Taming Mighty Alaska: An Rv Odyssey

by William C. Anderson

Book by Anderson, William C., Odyssey, Rv

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Humor

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1990

About the author

William C. Anderson served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II up through the Vietnam War, retiring as a colonel. He began writing in the 1950s, with a series of columns for MATS Flyer, the magazine of the Air Force's Military Air Transport Service (later MAC Flyer, after MATS became the Military Airlift Command).

Several of his books were autobiographical accounts of the adventures of Anderson, his wife, Dortha, and their children, Ann, Scott and Holly.

Reviews

[Sally906 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the blurb and it sounded really good - I like books about travels through other countries - but I’m sorry to say that it was SO boring for large parts of the story. There were some interesting sections which kept me from putting the book away.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting enough. It tough to read due the misspelled words in the e book version.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read especially if you have been on an Alaskan cruise! Fun to follow along .

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although written many years ago, it was interesting to read how this couple criss-crossed Alaska in an RV. This would be a great trip during retirement years.

[Jessica Buike · Rating 2 out of 5]

A roving RV adventure always catches my attention - but unfortunately, this one couldn't hold it! It was boring in the beginning with its laundry list of tasks, and unfortunately it just didn't get better. The story has a blog/journal feel and is especially long-winded. Perhaps it would have been more interesting to someone who has actually traveled the routes that were talked about, but as it was it read like a travel brochure and not like an interesting story. There could have been a whole lot more dialogue and a whole lot less descriptions of each mile of the journey to keep the story moving. I know we've all had disaterous (or at least disappointing) vacations at one point or another, but this just didn't live up to my expectations, and I'm embarrassed to say that I'd rather watch the movie "RV" than read this book again (which is probably a first, since I'm a firm believer that books are almost always better than movies)!
I was also disappointed to see that this author, though publishing in a much more recent timeframe, still wrote with undertones of sexism and racism. By the '90s our culture had really moved forward, but it felt like he was still stuck in the past.
However, I think it is worth noting that this author does have other, better novels to choose from, like Penelope!

[Forrest · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an ok book, and actually I would give it 2 and 1/2 stars. I enjoyed it. It is a light and quick read. Anderson does a good job in his account of RV'ing to, in and out of Alaska. I liked his description of the Oregon Coast. Anderson kept his tale moving at a good pace and sprinkled it with interesting history and light humor about the people and places, that he and his wife visited. His account motivates me to take such a journey with my wife. I enjoyed his epilog. I would have liked to have seen some hard numbers, sharing with the reader, what the cost of the trip was. He did give "indicators" in his epilog on what the general cost of the 60-day venture was. All in all, I enjoyed the book, but am bias - since I enjoy everything about that big broad land way-up-yonder. By the way, I read this book on a Kindle and enjoy electronic reading.

[Paulfozz · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times boring, pedestrian and clichéd, at others fascinating and very amusing. This is a very mixed bag and the edition I read was filled with typographical errors, but overall I found it rather interesting. I would not have been happy to pay for this ebook though with all the errors in it, the editor of this work was VERY lax!

[Vici · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I was going to learn more about rv'ing. And the prospect of hearing about Alaska made it even better. The disappointment is my own...I had expectations not intended by the author. The book seems like a daily journal, and not being able to "see" the trip makes the story very flat. The writing is clever and humorous in spots, but not the read I expected.

[Marcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun read about an RV trip to Alaska. As I have just driven much of the same route through Canada and Alaska, I could relate to the author's adventures and got some good ideas for the trip home. However, we are very different travelers - and writers - no "happy hours" on my trip, and I caught a lot of misspelling, typos and other irksome issues. Took exception to references to "the wife" too

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the 1980's, there are many details that have probably changed (re: rates of campgrounds, etc.). William C. Anderson hit the button on his description of Alaska and her people. Thoroughly enjoyed this travel narrative.

[Sasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this because of the numerous typos and grammatical errors. The descriptions were good, but the errors drove me nuts.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to get a description of things you may never see.

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much the same sentiments as previous reviews. Been there, done that so could relate to some of it but otherwise it seemed like a long RV trip with forced humor to liven it up.