Shawn Inmon

Not a bad story. I did buy the next few in the series (collection). The story is not deep, and not really about time travel but more along the lines of "what if I could redo my life from some point in my past".

It has a bit of a YA feel. Perhaps it is a YA title? Anyway, I was thinking there could have been some sections removed entirely (such as Zack's track "story"), but then again, perhaps that is setting up for one of the other stories in this collection. (I believe the entire series is the same set of characters/town, it's just the main character/focus that changes.… (más)

I fully enjoyed both the story and the performance of this audiobook. I found the names confusing - would always prefer normal names, but many authors create special names for their characters. See my Audible review.

FROM AMAZON: The wall just didn’t look right. Alex has been trying to cope. Life after his deployment had been rough. His ex-wife thought he needed to stop disappointing their daughter. She was right.

He would try harder.

With six hours before his little girl’s fourth birthday party, he saw the anomaly. One wall was too short. Plenty of time to tear out a panel and look behind it. He found a brick wall. His house wasn’t made of brick.

Behind that was another just like the first. He still had time. When the second wall came down, Alex stood and stared at the shining doorway. Next to it, held up by a knife, was a note. It was a warning - and he didn’t listen.… (más)

A Lap Around Alaska is actually only 158 pages long, but this eBook included two other short stories, which were just alright: My First Alaskan Summer (1974) and My Matanuska Summer (1976), making it 227 pages total...not bad for $1.06!

I really enjoyed this little read because this is exactly the way me and my husband travel. We are 55 years old. We pick an interesting destination that we’d like to see. We plan a few key points of interest to definitely stop and see and photograph along the way. Other than that, we pack clothes and snacks and travel by the seat of our pants. We let the road dictate, we’re always up for surprises, and we cross our fingers for a motel somewhere along the way to have a good night’s sleep.

This author is 57 years old, just two years older than us. He lives in Seaview, which is a part of Long Beach, Washington. He decided to set out in mid-April on this 22-day solo Alaskan adventure from one end of the Alaska Highway, which connects Alaska to the U.S. from Dawson Creek, Canada, via Whitehorse, Yukon, and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, in an old 1997 Subaru Outback Wagon. He was smart and had all his belts changed out and put four brand new tires on the vehicle before setting out.

Follow along his route with a map of Alaska, or better yet, have your cell phone handy so you can follow along with Google map. I would LOVE to one day make this trek. It took him 3 days to reach the AlCan Highway from Seaview, Washington. His first stop, and beginning of his Alaskan adventure, was a night over at Tok. Skipping to Day 8, he had made his way to the Dalton Highway, (the Trans-Alaska Pipeline), beginning at Valdez...considered to be the most dangerous and the loneliest highway in America (p. 64). He made Denali National Park, then drove the Parks Highway headed north to Wasilla, town where Sarah Palin is from. He drove from there down the Glenn Highway to Eklutna to see the 1830's Russian church and colorful graveyard with their spirit houses. Then he headed south to Anchorage through the Matanuska Valley, reported to be one of the most beautiful places on earth, and a place where he and his older brother tried to grow some dope back in 1979…but moose ate up all their profits. Next stop, on Day 12, 13 and 14, he made the round trip on the Kenai Peninsula, stopping at Seward, Soltdotna and Homer, to where the road ends at Homer Spit, then headed back up to Kenai, and Anchor Point...the most westward point in the U.S. On Day 16, he drove off the Kenai Peninsula and back to Valdez. This route pretty much concluded the "road" trip tour through Alaska. To view other parts of Alaska, one would have to take bush planes or travel by boat.

His goal was to experience as much of the local culture as possible by travelling along the backroads, eating at small local diners and cafes, sleeping in roadside motels, and taking advantage of what ever the road offers up to him along the way. Make note that mid-April may not be the best time to travel Alaska, as the snow is just melting and everything outdoors is covered in thick grime and mud. Mud everywhere! Google says the best time to travel Alaska is between mid-June and mid-August, and if you go at the ends of either one of these, you’ll most likely run into a lot of rain or snow.… (más)