I once read a book, which I have since misplaced and which I'd like to
find again, however, I cannot recall the title or author, making
locating it rather difficult.

The book was non-fiction, a travelogue recounting a young Australian
journalist's hitchhiking journery around North and South America. One
of the early events in the book is that the author travels from
Vancouver, North through British Columbia to the Alaska highway and up
to Alaska. While the whole book was interesting, it is this specific
passage that makes finding it again valuable to me, as it specifically
mentions my home town of Prince George, British Columbia. This is also
the most helpful event I can recall for dating the book as it took
place specifically at the time when the Alaska highway was being
opened (the author gets a ride North to Dawson with the Mayor of
Prince George who is going to attend the ceremonies), presumably that
sets the events either in 1943, when the highway was completed, or in
1948, when it was officially opened. The book then, is most likely a
product of the 40s or 50s, certainly no earlier than 1943, and I would
assume not too much later.

The book continues with the author getting a dog, who aids him in
hitchiking, travelling back south to Vancouver, then across to the
East coast of the USA, then back through to the West, down through
Mexico and South America, eventually ending up in Brazil for Carnival.

I would like to know the title and author of this book. If possible,
other information, such as ISBN would also be useful.

---

Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 06 Jul 2002 22:00 PDT

Hi jacquilynne.
A few questions...
(1) I understand that you believe that the book was written in the
'40s or '50s. Did you read the book at that time or at some later
date? An approximate date that you personally encountered the book
would be helpful.
(2) Are you positive that hitchhiking was the author's sole means of
transportation on the trip? Did he ever take trains or drive a car
himself?
(3) When you say that the author was a journalist, do you mean that he
was writing articles for a newspaper or magazine during the journey?

---

Clarification of Question by jacquilynne-ga on 07 Jul 2002 10:04 PDT

1. I encountered it in 1997 give or take a year. One of the professors
at the University I attended was periodically dumping some of his
books into the common room for people to take away, and this book was
one of many that I picked up then. It was hardbound, lacking a dust
jacket, and like everything else being given away, fairly old.

2. As I recall, there were some sections of his journey that he didn't
hitchhike. I believe there may have been a section where walked, or
attempted to walk, through the jungle. Also, a section where he flew a
short distance to get around some missing road. Finally, at one point
he was hitchhiking with a couple of people who had, I think, a bus,
and the three of them took a train for awhile.

3. He had been a journalist at a newspaper back in Australia, and I
think when his boss gave him permission to go on rather odd journey,
the idea was that perhaps he could get some stories about it, but I
don't recall that he was filing them while he was actually travelling.
I do know, that he called himself a journalist while he was
travelling, as his trip from Prince George to Mile 0 of the Alaska
Highway was made in the company of the mayor of Prince George, who,
upon hearing he was a journalist from Australia, assumed he had come
all that distance to cover the opening ceremony and invited him to
travel up with the official delegation. Additionally, after he
completed his trip and had made it to South America, I think he then
flew on to London to join another of the newspapers owned by the same
company as the one he had worked for in Australia. I think the
specific names of the newspapers were mentioned, but not the name of
the company, though, at the time, I thought it seemed News Corp seemed
a likely candidate.

---

Request for Question Clarification by journalist-ga on 07 Jul 2002 10:46 PDT

Try perusing the list of titles at
http://www.swifty.com/tbug/bug-lit.htm (The Travel Bug Bookstore) as
seeing the title and author may jog your memory.

---

Clarification of Question by jacquilynne-ga on 07 Jul 2002 11:29 PDT

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I've already done that
and it was unsuccessful. I also tried writing to the Travel Bug and
asking them directly if they were familiar with the book I describe,
but they hadn't heard of it.

---

Request for Question Clarification by luciaphile-ga on 10 Jul 2002 15:56 PDT

Do you recall if the book had illustrations, pictures, maps, etc?

---

Clarification of Question by jacquilynne-ga on 10 Jul 2002 18:14 PDT

There were no illustrations or maps in the book that I recall.

Hi jacquilynne...

The following are the only likely results from a search of the Library
of
Congress, for books published between 1942 and 1950, in England, The
United
Kingdom, and the United States, based on a keywords search for:

Vancouver and "British Columbia" and "Alaska highway" and "Mayor of
Prince George"


================================================================================LC
Control Number:     44005999

Type of Material:   Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)

Personal Name:      Stursberg, Peter.

Main Title:         Journey into victory; up the Alaska highway and to
Sicily
                      and Italy.

Published/Created:  London, Toronto [etc.] G. G. Harrap & co. ltd.
[1944]

Description:        160 p. front. (port.) illus. (maps) 20 cm.

Notes:              "First published 1944."

Subjects:           World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,
Canadian.
                    Alaska Highway.

LC Classification:  D811.5 .S9

Dewey Class No.:    940.548171

Other System No.:   (OCoLC)1664409

                         ______________________________

CALL NUMBER:        D811.5 .S9
                    Copy 1

-- Request in:      Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies
Reading
                      Rms
-- Status:          Not Charged

================================================================================

LC Control Number:     44005189 

Type of Material:   Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)

Personal Name:      Paneth, Philip. [from old catalog]

Main Title:         Alaskan backdoor to Japan,

Published/Created:  London, Alliance Press Limited [1943]

Description:        p. cm.

Subjects:           World War, 1939-1945--Alaska.
                    World War, 1939-1945--Alaska--Aleutian Islands.
                    Alaska--Description and travel. [from old catalog]
                    Aleutian Islands (Alaska)--Description and travel.
[from
                      old catalog]
                    Alaska Highway. [from old catalog]

LC Classification:  F909 .P2

Geog. Area Code:    n-us-ak

                         ______________________________

CALL NUMBER:        F909 .P2
                    Copy 1

-- Request in:      Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies
Reading
                      Rms
-- Status:          Not Charged
                         ______________________________

CALL NUMBER:        F909 .P2
                    Copy 2

-- Request in:      Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies
Reading
                      Rms
-- Status:          Not Charged

================================================================================

LC Control Number:     47000468 

Type of Material:   Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)

Personal Name:      Godsell, Philip Henry, 1889- [from old catalog]

Main Title:         Alaska highway 

Published/Created:  London, S. Low, Marston and company, limited
[1946]

Description:        p. cm.

Subjects:           Alaska highway. [from old catalog]
                    Northwest, Canadian--History. [from old catalog]

LC Classification:  F1060.9 .G62

Geog. Area Code:    n-cn---

                         ______________________________

CALL NUMBER:        F1060.9 .G62
                    Copy 1

-- Request in:      Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies
Reading
                      Rms
-- Status:          Not Charged

================================================================================


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ONLINE CATALOG
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
EMAIL: lconline@loc.gov

http://loc.gov


Hope that's helpful....

sublime1-ga

xxx