Good Vibrations: Coast to Coast by Harley

Review by Philip Blazdell

I am not a biker. I have only once been on a bike – and that left such an impression that now when I walk down the street and see someone revving up a bike I break out into a cold sweat. So, it was, with some trepidation, that I began to read this book.

Tom Cunliff and his spunky wife Roz decide to traverse the USA on a pair of Harley Davidson motor bikes. Tom and Roz are English; Tom an experienced rider, Roz has just passed her test. Tom ships his own full-blown Fat Boy over to States for the trip whilst Roz buys a 'small bike', an 883 Sportster on the East Coast. The guy who sells her the Sporty isn't sure it's big enough to make the round trip to San Francisco and back in one piece and Roz herself isn't sure she is physically capable of the trip. However, they soon depart on a spiritual and somewhat philosophical trip across the US which encompasses everything from trailer park culture to Psycho-style motels, encounters with Hurricane Bertha and an eclectic collection of people from moonshiners, ol'blues men to hillbillies.

Throughout their journey, Tom and Roz are tested by the weather, by the roads and entertained by the people and the landscape they pass through. They encounter astonishing hospitality and occasional hostility. All the time the message is driven home: America is not simply Britain on a bigger scale. It is a foreign as any other country and the shared language misleads as much as it informs. America is big, and America is different. However, the author, who is supremely quotable and has such an eye for detail and subtle characterisation that whole sections of the book will make you swoon and wish for the feel of the desert sun on you face, captures these cultural nuances with such a deft touch that you feel he really understands, and appreciates the country like few foreigners ever could.

As a non-biker (and someone who is inherently afraid of anything mechanical) I was pleasantly surprised how enjoyable the Cunliff made the biking seem and how profoundly the author captures of solitude and pathos of moderna America, 'As the clear drops ran off her waxed tank to drip over the shining complexity of her power plant, each one carried an image, a tiny world that lasted only long enough to land on the smooth black gloss and run to the edge. Letting go its despairing hold on the underside to tumble onto the cylinder fins, its doom was sealed as surely as that of an iceberg sailing down from Labrador to meet the warm Gulf Stream...'

This is a deeply moving book. The author is clearly deeply in love with his wife, his bike and the American landscape. This gentle passion for life, when interweaved with solidly researched historical fact, amusing anecdotes and quirky observations makes this book deeply satisfying. I won't be rushing out to buy a Hog in the near future, but I am sure I will be re-reading this book and quoting it for years to come.

• Good Vibrations: Coast to Coast by Harley by Tom Cunliff