Graham Coster A Thousand Miles From Nowhere

Annotation

Coster takes the reader through Europe and the United States on long-haul trucks. As he accompanies a load of ice cream and beer from England to Moscow and Minsk, the reader learns about the European trucking subculture and its problems: long queues at borders, currency hassles, and the economics of delivering cargo to a country such as Russia, which has little to offer for return trips. In the United States, Coster includes two cross-country runs, to Seattle and Laredo, Texas. While these trips lack some of Europe's problems, there are still the pressures of "just-in-time" delivery, rate wars, and the myriad state laws, all of which present challenges. The long distances allow for rumination by both author and the various drivers with whom he travels. Stories are of trips past, favorite music, favorite trucks, and life on the road.