Down Vagabond Roads


$20.00 + Free Shipping
978-0-9998058-2-4

Lakeshore Press/East, 1205 Hague Av., St. Paul MN 55104 USA

[Yes, it says “donate,” but you are simply buying the book. Thanks!]

On the edge of the Sahara's Great Eastern Erg, Alex & Evan Gabriel battle a sandstorm.

Dive into these slices from a traveling life, covering everything from the first stumbling attempts at exploration by a young child, on up through madcap hitchhiking adventures and globe-encircling journeys that lasted years on end. Down Vagabond Roads offers linked trios of pieces—triptychs, as it were—that reflect the shifting prisms of road philosophies or particularly rich slices of exploration. The result is almost a cubist approach, complete with overlapping perspectives and unexpected digressions.

Lamu Town from deck of dhow, off coast of East Africa.

This collection of travel memoirs spans over half a century, and many dozens of countries. Some triptychs derive from specific journeys, such as “North & East Africa, 1978-79,” while others coalesce around travel themes like “Approaches to the Divine” and “The Prism of the Arts.” On occasion, an intriguing digression crosses our path, such as “The Lost Art of Map Reading,” or “The Traveler Adrift.” Let go the lifeline and follow the winding currents out into the deep waters.

Each morning I'd climb out of my sleeping bag in the back of the car, slide into the front, and start scoping out the day's possibilities. British Isles, 1978.


Daniel Gabriel camped in 12 countries before he was 12 months old, and hasn’t stopped traveling since. En route, he’s been a sailor in Scandinavia and the West Indies, picked apples in the Alps, run a country pub in Wales, taught English in Spain, and roadied for Sly & the Family Stone, among other endeavors. 100 countries on, he’s still following those vagabond roads . . .

A boat, a canal, and a bike. Let the road stretch on forever.