Freedom on the Highway is a true story that took two decades to finish. This unusual tale is about a young man who left his homeland to travel the world. Not only was this a challenge unto itself but in the ten years that followed Johnny put some 64,000 miles of hitching under his belt. (This was more than likely one of the greatest hitchhiking feats in history.)
The first 70 pages of this novel covers Johnny's upbringing which took place in the southeastern part of England. Having spirits for playmates for the beginning of his life, this book then goes into the insane acts of so called 'discipline' in England's schooling system at the time. Sadly, caning and throwing chalkboard erasers at non attentive students heads was quite a common practice by the tutors in the early 80's.
Leaving school at the age of 15, there was a bitter taste for authority, left hanging over this young mans shoulders. Maybe it was a combination of the above that subliminally dictated the pathway that came next. The alternative lifestyle of punk rock and the freedom that it entailed was what caught Johnny's attention.
Finally at the age of twenty, he'd had enough of what the rock that had sustained his life up to that point had to offer. Living and traveling around parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada and Asia was what took up the majority of the next ten years that followed.
This lengthy 700 page narrative (when in PDF format or in a hard back cover) goes into the first 3 years of that hitchhiking spree. This story does cover the above places mentioned.
The inspiration for writing this very book was based more on the fact that Johnny left England knowing hardly anyone. In the decade that followed, he only slept rough a mere eight nights. While on the road he couldn't afford the luxuries of motels and expensive hotels.
What makes this story so unique is that most of his accommodations came from the very people who picked him up hitchhiking. Never once while thumbing a ride did this young man indicate that he was homeless; which in all actuality he was for the best part of ten years. Simply put, this unique tale had to be told!
Please be advised that there are quite a few profanities in this book and they are used to express 'a lot' of frustration. What Johnny went through on his travels (and more so with the law enforcement agencies in the U.S.) certainly didn't make life particularly pleasant. So if words of this nature offend the reader, then please don't purchase this story. This novel is for persons over the age of 18 only.
All of the statistics in this account are relevant and up to the year of 1991. Since then maybe a building has been erected that's higher than the Sears Tower in Chicago but by leaving everything as it was, Johnny hopes this will keep the reader within that time frame.
Thanks for your interest and if you decide to purchase this unique reading material, Johnny would like to thank you.
About the Author:
Johnny Anderson was born in a cement jungle in the south eastern part of the U.K. Raised in one of the older tenant houses that was built around the early part of the twentieth century, the building held more than old plaster, bricks and mortar. Entities from a time long gone lingered within its walls and were playmates of Johnny's for the first few years of his life.
Raised as an only child with parents who'd separated only a few years after marriage, Johnny's reality was divided by two very different worlds. On one hand you had a life which was pretty mundane while attending school and living with his mom during the week. Yet on the other came the weekends where kids from a whole neighborhood would come out to play. Johnny's father would take as many children as he could and squeeze them into his old compact car. Then he'd drive the youngsters to parks and other places of leisure, where he'd interact with them and play games.
This difference in upbringing, set the foundation for a personality that was patient, reserved, understanding yet balanced, which was needed years later for the thousands of miles that Johnny hitchhiked around the earth.
Leaving the U.K. at the age of twenty, Johnny spent the majority of the next 10 years hitchhiking. The ground that he covered ranged from a few small countries in Europe to the expanses of Canada, Oz and the U.S. But it wasn't the miles under his belt that gave him the drive to put the blue ink onto paper and compile this tale.
The reason why he spent two decades in doing just that; was the simple fact that in all the years that he was on the road, he'd left Mother England, knowing hardly anyone. Even his first residence in Holland ended up being a complete disaster when he got there.
So with the above in mind, never once while hitchhiking did Johnny ever ask to stay at someone's home or hint that he was homeless and was, for almost a decade while he was on the road.
Yet in all those years of hitchhiking he never once paid to stay in or had the luxury of sleeping in a hotel or a motel. Aside the handful of times that he paid to stay at a backpackers in Australia and one evening at a youth hostel in Germany; this wandering soul slept rough just eight times in all those years. Nearly all of his accommodation came from the very people who picked him up hitchhiking. That's a remarkable triumph unto itself! This is a very unique story and one that had to be told.