enlightening and enjoyable travelogue

Far Appalachia: Following the New River North by Noah Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Far Appalachia is a nicely written travelogue tracing the New River from its source in the mountains of Western NC to its destination in the Kanawha River in West Virginia. In the tradition of a great travelogue, the authors journey describes many interesting places along the way, talking to people, recounting history, giving context, and relating personal experiences. In reading, i found many connections that our family has to the New River that we didn't even know about. For one, a branch of the headwaters runs literally through the campus of the university where one of our children did their undergrad degree. Another connection is that we have driven along side it countless times going to our favorite camping location in SW Virginia. After reading, we want to make a point of exploring more of the New River, especially New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in WV. Far Appalachia is an enlightening and enjoyable tale, in the good company of books by William Least Heat-Moon (the Blue Highways trilogy), Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods and others) and of course John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley.

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