Riding with Ghosts

An account of Gwen Maka's cycle ride from Seattle to Mexico. The book tells of her exploits while reliving the history of vanished American Indian nations.

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This is the frank, often outrageous, account of a forty-something Englishwoman's epic 4,000 mile cycle ride from Seattle to Mexico, via the snow-covered Rocky Mountains. She travels the length and breadth of the American West, mostly alone and camping in the wild. She runs appalling risks and copes in a gutsy, hilarious way with exhaustion, climatic extremes, dangerous animals, eccentrics, lechers and a permanently saddle-sore bum. We share her deep involvement with the West's pioneering past, and with the strong, often tragic traces history has left lingering on the land. When she rides the faded trails of the vanished American Indian nations she displays an almost psychic sensitivity to the atmosphere of the spectacular landscape, as if all the dramatic and poignant moments of its vibrant past are hanging invisibly in the air, only waiting for her to conjure them up vividly - sometimes with humour and frequently with passion. As she travels, the ghosts of Lewis and Clark, Chief Joseph and Geronimo, Custer and Crazy Horse - all the legendary figures of the Old West, ride with her.
We feel their presence constantly, and every now and then we almost catch a glimpse of them, just beyond the corner of our eye.