Ramble is a hybrid travel guide/travelogue based in fact, but—like a good road trip—is ultimately a flight of fancy, a departure from the usual. Disinfected of the P. R.-inspired copy that dominates travel writing, this book celebrates the USA as the best destination in the world for a road trip because—not in spite—of its warts.

Highlighting the country’s 250 most definitively American attractions and six of its most mythic road trips, seasoned travel writer Eric Peterson describes seven regions (from coast to coast) with a sociologist-meets-Gonzo-writing-style, bellying up to the ugly truth and the bizarre at every stop.

Each regional chapter offers maps, oddball stats, as well as required reading, viewing, and listening; and about thirty to forty listings per area of not-so-run-of-the-mill tourist destinations (think: graves, vices, sin, grub, sleeps, drinks, American lore, and the like). As a topper, a predestined road trip is presented to the reader, with themes such as: Atomic Vacation, Road Trip of the Third Kind, and Down at the End of Lonely Street.

A Denver-based freelance writer, Eric Peterson contributes to numerous periodicals and travel guides. His recent credits include Scooters: Red Eyes, White Walls & Blue Smoke, the fifth edition of Frommer’s Montana & Wyoming, Roadside Americana and The Great American Road Trip. One of Peterson’s earliest travel memories is a visit to Paul Bunyan in Bemidji, Minnesota.