A WITTY travel book documenting a Devon couple’s 4,000 odyssey from ‘Sea to shining sea’ across America goes on sale this month.

Julian Bishop and his wife Lorna Bulpin are both Devon born, met at 15 in Newton Abbot when their interest in politics met at a general election.  Forty years later they now live in Georgia (the American one). 

‘High Wide and Handsome – An American Journey’ by Julian Bishop, published by Travellers Press, is due out in early February. 

It is available from Amazon both as a paperback and Kindle version.  An audio version will appear later in February.

The book relates their four thousand mile journey from ‘sea to shining sea’ as early Americans described their land which stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Threading through the book Julian related another other journey, that of the United States. 

With wit and perception, he shows what makes America; its great parks, history and the foibles of its people.  He corrects many misconceptions we have from the influence of its Constitution on ordinary people to its education system. 

He has practical advice ranging from how to deal with an unexpected encounter with a bear to calculating the temperature from a cricket’s click.

At the end any traveller, armchair or footloose, will get views of America away from the theme parks. Some of the many State and National Parks, that attract Americans in the millions, find them reaching for their kayak.

Julian says the reader will also get a greater understanding of what makes America the greatest country in the world, peopled by a nation who know their Constitution and are not as many a stereotype portrays.

Their families have many close links with the town. The Bulpin family used to run the garage opposite the Mid-Devon Advertiser’s offices in Wolborough Street.  Julian’s mother, Marilyn Bishop, was secretary of the Newton Abbot Art Society and is a well-known lecturer. She is currently givin her talks to a wider audience using zoom

To find out more about Julian and his book (ISBN 978-1-7364460-0-3) visit his website www.julian-bishop.com