The Long and Winding Road

Highway 97 winds from Weed, California, to the Yukon border - a distance of 3200 kilometres (2042 miles), making it North America's longest south-north roadway. In Oregon and Washington, it takes you through lava beds and deserts, arid uplands and forests, orchards and vineyards. Above the Canadian border, roadside vegetable and fruit stands abound en route to BC's sunny Okanagan, home to 60 outstanding wineries. Turquoise lakes, mighty rivers and marble canyons can be seen as one moves north to the historic Cariboo region, where endless trout lakes, rolling ranchland, gold-rush lore and friendly people make it a land for all seasons. And then there's the raw, untamed north, a frontier unto itself.Travelling Highway 97 is about scenery, leisure and the joy of skirting a lake or following a river on old-fashioned, two-lane blacktop. It's about coffee and pie at a roadside diner where only the customers change from decade to decade. It's about dusty towns and dynamic cities, gorges and ghost towns, past and present. In this information-packed book that features many of his own striking colour photographs, Jim Couper takes you on a trip from one end of this unsung highway to the other, mixing historical anecdotes with information on local events and points of interest. Covering everything from hot springs and volcanoes to pioneer villages and wineries, Couper has created an entertaining, practical guide that will be invaluable to anyone interested in this fascinating road.