Rumble Strip Canada 150: A Sea-to-Sea Odyssey for Canada's 150th Year

Former CBC Radio host Hulnick here details her three-week Trans-Canada Highway jaunt, but calling this a "sea-to-sea odyssey" is a stretch. Great travel writing includes personal risk, grand adventure, and hard-won insights. Without these basics, the text can become a laundry list of boring details. Hulnick freely admits in her final chapter, "Reflections," that she did not experience any "life-changing epiphany" except to think more deeply about Canada and its places. Unfortunately, she reveals little of personal, political, or cultural interest here, save for U.S.-Canada spelling variations, road signs, hasty observations, and facts from Internet searches. At the end of each province's chapter, Hulnick includes a disappointing selection of things to see "next time." Three weeks may be enough time to drive across Canada but not enough time to gather the kind of perspective armchair travelers crave. One hopes Hulnick's next trip will include more than just hotel dinners, Wikipedia, and the moose she never ended up seeing.