avid reader. I have added at least ten books to my collection of travel writing simply based on his mention in this book. For a real treat I listened to it read by George Guidall (personal favorite reader) while -- what else -- driving highways.
November 30, 2020
This is the third "road" book that I have read, the others being Jack Kerouac's On the Road and John Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie in Search of America. My only complaint about this one is that it is too short.
The book details a number of trips that McMurtry took in 1999 on various interstate highways. He deliberately chose the interstates out of a desire for speed rather than for stopping along the way to see all the sights. He does mention from time to time the variety of museums that he passes by, or passes up. We also learn about the famous or semi-famous writers who were born or lived in the areas through which he travels.
Each chapter is a different trip, and he tells us in the heading his starting and ending points and the highways that he takes. Usually he began his trip by flying out on a Sunday afternoon to his trip's beginning, renting a car, and heading out. Sometimes he tells us a little about the history that has taken place in the area through which he is driving, sometimes about the scenery, sometimes about his experience there on the trip. Each trip is different, even though most of them take place in the middle of the country. As he notes, he is not at all a fan of urban sprawl, and he likes to see a lot of sky.
I found it interesting that both he and Steinbeck named the same state as their favorite: Montana. I would not have picked that state, but it definitely has me curious to see a state I have never visited. McMurtry writes that three passions have dominated his life: books, women, and the road. I was stunned to read that he owns--and has read--three thousand travel books. Apparently, whenever he is not driving, or writing another book, he is reading. Sounds good to me.
The book details a number of trips that McMurtry took in 1999 on various interstate highways. He deliberately chose the interstates out of a desire for speed rather than for stopping along the way to see all the sights. He does mention from time to time the variety of museums that he passes by, or passes up. We also learn about the famous or semi-famous writers who were born or lived in the areas through which he travels.
Each chapter is a different trip, and he tells us in the heading his starting and ending points and the highways that he takes. Usually he began his trip by flying out on a Sunday afternoon to his trip's beginning, renting a car, and heading out. Sometimes he tells us a little about the history that has taken place in the area through which he is driving, sometimes about the scenery, sometimes about his experience there on the trip. Each trip is different, even though most of them take place in the middle of the country. As he notes, he is not at all a fan of urban sprawl, and he likes to see a lot of sky.
I found it interesting that both he and Steinbeck named the same state as their favorite: Montana. I would not have picked that state, but it definitely has me curious to see a state I have never visited. McMurtry writes that three passions have dominated his life: books, women, and the road. I was stunned to read that he owns--and has read--three thousand travel books. Apparently, whenever he is not driving, or writing another book, he is reading. Sounds good to me.
August 14, 2017
A nontraditional collection of travel essays, as the travel itself is a template for the authors state of mind and philosophical musings rather than an end in and of itself. McMurtry relates his experiences driving along a varied collection of America's highways and with each trip muses upon the mutable nature of the roads and the cities along them, how his own life has changed since he first made that particular or a similar trip, and all of the authors who have written about the country he is passing through or who lived in the towns he passes by. Read with a notepad handy, as LM has forgotten more about authors and booklore than I (or you) could ever hope to learn.
August 14, 2020
A co-worker brought this one into the break room along with Stephen King word-pile and I selected this rather modest volume to read. I like Larry McMurtry and I like roads so we'll see. Nothing too memorable so far. The author takes his time getting himself into his car and on the road. The first part of the book is sort-of background-ish and he makes reference to other travel writers. No mention is made of Bill Bryson, so I'm assuming that LM is no fan of BB. He does mention Bruce Chatwin and "In Patagonia"(great book), the only of the writers I've heard of. I might have added "The Sheltering Sky" as worthy of mention too, and what about John McPhee's rail and boat travels? Paul Theroux? A few comments about "War and Peace" and we're off - from Minnesota to Texas in no time at all on I-35. 770 miles in 1o hours. He should have had at least one speeding ticket!
- A bit of Geographic confusion: Kansas is SOUTH of Missouri???? Don't think so. I believe it's WEST of Missouri. I fact, I know it is.
- Amen to his complaint about I-40 out west. It SHOULD be a beautiful, scenic drive, but the experience is compromised by the unending stream of 18-wheelers careening east and west at all times of the day and night. The road is a neverending stream of the f--kers.
Finished this fast, easy read last night. How could I not like this book? It's right in my reading wheelhouse, being stacked with traveling notes and Interstate Highway system trivia and plenty of literary name-dropping. LM is way more informed about more obscure authors relevant to this book than I am. After all, he deals(or dealt) with the world of rare and semi-rare books and obscured-by-time authors. Still, he talks about plenty of writers I have read and I appreciated his input about life and art.
- A generous 3.75* rating rounds up to 4*.
- A bit of Geographic confusion: Kansas is SOUTH of Missouri???? Don't think so. I believe it's WEST of Missouri. I fact, I know it is.
- Amen to his complaint about I-40 out west. It SHOULD be a beautiful, scenic drive, but the experience is compromised by the unending stream of 18-wheelers careening east and west at all times of the day and night. The road is a neverending stream of the f--kers.
Finished this fast, easy read last night. How could I not like this book? It's right in my reading wheelhouse, being stacked with traveling notes and Interstate Highway system trivia and plenty of literary name-dropping. LM is way more informed about more obscure authors relevant to this book than I am. After all, he deals(or dealt) with the world of rare and semi-rare books and obscured-by-time authors. Still, he talks about plenty of writers I have read and I appreciated his input about life and art.
- A generous 3.75* rating rounds up to 4*.
February 4, 2018
"As he crisscrosses America -- driving in search of the present, the past and himself -- Larry McMurtry shares his fascination with this nation's great trails and the culture that has developed around them.
"Ever since he was a boy growing up in Texas only a mile from Highway 281, Larry McMurtry has felt the pull of the road. His town was thoroughly landlocked, making the highway his 'river, its hidden reaches a mystery and an enticement. I began my life beside it and I want to drift down the entire length of it before I end this book.'
"In Roads, McMurtry embarks on a cross-country trip where his route is also his destination. As he drives, McMurtry reminisces about the places he's seen, the people he's met, and the books he's read, including more than 3.000 books about travel. He explains why watching episodes of The Mary Tyler Show might be the best way to find joie de vivre in Minnesota; the scenic differences between Route 35 and I-801; which vigilantes lived in Montana and which hailed from Idaho; and the history of Lewis and Clark, Sitting Bull, and Custer that still haunt Route 2 today.
"As it makes its way from South Florida to North Dakota, from eastern Long Island to Oregon, Roads is travel writing at its best."
~~back cover
I beg to differ: imho this is NOT travel writing at its best. He didn't seem to feel the pull of the road but only wanted to drive certain roads in certain areas in the same way students write essays -- because the exercise is assigned, not because they love doing it. I've always had gypsy feet, and have driven in most of the continental States -- loving every minutes of it: the scenery, the strange roadside attractions, the romance of the different parts of the country, and the driving itself. Driving long distance can be like meditating: you don't realize you're thinking but at the end of the road you discover you've sorted things out.
McMurtry didn't seem to have that joy in his travels, more just dogged determination. He wasn't much interested in the landscapes he drove through, or the people who lived there -- he was more interested in remembering the changes he felt after a heart operation, or his drives from Washington DC to Texas in his younger years, and how those roads had changed. He struck me as a crusty old man, not much interested in anything but himself and what he thought & felt.
I was definitely disappointed.
"Ever since he was a boy growing up in Texas only a mile from Highway 281, Larry McMurtry has felt the pull of the road. His town was thoroughly landlocked, making the highway his 'river, its hidden reaches a mystery and an enticement. I began my life beside it and I want to drift down the entire length of it before I end this book.'
"In Roads, McMurtry embarks on a cross-country trip where his route is also his destination. As he drives, McMurtry reminisces about the places he's seen, the people he's met, and the books he's read, including more than 3.000 books about travel. He explains why watching episodes of The Mary Tyler Show might be the best way to find joie de vivre in Minnesota; the scenic differences between Route 35 and I-801; which vigilantes lived in Montana and which hailed from Idaho; and the history of Lewis and Clark, Sitting Bull, and Custer that still haunt Route 2 today.
"As it makes its way from South Florida to North Dakota, from eastern Long Island to Oregon, Roads is travel writing at its best."
~~back cover
I beg to differ: imho this is NOT travel writing at its best. He didn't seem to feel the pull of the road but only wanted to drive certain roads in certain areas in the same way students write essays -- because the exercise is assigned, not because they love doing it. I've always had gypsy feet, and have driven in most of the continental States -- loving every minutes of it: the scenery, the strange roadside attractions, the romance of the different parts of the country, and the driving itself. Driving long distance can be like meditating: you don't realize you're thinking but at the end of the road you discover you've sorted things out.
McMurtry didn't seem to have that joy in his travels, more just dogged determination. He wasn't much interested in the landscapes he drove through, or the people who lived there -- he was more interested in remembering the changes he felt after a heart operation, or his drives from Washington DC to Texas in his younger years, and how those roads had changed. He struck me as a crusty old man, not much interested in anything but himself and what he thought & felt.
I was definitely disappointed.
December 1, 2011
First off, Larry McMurtry is almost always great. After all, he came out of Wallace Stegner's school of writing - so how bad could he possibly be.
I love most of his fiction - at least that I've read. And so far, I have been loving his non-fiction as well.
Don't know if I was born with a wanderlust or not. But I do love to drive. I drive to North Carolina at least twice a year. Used to drive to Washington, D.C.-area once a year. But now that they have moved to San Antonio, I haven't driven there yet. I've taken the train.
I loved Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon and this is kind of along those lines.
Some of the time McMurtry is already in a place for a meeting or something and decides to drive to another place, either a route he used to drive or a brand new route and he just wants to drive there. He usually stays off the interstate. Because, as well know, there is nothing more boring than the interstate. It is the same view most of the time.
He tells us a lot about his life in Texas and in Washington. He tries to re-trace some of the old roads he drove between these places. And he remembers why he liked them then - he was driving home to the Plains. Now he is just driving.
There comes a point when he discovers he has driven enough. He has driven from Seattle through Idaho, Montana to North Dakota. He is back on the Plains again and knows that he has seen enough. He has driven over the Bitterroots and advised us that this is a rough road. Although it is the same route that Lewis and Clark took, it is not as rough a journey as then; but, by the same token, he only six trucks on this route - it is just too hard on their engines and brakes.
Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to hop back in the car and drive somewhere. I need to find a new route to North Carolina.
I love most of his fiction - at least that I've read. And so far, I have been loving his non-fiction as well.
Don't know if I was born with a wanderlust or not. But I do love to drive. I drive to North Carolina at least twice a year. Used to drive to Washington, D.C.-area once a year. But now that they have moved to San Antonio, I haven't driven there yet. I've taken the train.
I loved Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon and this is kind of along those lines.
Some of the time McMurtry is already in a place for a meeting or something and decides to drive to another place, either a route he used to drive or a brand new route and he just wants to drive there. He usually stays off the interstate. Because, as well know, there is nothing more boring than the interstate. It is the same view most of the time.
He tells us a lot about his life in Texas and in Washington. He tries to re-trace some of the old roads he drove between these places. And he remembers why he liked them then - he was driving home to the Plains. Now he is just driving.
There comes a point when he discovers he has driven enough. He has driven from Seattle through Idaho, Montana to North Dakota. He is back on the Plains again and knows that he has seen enough. He has driven over the Bitterroots and advised us that this is a rough road. Although it is the same route that Lewis and Clark took, it is not as rough a journey as then; but, by the same token, he only six trucks on this route - it is just too hard on their engines and brakes.
Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to hop back in the car and drive somewhere. I need to find a new route to North Carolina.
November 17, 2010
Prevented myself, from any thought of careless, meandering travel via car in America----largely the victim of high gas prices---I turned to McMurtry to live vicariously through his words what I would love to be doing, just tooling down the interstates and backroads. Yet, it is really hard to call this a travel book, because really, it isn't. Yes, he logs a lot of miles and describes (quickly, and without much depth) the routes he chose to take, but they are really only framework upon which he drapes a memoir. He is not out exploring, but pondering. He reflects on bookselling and his heart surgery, on books (many of them travel) he has enjoyed, and tidbits on literary figures who happpend to have lived anywhere near where his car takes him. Many of the asides are very revealing. More often than not, it seems that McMurtry doesn't really like most of the cities or even many of the stretches of interstate. A westerner, he loves his huge sky and wide open spaces. I think one of the best chapters was dedicated to the long dirt road that connected his family farm to the nearest town. This is a quick, enjoyable read.
June 25, 2016
I’ll say this for McMurtry, when he puts his mind to it he can paint a landscape as well as any author, and weave a story that will keep you riveted. I wish he’d done more of this in this memoir of a year spent traveling America’s major highways. The book is like many major interstates … miles (pages) of mind-numbing sameness, occasionally interrupted by a point of interest. There are a few memorable passages – his father’s encounter with a rattler, the disappointment of what Key West has become, and the attack of the Volkswagen-Beetle-sized tumbleweeds – but mostly I was in danger of falling asleep at the wheel (bookmark). I also was puzzled by his references to “the 10” or “the 281” rather than the more usual “I-10” or “Hwy 281.” I have never heard the roads referred to as McMurtry does, and it made me feel disoriented.
May 15, 2018
If this book was thrice the length, I would have soaked up every little reminiscence and anecdote Larry McMurtry would have written. I found this little gem at a rummage sale. I’ve read a lot of McMurtry - he’s easily in my top 10 authors, and when I saw that this book was just about him remembering things and getting ideas for his fiction as he drove vast lengths of America’s highways, I gladly paid the $1 for it. This one now has a permanent home on my Larry McMurtry shelf.
August 14, 2025
I liked this more than I thought I would. It was short, he did not dwell on any particular scene or theme. The book was about the highways and not the people he met on the way. However, his musings on history along particular roads and how he worked those into his novels was interesting. He also discussed his bookstore(s) and showed just how much of a bibliophile he is.
January 29, 2020
This book is now 20 years old but some of the observations about the roads he traveled on are still valid. I found that he was too grumpy and many of his trips were done just so he could write a book.
May 25, 2019
Road trippin' w/McMurt. and his reflections, all good!
December 17, 2020
Four stars! At first it was just three but it improved quite a bit toward the end. I related to his feelings about the east and getting back to the "big sky country".
August 1, 2025
All the reasons Larry McMurtry disliked pretty much every place
I am not a reader who believes every one of Larry McMurtry's books had to be Lonesome Dove, or be like Lonesome Dove or resemble Lonesome Dove in any way. In fact, I've enjoyed many a McMurtry novel, other than Lonesome Dove, just as much or more than that classic. That is why I was surprised to find myself not enjoying this book. I too enjoy driving and have driven much of the country. I recognized many of the routes and landmarks mentioned in "Roads." Except, I generally enjoyed my drives. McMurtry, on the other hand, did not enjoy his drives.
"Roads" tells how McMurtry, in an effort to escape the never ending que of Lonesome Dove fans at his bookstore, would take time every quarter to drive across the country in solitude. Rather than enjoying his time off and being grateful for this scheduling flexibility, "Roads" digresses into the story of a grouchy old man traveling back and forth across the country while complaining nearly constantly about why he disliked this or that state or road. While there were a few memorable passages, unfortunately, there were not enough to recommend this book.
I am not a reader who believes every one of Larry McMurtry's books had to be Lonesome Dove, or be like Lonesome Dove or resemble Lonesome Dove in any way. In fact, I've enjoyed many a McMurtry novel, other than Lonesome Dove, just as much or more than that classic. That is why I was surprised to find myself not enjoying this book. I too enjoy driving and have driven much of the country. I recognized many of the routes and landmarks mentioned in "Roads." Except, I generally enjoyed my drives. McMurtry, on the other hand, did not enjoy his drives.
"Roads" tells how McMurtry, in an effort to escape the never ending que of Lonesome Dove fans at his bookstore, would take time every quarter to drive across the country in solitude. Rather than enjoying his time off and being grateful for this scheduling flexibility, "Roads" digresses into the story of a grouchy old man traveling back and forth across the country while complaining nearly constantly about why he disliked this or that state or road. While there were a few memorable passages, unfortunately, there were not enough to recommend this book.
October 14, 2016
“I wanted to drive the American roads at the century’s end, to look at the country again, from border to border and beach to beach” (11). With this statement McMurtry begins his travel book, which is not so much about the places he sees—although he does go into some detail about literary people, places, events—as much as it is about the roads that take him there. McMurtry loves to drive and not along those quaint roads where you can get stuck behind a slow-moving RV or semi, but the big ones, the Interstates. And every road he introduces with the article, t-h-e: the 15, the 40, the 35. He’ll often take a plane to a target city, rent a car, and drive back to his native Archer City in Texas.
Some nuggets:
Once, while with friends in Boise, Idaho, following our attendance of a play set in an outdoor amphitheater, we and our hosts got in the car. I dreaded the wait for all of those vehicles to vacate the huge parking lot (recalling how savagely impolite most Texans are when it comes to their own motto of Drive Friendly), but I was hugely surprised when, at a certain juncture, as if there were a four-way stop, drivers politely took their turns until each car, of the hundreds, had made its way to the exit—all without frenzy, all without rancor or rudeness, and in record time. Surely such a land is not as bad as McMurtry makes out. Think of all the wise academics at Idaho universities. Think of all the Mormons and other religious people who make their homes in Idaho. Are they all to be tainted by a group such as the Aryan Brotherhood? Come on, Larry.
And talk about hatred of government: once when I was on a trip with forty other West Texans to visit the city of Ottawa, Canada, a majority of my fellow travelers booed the very mention of our president’s name. You see, this particular bakery had dared to rename their maple leaf cookie the Obama cookie. I never felt so ashamed to be an American in my life. I personally HATED George W. Bush, but I NEVER would have booed his name in any public setting, particularly in a foreign country—because much as I detested him and his policies, he was still my president. Larry, please, no more generalizations about people who hate or don’t hate. They’re just not relevant. We are all capable of hate in almost any context. I certainly won't let this one slip prevent me from loving your book!
Some nuggets:
“My casual intention, in thinking about these journeys, was to have a look at the literature that had come out of the states I passed through. For Minnesota there is not a whole lot. Scott Fitzgerald, though a native son, spent most of his life east of Princeton or west of Pasadena. His work seems to me to owe little or nothing to the [M]idwest. Louise Erdrich lives in Minneapolis now, but most of her work is set well to the west, near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota” (30).
“Most Mexicans still feel that they have an innate right to be on the north side of the [Rio Grande] river, where their grandparents or great-grandparents lived. The Border Patrol can deport them, but it can’t extinguish this feeling” (54). If only Texans especially would understand this idea.
“Despite the Army Corps of Engineers’ elaborate strategies for controlling the lower Mississippi, most people who know and love the river know that it is more powerful than many plans human beings may design: one day it may rise up in flood and take out much of southern Louisiana, blowing through human constraints as easily as Moby Dick blew through the whaling boat” (68) LM wrote this in 2000. Not too prescient, eh?
“Once, when I was about ten, we were approaching the ranch after veering north to look at some pasturage when we saw a small barefoot boy racing along the hot road with terror in his face. My father just managed to stop him. Though incoherent with fear, the boy managed to inform us that his little brother had just drowned in the horse trough. My father grabbed the boy and we went racing up to the farmhouse, where the anguished mother, the drowned child in her arms, was sobbing, crying out in German, and rocking in a rocking chair. Fortunately the boy was not quite dead. My father managed to get him away from his mother long enough to stretch him out on the porch and squeeze the water out of him. In a while the boy began to belch dirty fluids and then to breathe again. The crisis past, we went on home. The graceful German mother brought my father jars of her best sauerkraut for many, many years” (185). This anecdote speaks for itself.
Occasionally McMurtry allows his prejudices to overpower his reason: “I’m not entirely comfortable in Idaho—fortunately it’s only seventy-five miles across the Idaho panhandle from Coeur d’Alene over the hills to Montana. I suppose my discomfort has to do with the Aryan Brotherhood and similar organizations, several of which make their official home in Idaho. In no state is there such obvious hatred of law and government—hard to explain, since there is scant evidence that there is much law and government in Idaho. A lot of frontier types who aren’t quite up to Alaska hang out there, secure in the knowledge that they’re in part of the country where the outlaw mentality is still encouraged” (195).
Once, while with friends in Boise, Idaho, following our attendance of a play set in an outdoor amphitheater, we and our hosts got in the car. I dreaded the wait for all of those vehicles to vacate the huge parking lot (recalling how savagely impolite most Texans are when it comes to their own motto of Drive Friendly), but I was hugely surprised when, at a certain juncture, as if there were a four-way stop, drivers politely took their turns until each car, of the hundreds, had made its way to the exit—all without frenzy, all without rancor or rudeness, and in record time. Surely such a land is not as bad as McMurtry makes out. Think of all the wise academics at Idaho universities. Think of all the Mormons and other religious people who make their homes in Idaho. Are they all to be tainted by a group such as the Aryan Brotherhood? Come on, Larry.
And talk about hatred of government: once when I was on a trip with forty other West Texans to visit the city of Ottawa, Canada, a majority of my fellow travelers booed the very mention of our president’s name. You see, this particular bakery had dared to rename their maple leaf cookie the Obama cookie. I never felt so ashamed to be an American in my life. I personally HATED George W. Bush, but I NEVER would have booed his name in any public setting, particularly in a foreign country—because much as I detested him and his policies, he was still my president. Larry, please, no more generalizations about people who hate or don’t hate. They’re just not relevant. We are all capable of hate in almost any context. I certainly won't let this one slip prevent me from loving your book!
August 21, 2020
The premise of this book is that Larry McMurtry decided to drive the great highways of America and write about his drives. This may not seem like it would lead to a very exciting read, but McMurtry is such a great writer/story-teller, that he made his descriptions of his travels extremely interesting. He tells the history of roads, the landscape they go through, incidents he experienced along the way, and reflects on his own personal history and the role that roads have played in it. If you appreciate geography and like looking at maps, you would enjoy this book. Even if you don't, I think you'd enjoy it and it might give you an urge to get out your road atlas and plan a trip!
August 16, 2024
The problem with reading McMurtry's nonfiction is that my TBR list always grows by a mile. I seem to spend as much time making notes of books to read as I do actually reading. The sheer immensity of his reading matched his ability to recall what he'd read and connect it to the places and events he described.
This little volume is great fun. McMurtry liked to drive for the movement of it, for the ever-changing views and the big picture. Although I am also partial to the slow, intimate travel of back roads, I understand his need for motion. Sometimes, nothing else will do, but to GO.
McMurtry's accounts of his long drives across the country, peppered with bits of historical and literary connection, are great fun, but oddly enough- or perhaps not, given McMurtry's other writing - the best chapter in the book is his meditation on the dirt roads around his home in Texas and the stories from his past they evoke. He has a deep feeling for the land and an even deeper sympathy for the people whose lives it shapes. It's a shame that exceptional writers can't be excused from the constraints of mortality. We could do with a great deal more of McMurtry's observations.
This little volume is great fun. McMurtry liked to drive for the movement of it, for the ever-changing views and the big picture. Although I am also partial to the slow, intimate travel of back roads, I understand his need for motion. Sometimes, nothing else will do, but to GO.
McMurtry's accounts of his long drives across the country, peppered with bits of historical and literary connection, are great fun, but oddly enough- or perhaps not, given McMurtry's other writing - the best chapter in the book is his meditation on the dirt roads around his home in Texas and the stories from his past they evoke. He has a deep feeling for the land and an even deeper sympathy for the people whose lives it shapes. It's a shame that exceptional writers can't be excused from the constraints of mortality. We could do with a great deal more of McMurtry's observations.
July 14, 2017
Roads by Larry McMurtry is a bit disappointing for all that it is not. Although he sets the expectations low in his intro, warning you that he will not be doing a traditional travel book ala Travels with Charley or The Lost Continent, you still don't realize how boring it will be to ride along with him. He makes no stops at cultural or sightseeing destinations along the way, has few interactions with the locals, but just zips from the start to the finish of a route with only stops at gas stations for food. I guess the point is the driving and highway itself, and what can be seen through the window. The only saving grace is McMurtry's well-read references. I found myself adding several books to my to-read list that he mentions throughout the book by authors from a region or books about a region.
July 4, 2017
Thoroughly enjoyable trip through America (excluding the Northeast) in 1999. McMurtry is most revealing in the places he knows best - the midwest, Texas, and insightful if cranky (not a bad thing!) everywhere else. It's funny, smart, and makes a pretty good argument for driving for the sake of driving.
Of course, as a voracious reader, writer, and bookseller, McMurtry loads the book up with other reading suggestions, so the 200-ish pages here will spawn at least 500-1000 more pages for your reading list.
Lots of smart, simple prose here - that's how McMurtry writes. Here's a few lines I liked:
"High tension, brutality, and violence have been part of border life ever since the Rio Grande became a boundary between two nations, rather than just a river that people crossed and recrossed when they needed to, or when they just felt like it. The various police agencies that have tried to stop this natural, northbound flow of people toward what they hope will be a better life only degrade themselves in the process, since no human can legitimately be denied the desire to survive and help their families. The great border crossing points are heavy with the apparatus of international commerce, but for most of its length, both Texans and Mexicans find it hard to take the muddy little river seriously as a border Lonesome Dove opens with a cross-border raid; the tensions expressed in it are not resolved. Most Mexicans still feel that they have an innate right to be on the north side of the river, where their grandparents or great-grandparents lived. The Border Patrol can deport them, but it can't extinguish this feeling."
"Valet Park is a phenomenon that's come on fast. Ten years ago even the Ultras would occasionally have to park their own cars; now such a thing is unthinkable. No high-end restaurant could survive a week without Valet Park. The eccentric patron who now and then insists on parking his or her own car is looked upon as a radical, a threat to the new economic order."
Of course, as a voracious reader, writer, and bookseller, McMurtry loads the book up with other reading suggestions, so the 200-ish pages here will spawn at least 500-1000 more pages for your reading list.
Lots of smart, simple prose here - that's how McMurtry writes. Here's a few lines I liked:
"High tension, brutality, and violence have been part of border life ever since the Rio Grande became a boundary between two nations, rather than just a river that people crossed and recrossed when they needed to, or when they just felt like it. The various police agencies that have tried to stop this natural, northbound flow of people toward what they hope will be a better life only degrade themselves in the process, since no human can legitimately be denied the desire to survive and help their families. The great border crossing points are heavy with the apparatus of international commerce, but for most of its length, both Texans and Mexicans find it hard to take the muddy little river seriously as a border Lonesome Dove opens with a cross-border raid; the tensions expressed in it are not resolved. Most Mexicans still feel that they have an innate right to be on the north side of the river, where their grandparents or great-grandparents lived. The Border Patrol can deport them, but it can't extinguish this feeling."
"Valet Park is a phenomenon that's come on fast. Ten years ago even the Ultras would occasionally have to park their own cars; now such a thing is unthinkable. No high-end restaurant could survive a week without Valet Park. The eccentric patron who now and then insists on parking his or her own car is looked upon as a radical, a threat to the new economic order."
August 11, 2018
Many years ago in the late 70s or early 80s I attended a lecture at Boise State University with the novelist Larry McMurtry speaking. I remember him talking about how he drives across the country, giving me the impression that he does that frequently out of the sheer joy of taking road trips. He also said that his son, probably James, who at that time, as I understand it, was an aspiring novelist like his father, in a separate vehicle was doing the same. Now James is a very successful singer and accomplished songwriter who I've heard in concert a couple times. Larry is an outstanding novelist with many books to his credit, some of which I've read.
Roads was published in 2000 and is an account of some of those roads trips on roads that are very familiar to many Americans. Unlike Annie Proulx who likes to drive on unpaved roads and William Least Heat Moon who uses the two lane "blue highways," which he wrote about in a best seller yeas ago, McMurtry usually sticks to the interstate highways. That, if you had asked me, would not be near as interesting as the dirt and gravel roads or the two lanes, but McMurtry with his insights and excellent writing makes it fascinating. I appreciated his vision and his knowledge of history; also his awareness of the writers who lived in these diverse places in the USA. This is a great book and led to me deciding that a planned trip east in a couple months should be on the roads, not in the air. Fortunately I haven't bought the tickets yet.
Roads was published in 2000 and is an account of some of those roads trips on roads that are very familiar to many Americans. Unlike Annie Proulx who likes to drive on unpaved roads and William Least Heat Moon who uses the two lane "blue highways," which he wrote about in a best seller yeas ago, McMurtry usually sticks to the interstate highways. That, if you had asked me, would not be near as interesting as the dirt and gravel roads or the two lanes, but McMurtry with his insights and excellent writing makes it fascinating. I appreciated his vision and his knowledge of history; also his awareness of the writers who lived in these diverse places in the USA. This is a great book and led to me deciding that a planned trip east in a couple months should be on the roads, not in the air. Fortunately I haven't bought the tickets yet.
May 29, 2016
Since McMurtry has been one of my most read authors I endeavored off into a book that turned out to be unlike anything that I have read by this author. Normally his novels have been stories of people in the west, particularly West Texas. Lonesome Dove and The Last picture Show and all of their sequels and continuations are major evidence of what I view as superior literature. He also does some fictionalization of famous western characters and often these portrayals become a little tedious for me. This book, however, brings in a new dimension since it is basically a travel book. McMurtry gets in his car and drives the interstates and other significant highways of the United States and shares his thoughts on the landscape, the people, and much of silliness and clutter of American roadsides. One of the unique aspects of the book is that he shares a great deal of his great literary knowledge of authors, books, libraries that came from the areas encountered.
The most significant contribution of the book, however, I don't think was intended. It gives you great insight to the author, of course his opinions, but also his fears, his proud past and his reflections on life at an age when there is little left to prove. The last road that we encounter in the book is the road from his ranch into town which is melancholy but wonderfully written.
The most significant contribution of the book, however, I don't think was intended. It gives you great insight to the author, of course his opinions, but also his fears, his proud past and his reflections on life at an age when there is little left to prove. The last road that we encounter in the book is the road from his ranch into town which is melancholy but wonderfully written.
September 29, 2018
I have read many of McMurtry’s nonfiction works; this is, by far, my favorite.
“Roads” reminds me very much of John Graves’ “Goodbye to a River.” The approach is very simple: McMurtry travels the interstate highways across the country, and writes what he sees and what it makes him think and feel. But the product — part travelogue, part history, part memoir, part social commentary — I found to be very engaging and at the same time strangely comforting, like a soft chair, warm blanket, and a mug of cocoa, in book form.
“Roads” reminds me very much of John Graves’ “Goodbye to a River.” The approach is very simple: McMurtry travels the interstate highways across the country, and writes what he sees and what it makes him think and feel. But the product — part travelogue, part history, part memoir, part social commentary — I found to be very engaging and at the same time strangely comforting, like a soft chair, warm blanket, and a mug of cocoa, in book form.
October 13, 2020
I have truly found a kindred spirit. I was delighted to find that McMurtry shares my love of the quiet, rolling terrain of the Flint Hills in Kansas (I-35) and the dusty but spectacular skies of the Western path of I-10. Who would have thought there was another soul who would find a balm in driving the US interstates, watching the landscape change across this great land. The essays reflect Larry's wondering thoughts as he drives the roads. This book was a pleasure to read.
March 31, 2021
I love Mr. McMurty and his work, t be reading this the week he passed away will make this collection of essays sweet in my memory for a long time. Dropping everything and going on a road trip is a luxury, not a burden, for me in particular. After a year plus of not being able to go see, drive, and experience the Great Plains of this nation this collection of thoughtful essays made me long for the open road. “Any westerly direction” will do.
October 5, 2024
This was not Larry McMurtry's best non-fiction book, but I enjoyed his commentary about America, her history and her places based on driving her great roads through the nation's environments and towns. This is probably a book that will be enjoyed most by his most dedicated fans. It is almost certainly the last McMurtry book I will read. I bid him a fond farewell and will definitely miss the late great storyteller and his perceptions of the West and the country it is a key to understanding.
July 26, 2011
it is about what the title suggests. Just a tour of "and then I did this and then I did this" followed by some interesting local lore, observations and/or personal stories. But, none of that makes for a very interesting read.
I made it about 100 pages in and then skimmed the last 100. It just got too boring...
I made it about 100 pages in and then skimmed the last 100. It just got too boring...
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