Just in time for America’s 250th birthday—because what better way to celebrate than with a genuine, entertaining, soul-searching road trip through the actual country? 

     John W. Butler, an author, award-winning broadcaster, and podcaster, is an authentic voice with stories from the roads less traveled, the diners more deliciously cozy, and the people more real than anything you’ll see on cable news. It’s destined to become a classic along with On The Road by Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, and William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways, with fewer dogs and more coffee stops. 

      His 33,321-mile road trip redefines the "Heartland," embracing the places and stories from sea to shining sea. “I go in search of the real America beyond the scare-you-to-death news headlines. Embracing the pace of a wanderer -- not a tourist. I was a "detourist." I didn't follow an itinerary. Followed hunches and locals saying, "It's just 15 minutes that way-you can't miss it." Spoiler: I missed it. But what I found instead was better.”    

     John Butler intended to make a quick sweep across America to check its pulse, but his trip turned into an unexpectedly inspiring loop-de-loop of 33,321 miles. Awaken your inner wanderlust as you embark with the author, a disillusioned Texas radio personality, who swaps his broadcast desk for a rambling journey through small towns, vibrant cities, and sprawling countryside in search of our country’s heart and maybe even its soul.

    Ditching the convenience of his Dallas home and ease of air travel, this curious writer outfits an Airstream Sprinter van he named ARGO after the first steamship to intentionally circumnavigate the earth. If he’s to find the essence of America, he’ll do so not through staged, grab-and-go interviews or sound bites but via deep dives into normal lives—at the pace they’re lived and where our neighbors eat, shop, bowl, worship, watch their home high school team, and enjoy first light or the setting sun.

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    Amidst his immersive trip, this inquisitive road warrior encounters everyday Americans crafting solutions, fostering community, and living engaged lives that challenge the stereotypes often portrayed in the media. Along the way, Butler wrestles with his own mortality and past, encounters unexpected potholes and detours, spends a good bit of time in repair shops and down-on-your-luck motels, shares close encounters with a menagerie of wildlife and a host of colorful people living disparately but sharing a few commonalities—the least of which is the dirt beneath their feet, the home they yet call the good ol’ U.S. of A.

 

    From the birch forests of Maine to the palmed Hollywood Hills, from the challenging Mexican border to the gilded Canadian Rockies, ride along on this singular adventure and--perhaps for the first time--allow yourself to fall in love with the real America--the folks with big hearts and warm souls who open their doors and arms to a total stranger for one reason: to learn through his discoveries that which yet unites us. He follows his itchy feet to discover America one story at a time—and learn a fair bit about himself along the way.