There is no better friend to the historic traveler than a well-written traveler's guide to one of America's many historic highways, and Finley has produced this one.
In this mile-by-mile guidebook, Finley takes the traveler every step of the way from Phoenix to San Diego along this historic and nearly forgotten route. Like Route 66, to the north, U.S. Highway 80 fell into little use after the advent of the interstate highways. One of the joys of traveling these "old" roads is the lack of traffic congestion and the opportunity to view much of the countryside unchanged, or close to its original state.
This is especially true for U.S. Highway 80, as much of it traverses rare desert wilderness areas, and small, nostalgic communities. Even in the developed areas of Phoenix and San Diego, there is much history to discover and Finley takes care to point it out.
Beginning in downtown Phoenix, the author's guiding hand takes you gently from milepost to milepost all the way from the heart of the Sonoran Desert to the restful shores of the Pacific. Don't read this book if you're afraid to learn something new - Finley has managed to turn up details of history that will leave you with new insight into Arizona's distant and not-so-distant past.
Oddities and historical surprises abound, and Finley's guide is happily illustrated with many old photos, drawings and illustrations. You'll come across railroads, bridges and old stagecoach routes, as well as learn about mining, irrigation and the development of the west. And driving through the part of the country, you can get a real feel for the isolation and struggle of those who forged this pathway once called "The Devil's Highway," across hundreds of mile of desert.
Finley plans to write more guidebooks on the various legs of Old U.S. Highway 80, which originally ran from Savannah to San Diego. There is at least one reviewer looking forward to his future volumes.
To order a copy, click here
or contact Erik J. Finley via email at: narrow@juno.com.
