When wildfire destroyed her home in the hills above Los Angeles, award-winning author, Megan Edwards seized the opportunity that her sudden "stufflessness" offered. She hit the road with her husband and dog in the Phoenix One, the four-wheel-drive motorhome that "rose from the ashes." This is the story of how a sabbatical that began with no itinerary and no return date grew into a five-year North American odyssey with a mission" "to be at work, at home, and on the road, all at the same grand moment."
"In Roads from the Ashes, Megan Edwards and her husband Mark face this decision after their house in the hills of Pasadena, California, burns down in the Altadena wildfires of 1993. Finding themselves without a single thing to anchor them, they decide—reasonably enough—to wander. They scrape together the money to buy a four-wheel-drive behemoth of a home on wheels, and together with their dog Marvin they set out to reinvent themselves and their definition of home. Edwards also explores matters of identity—trying on new labels like homeless, unemployed, finding that they don’t fit, and that the old labels don’t either. There is also the inevitability of tension, bickering, of outright civil warfare in such close quarters, as well as the ability of a well-placed geothermal hot spring to heal heart, soul and marriage."--Tiffany Pace, (Mind Bets) (06/01/2019)
"This is an excellent memoir, originally published twenty years ago but well worth the re-run. By the end you will find yourself appreciating the introduction of life as the Edwards lived it for the seven years they traveled. An excellent picture of California life in the 1990's, the personal pain of losing all you possess in a single day, and the joys and angst of following your heart down back country roads in a four wheel drive motorhome." --Bonnie Reed Fry,
"This is a book to stir dreams of distant places, a remarkable journey down unknown roads of travel and self-exploration. Edwards relates the stories of their Amrican adventures and misadventures in the compelling style of a novelist, with humor, drama and brilliant imagery. A journey worth taking." --Al Martinez, Los Angeles Times (from a review of the 1999 edition)Read more...