Travel
THE SLOW ROAD TO DEADHORSE
AN ENGLISHMAN'S DISCOVERIES AND REFLECTIONS ON THE BACKROADS OF NORTH AMERICA
By James Anthony
The community of Deadhorse, Alaska (population 25) lies 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, at the northern terminus of the Pan-American Highway, the longest road in the world. Key West, Florida, sits at the southern tip of the Florida Keys, an archipelago of coral islands jutting into the Caribbean warmth of the Mexican Gulf.
Between Key West and Deadhorse lies most of North America.
Londoner James Anthony decided to drive between the two, adjusting his GPS settings to 'avoid highways,' letting an inanimate piece of technology guide him left-right through the byways, back roads, country lanes and mountain passes of this vast continent.
Along the way, he was serenaded in an African-American Church in Miami; went peanut farming in Georgia; hitched a ferry ride across the Mississippi with moonshine-drinking locals; got drunk with a North Dakotan farmer who had three months to live; survived a haunting in Saskatchewan; was nearly squashed by an irate buffalo in the Northern Rockies; and arrived at the Arctic Ocean just before freeze-up.
Part travelogue, history, social commentary, and good-time escapism, The Slow Road to Deadhorse chronicles an Englishman’s road-trip through the North America most people never get to see.
“I love the therapeutic qualities of the open road: the broad skies of an empty land; the mild trepidation of what awaits in the next hamlet; the people and stories just out of sight.
Travelling slowly reveals the character of a place. Hence, the premise for my ‘Slow Road’ series: pootle across a vast land via its backroads, letting serendipity be my guide.
Come along for the ride!”
Upcoming books
The Slow Road to Muckle Flugga
In Search of the Motherland
After nine years living in the USA, James Anthony reacquaints himself with his British homeland by driving from the Isles of Scilly at the south-west tip of England to the rocky outcrop of Muckle Flugga, the northernmost point of Scotland’s Shetland Islands. What might he learn with a fresh American perspective? What might have changed since he’s been away? And what antics might he get up to along the way? Only one way to find out.
Coming 2025 — subscribe at the bottom of the page for progress updates.
The Slow Road to Nordkapp
Travels through Europe to the Arctic
It’s 3,421 backroad miles from the monkey rock of Gibraltar to the northern tip of Norway, deep in the Arctic on the edge of Barents sea. Passing through seven countries, what stories are waiting to be uncovered?
Timing TBC — subscribe at the bottom of the page for progress updates.
The Slow Road to Kathmandu
Trundling over the India Subcontinent
This might be tricky: from Point Dondra lighthouse in southern Sri Lanka to Kathmandu via the heartlands of India.
Timing TBC — subscribe at the bottom of the page for progress updates.