Author and railroad enthusiast to appear April 1 at Nevada State Railroad Museum
Author and railroad enthusiast, Ed Davis will be kicking off the The Great American Whistle Stop Book Tour (15-city, 30-day, 6,500-mile tour) at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City on Friday, April 1, 6 p.m.
Ed is celebrating the release of his new novel, "The Last Professional," a book Midwest Book Review noted as, “a new novel in the tradition of Kerouac” where he will be visiting local bookstores, rail stations and museums to talk about the history of train hopping across the US, hobo culture, and the rich “analog” time in this country where adventure was truly just a freight car away.
Before the current boom in “van life” and nomadic living, author Ed Davis rode the rails — hopping box cars and freight trains — from Reno to Vancouver, through the Sierra and up and down the Golden State.
As a young man he lived on $5 a day, worked as a carny and even slept under the same bridge Kerouac once did. Living as a part-time hobo, he and his friends — the “knights of the road” — experienced a world that no longer exists. Those treks across the country eventually led Ed to become a successful business owner, a champion discus thrower, author, and a loving husband to his wife, Jan, who on occasion had even hopped the trains with him. An impassioned traveler and raconteur, Ed Davis wants to share his America with you and your viewers.
Jerry Cimino, founder of San Francisco’s The Beat Museum says it best: “With 'The Last Professional' Davis has done for American railroads what Kerouac did for American highways, and Steinbeck did for American nomads.”