Road Dreams - An American Adventure

This book uses material from Elliott Bristow's Super 8 film diary of his 14 year, 500,000 mile road trip around America between 1968 & 1982. There are 147 pages, 330 images, 33 pages of road stories, plus 11 film clips and 7 short films (50 mins total).


The era recorded in this diary now feels like another world, far removed from  today's always on connections and surveillance. The journey began at a time when gas could be got for 33 cents a gallon, before VHS video tapes even existed, and when contact with home was kept up by occasional hand written letters. It's also a tale connected to some lucky breaks - getting mugged at gunpoint a week after arriving in New York from England being one (unexpected) example. Perhaps the most positive component has to do with Elliott being one of those fortunate people who, given the opportunity to live out their fantasy of freedom, found it lived up to expectations. Road Dreams is a very visual record of one man's love affair with the American road.