Over the course of almost two years, I completed the Guinness World Record longest road in the world: The Pan-American Highway. This road stretches from the Arctic Ocean at the northern end of Alaska, 500 miles above the Arctic Circle, all the way through the entirety of North, Central, and South America to as far south as you can drive in Argentina. Through traveling by camper van, hitchhiking, buses, boats, motorcycles, and almost anything else you can think of, I achieved my dream of conquering this magnificent road.

Needless to say, it was quite the adventure: 16 countries, dozens of national parks, big cities, small towns, exhilarating outdoor activities, endless fiestas, too many kind and crazy people to count, and just about anything this solo gringo could find to fully experience how wild the Americas can really be. And it all comes together in this one thrilling project.

Each chapter of this book is a standalone short story, list, ranking, draft, or rant that will give you a snapshot of what it was like to carry out a voyage like this. Maybe there will be a chapter about me getting robbed at gunpoint by the cartel, or one of me ranking the 20 best national parks in all of the Americas. You might read about me sleeping next to an erupting volcano, and then right after it read about me sleeping in a Porta Potty. Who knows?

This isn’t one of those travel journals that’s like “Day 1 I did this…” “Day 2 I did that…” that goes through the whole trip start to finish. That can be really boring if you aren’t a travel nerd like me. Instead, you can skip around and read out of order if you like, and by the time you finish the whole thing you will have heard all of the wildest tales from this trip, giving you a comprehensive look into what it was really like to do something this huge. If one chapter title sounds interesting to you, you can jump right to it. If another chapter sounds deathly boring, you can avoid it like tap water in Mexico. Choose your adventure type of vibe (fitting, huh?)

The entire book is illustrated with original 35mm film that I shot throughout the journey, hopefully making it an engaging visual experience for all ages.