TREK by Rand Bishop
Publisher: Weightless Cargo Press (August 20, 2019)
Category: Memoir, Travel, Politics, Culture
Tour dates: Oct-Nov, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7330299-0-2
Available in Print and ebook, 384 pages
Description
2017, America was turning mean. Heartsick, Rand Bishop couldn’t sit idly by. His action plan, however, had friends and family questioning his sanity. At 67, on bad knees and arthritic feet, with minimal camping experience and zero knowledge of long distance hiking, Rand set out to walk 900-miles, from Southern California to the Central Oregon Coast.
How an aging pilgrim managed to survive a 90-day test of will and endurance is only a fraction of this inspiring tale. The newfound hope Rand gained by listening to and interacting with a thousand people from nearly every walk of life is the true heartbeat of the TREK story.
Guest Review by Sal A.
Some books take you on a journey. Sometimes, you start reading in your comfy chair with the daylight streaming in around you and the fire burning in the woodstove and before you know it, you look up again and it’s pitch black outside and the fire has completely gone out. With some books it’s just like that.
Rand Bishop’s ‘Trek’ took me on a journey. And this time it was literal.
Two years ago, Rand Bishop noticed a problem. He wasn’t sleeping very well. He decided that the reason was the discontent and anguish that he was feeling about the current political situation in the United States. This was shortly after the 2016 election, when bigotry, racism and sexism (among other ‘isms’) seemed to suddenly come roaring back to life in full force. Bishop refers to this as a “culture of meanness” and it’s something that he felt was rising up and smothering all American people.
The only problem was, he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Bishop was no politician. He was (and is) a regular guy with a love of playing guitar and a dog named Millie. So, he decided that he would protest peacefully in the form of a walk. Bishop’s ‘Trek’ took place during the summer of 2017 and went all the way up Highway 101 from Southern California to Oregon. All told, this route goes for about 1,500 miles along the coast, but Bishop was not deterred by the length of the journey. He was determined to make some sort of difference in the way he knew how.
Along the route, Bishop met with many interesting people and heard their stories. The book is filled with that charm and charisma that make up Americana in its purest form. I can’t recommend this highly enough and I think you’ll find it just as enlightening as I did. I give it a solid 5 out of 5 stars.
Advance Praise TREK by Rand Bishop
“I love this book. I laughed, I cried, I walked down memory lane. I drove a big truck for 12 years, many by myself. I know those roads and my feet hurt just reading about this journey. Thank you, Rand, for sharing your story.”-Nancy B. Thompson, Amazon
“The author’s musings on this once in a lifetime adventure make the reader feel as if she is on the trail alongside, experiencing all the emotional highs and lows without getting blisters on her feet. I loved every word; every page; every chapter! TREK is a delightful a book ~ I didn’t want it to end!”-Robyn Taylor-Drake, Amazon
“I loved turning to TREK when I couldn’t take the news any longer. It was like I was able to follow along in my worn down tennies — go at the pilgrim’s pace, meet the people he was meeting, see what he was looking at, while feeling the swoosh of trucks zooming by way too close and way too fast. More than a trek, this is a journey of discovery!”-Randall Platt, Amazon
Writing Awards
First Place Nashville Screenwriting Conference for the original screenplay Tin Roof.
Three Star Award The Tennessean.
About the Author
Oregon native Rand Bishop is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, platinum music producer, musician/singer, author, and lifelong activist for peace, justice, and equality. In his 45 years as a music-business professional, Rand recorded for major labels, shared stages and harmonized with legends, contributed compositions to more than a dozen feature-film and TV soundtracks, several stage musicals, and amassed more than 300 tunesmithing credits.
Rand has authored five published books, is an optioned, award-winning screenwriter, a produced playwright, and, for six years, penned a bi-monthly column for American Songwriter Magazine. He has served on the boards of directors of three non-profits and currently acts as music director for the Central Oregon Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. In June, 2019, Rand premiered his original, one-man, musical, stage performance, TREK on Stage.
Website: http://randbishoptrek.com/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/randbishoppage/
Buy TREK
Giveaway
This giveaway is for the winner’s choice of one print or ebook copy of the book. Print is open to the U.S. only and ebook is available worldwide. There will be 3 winners. This giveaway ends November 1, 2019, midnight pacific time.
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