Ribbon of Highway: By Bus Along the Trans-Canada

Susan Ash, formerly a teacher and librarian, is a travel agent in
Thompson, Manitoba.

Kildare Dobbs, Irish but born in India, worked in East Africa before
coming to Canada in 1952. His first book, Running to Paradise (1962),
won a Governor General’s Literary Award. He has had four nominations
for national magazine awards, three of which were for travel writing.

In 1991 it seemed to Dobbs that his country was disintegrating.
Determined to rediscover Canada for himself—before it broke up—he
traveled more than 7000 miles by bus along the world’s longest
national highway, the Trans-Canada, which runs from St. John’s, Nfld.,
to Victoria, B.C. During the bus ride, seatmates told their stories to
him. Dobbs felt that the people who rode the buses were more likely to
share their thoughts about Canada with him rather than “talk to royal
commissions or phone-in shows or write to newspapers.”

This book is not so much about destinations as it is a journey in which
the author discovers his own identity as a Canadian. Anyone seeking a
vision of Canada as manifested in “ordinary” people will find it
interesting and informative.