Peter Egan talks about his new book, Landings in America.

Take a trip back in time as Peter Egan talks about his brand-new book, Landings in America. The book covers how the popular motorcycle and automotive travel writer flew a Piper Cub around the United States in 1987. Octane Press publisher Lee Klancher conducts this lively conversation that covers why Peter went on the trip, how he came to write the book, and offers an overview of some of the interesting adventures along the way.

BOOK DESCRIPTION
In the summer of 1987 automotive journalist Peter Egan gave in to his lifelong fascination with classic airplanes and pursued the third branch of his addiction to romantic modes of travel—namely, flying. Carrying only the barest essentials—a pup tent, a wad of cash, and a change of clothing—Peter and his wife Barb took off on a six-week, seven-thousand-mile trip around the US in their yellow 1945 J-3 Piper Cub. The places they stumbled upon and the people they encountered would change their lives forever. Between musings on being outpaced by the toy-sized eighteen-wheelers beneath their wings and flashbacks to nearly setting a Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s house on fire, Egan captures the essence of a modern pilgrimage.

Landings in America is Peter Egan’s homage to the enduring spirit of exploration that has defined his work. Punctuated with the witty repartee that his longtime readers have grown to revere, the story is equal parts travel adventure, memoir of post-Vietnam era America, and trek into personal reflections triggered by the places and names one couple encountered along their flight path.

Always in the background of their trip is the unspoken search for a new place to live, far away from the urban sprawl and crowded freeways of California, a possible rehearsal for someday flying home.

Link to the book
https://octanepress.com/book/landings...

ABOUT PETER EGAN
Peter Egan is one of the world’s most popular automotive and motorcycle journalists. Best-known for his much-loved columns and feature articles in Cycle World and Road & Track magazines, his work drives home the simple joys of being a motoring enthusiast as well as a keen observer of what makes life worth living.
Egan was born in St. Paul, grew up in the small town of Elroy, Wisconsin, served in the US Army in Vietnam, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1971 with a degree in journalism. He worked as a foreign car mechanic in Madison for nine years to support his passion for sports car and motorcycle road racing and wrote several freelance travel stories for Cycle World magazine in his spare time. In 1980, the magazine, based in Newport Beach, California, hired him as a staff editor, and he and his wife Barbara moved to California.
In 1983, he was hired by Cycle World’s sister magazine, Road & Track, and continued to write for both magazines through the decade. While living in California, Peter and Barbara took flying lessons at Orange County Airport and became licensed pilots. After renting aircraft for several years, they bought a 1945 Piper Cub and kept it at the small airport in Corona.
They moved back to Wisconsin in 1990, taking the Piper Cub with them, and settled down in the country, near the town of Stoughton. Barbara worked as a physical therapist with disabled children and Peter continued to write columns and feature stories for Cycle World and Road & Track for the next thirty years. They are retired now, but still working full time taking care of their dog, six cats, and several old cars, motorcycles, and vintage guitars. Or rehearsing with Egan’s garage band, The Defenders.