Elvis Presley Boulevard: From Sea to Shining Sea, Almost

Winegardner offers a travel book that celebrates the ""macrocosm'' of America, the ``common road'' of the turnpike. After summers of family travel in various RVs (his parents ran a dealership), he develops an ``eminently American wanderlust . . . a love of crossing state lines'' that leads him to take a two-month, $500 trip with an old college friend. This time he travels in a '68 Chevy Impala dubbed El Basurero (Spanish for either garbage heap or garbage man). They discover that no matter where they go in the U.S., they encounter Elvis Presley in some form: ``Give us this day our daily Elvis.'' The trip and Winegardner's childhood recollections, told with nostalgia and a good dose of cynicism, make for a great story. (January)