ROAD READS
ROAD READS
"Pedaling to Hawaii," by Stevie Smith
Sunday, July 9, 2006; Page P09
BOOK: "Pedaling to Hawaii," by Stevie Smith (Countryman, $23.95)
TARGET AUDIENCE: People with a dream. A really stupid dream.
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You keep reading this book because you can't believe how foolhardy these guys are. The original idea was to circumnavigate the world from London by bicycle and boat, even though neither Smith nor his school chum, Jason, knew anything about bicycles. Or boats. Or bothered to learn much about them before starting out. Although they are lovably inept, you wonder, "What will these twits screw up next?"
In Moksha, a specially designed 26-foot oceangoing pedal boat, they brave storms, hallucinations, reefs and behemoth freighters, but the principal challenge is coexisting in a small space with another human being. And living on surplus military rations declared outdated and inedible five years earlier. The book stops at Hawaii, where Smith bails out of the project. There is another journey story here as well -- a rewarding account of emotional development and understanding. A caveat: Smith's language is sometimes saltier than the water in Mok-sha's bilge.
--Jerry V. Haines
