Time to give Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels a try. Seems everyone I know who is at least a semi-serious biker has read the thing, some folks multiple times. My past resistance to reading it is that I often find travelogues wearisome, boringly "sequential," and lacking creative inspiration: "I went here, the people were like this, I went there, the people were like that, I then shifted over to this part of the country, and the food tasted like this, and Damn! My bike broke down! and Thank Gawd! The guy who just pulled over happens to have the proper wrench.... " ad infinitum. Oh, and let us not forget the requisite (oft taboo) love interest. Obviously, as a book that's continuously referred to as an inspirational classic, I can expect much more.
I think you will be surprised by the book. It's very well written, and I agree with your assessment of a lot of travelogues. The book has gotten overly hyped over the last few years, but this is one of those cases where the book does live up to its name, in my opinion.
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