Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier

by Megan Edwards

When a wildfire destroyed her home and worldly possessions in the hills above Los Angeles, it didn’t take Megan Edwards long to recognize an opportunity. It took her husband a little longer (“Give me five minutes to grieve!”), but they were both soon planning to make the most of their sudden “stufflessness” and hit the road. They did so a few months later in a freshly built four-wheel-drive motorhome that was even more unusual because of the office in the back instead of a bedroom. This all happened back when “Internet” had not yet entered the lexicon but “email” had. The mobile office would allow Edwards to file stories with the newspapers she wrote for by cell phone. That was the idea, at least. At the beginning of 1994, cell service was patchy, unreliable, and expensive.

They also thought they’d be traveling for six months or so, when, they believed, they’d settle down and get back to normal. But five years and thousands of miles later, they were still on the road. In that time, they’d watched the Internet grow from a mysterious fad prized by people in remote locales into an unstoppable universal phenomenon. They started a website, RoadTripAmerica.com, to share road tripping tips and ideas. Slowly, their dream of being “at work, at home, and on the road, all at the same grand time” became a reality.

This edition marks the twentieth anniversary of Edwards’s memoir, which was first released in 1999. At its heart a story of making lemonade when life gives you lemons, this memoir is also a riveting and at times hilarious look at the early years of the World Wide Web. With a new introduction by the author and a foreword by Chris Epting, enjoy an armchair adventure across North America when the Internet was young. This edition also includes 15 photos dating from when the author lived on the road.

Genres: Travel

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

I live and write in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. I never dreamed I’d call Sin City home, but when I arrived at the end of 1999 to do a little research for a book, I fell in love with the city beyond the neon and and never left. Actually, I love the neon, too. In fact, I’m crazy about the whole place -- quirks, warts, super-hot summers, and all! I have written two mysteries set in Las Vegas: GETTING OFF ON FRANK SINATRA and FULL SERVICE BLONDE. My new novel A COIN FOR THE FERRYMAN releases on March 1, 2022. I'll be celebrating with six other authors at a super-sized book launch party on March 5, 2022 in Las Vegas. If you'd like to join us for an evening of food, drink, books, and authors, visit imbrifex.com/party/ for all the details! It's gonna be a night to remember!

Reviews

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

GNab Megan Edwards brings to us, in her memoir Roads from the Ashes, an excellent picture of California life in the 1990's, the personal pain of losing all you possess in a single day, and the joys and angsts of following your heart down back country roads in a four wheel drive motorhome. Too I found the outlines of various cities that I too knew and loved back in the day, and spent some sad time picturing them as they are now. And I had forgotten the frustrations of early internet days. That I wouldn't want to have to re-live. 2019 is just around the corner and maybe Jerry and I are ready for it. Our backpacking days are over but maybe car camping isn't so plebeian after all....

The Phoenix One and the adventures of Mark, Megan and of course Marvin will keep you entertained for a couple of days and awake the slumbering traveler in your soul. Snail travel but without below ground storage lockers and cabinets and coat closets. Revcon is still making motorhomes but I didn't find anything like Megan's model. I'd always wanted to drive into the sunset with my bed on my back but not sure I'm ready to do without at least some of my stuff....

This is an excellent memoir, originally published twenty years ago but well worth the re-run. By the end you will find yourself appreciating the introduction of life as the Edwards lived it for the seven years they traveled.- I laughed and cried and sadly said goodbye to my dream of cross country motoring. I'm not tough enough.


Netgalley
pub date Dec 1, 2018
Trilogy Publications

[Monterey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work of Megan's is nothing short of marvelous. Her command of prose, analogy, metaphor and association is Pulitzer level. She digs into the depths of the ashes left by the fire and pulls out honesty in relationships, truths about character and truly divine inspiration for meaningful living--all the while keeping me enthralled with fascinating pieces of American history and this beautiful land which is our REAL home. Bravo, Megan: you, Mark (and Marvin!) are special, fabulous beings, such a pleasure and honor to have taken this amazing literary journey with you.

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free digital copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The edition I received is the 20th year anniversary one, published in 2018, the first edition being published in 1999. The book can be summed up as a travel memoir matching in timeline with the infancy of the cyberspace. After a wildfire incident in 1993 that burned their house down, Megan and Mark Edwards, together with their dog Marvin, decide to pursue their dream of being free and traveling across the US in a 4x4 RV, together with all the implications of that lifestyle. I'm a pretty well-traveled person myself, so the minutia of the travels themselves did not hold a lot of interest to me. What I did find very interesting and enjoyable was seeing how the world perceived the emerging cyberspace at the time, with its browsers, modems, storage devices, emerging digital communication such as email as well as one of the very first travel websites that ultimately became the financial backbone of their travels through travel journalism. It can be considered a one of a kind, pioneering book as far as these aspects are concerned, definitely worth a read if you're passionate about travel and the emerging cyberspace of the 90s.

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great memoir. I truly enjoyed reading about Megan and Mark as they travelled in a souped up RV after losing their home and most of their possessions in a fire. So many these days are ditching (nearly) everything and hitting the road, but it was a different world 20 years ago in the early days of the internet. Fun read, especially for anyone who has ever dreamed of hitting the road full time.

Thank you to Imbrifex Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Megan Edwards’ writing style is compelling to read. She incorporates the details of her and her husband’s several year journey around the USA in an entirely enjoyable, entertaining, and informative way. Their reasoning for undertaking mobile living for several years, how they grew, and all they encountered, experienced, and mastered in the physical world as well as the newly emerging cyberspace is shared with emotional and factional depth, humor, and honesty. This 20th anniversary addition also benefits from her reflections on where she and her husband have come to be since they experienced the destructive Southern California wildfire that spurred them to take their courageous and healing journey documented in this book.

I began reading this book after using the author’s iPhone app “Roadside America” to plan a vacation’s worth of sightseeing activities for a trip next summer. Ironically, the January 7, 2025, Los Angeles, California, wildfires flared and destroyed all they touched as I was reading it. Those blazes brought an end to thousands of other people’s cherished ways of living as they, liked the author, experienced the destruction of their homes and artifacts and communities. Although I’m certain Edwards had not anticipated it, the emotions, attitudes, and choices she and her husband made, and the healing and thriving results, as they moved on and reshaped their lives after suffering similar losses will be inspirational and encouraging to those who have survived this round.

[Marci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if I didn't know the author (shout out to Las Vegas Literary Ladies!), this would be a captivating read. I am afraid of fire, scared to even imagine losing my home, and absolutely petrified to be without my "stuff." But Megan uses what could have been the loss of a lifetime to reset priorities and reinvent herself. This personal narrative is told in a series of short passages, each aptly titled to fit the theme of "odyssey," and while not always chronological, they are always funny, or heartwarming, or introspective, or all of the above. The challenges of online working and communicating in the early days of internet (the "virtual frontier") are fun to read and reminisce about, but I really enjoyed the passages during which she details the difficulties of keeping a marriage on course while dealing with - and driving through - so many uncertainties. Her descriptions of nature are riveting - I can almost hear the honk of geese overhead as she recounts her experiences at a wetlands. While I still am unable to fully comprehend the situation that created the author's wanderlust, I certainly envy her experiences on wheels, and am inspired to dream of one day doing the same.

[Meagan | The Chapter House · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up as a child of the 80s and 90s, this book brought back a lot of memories about the advent of the Internet. I still remember getting my first email address and my brother having to explain its use to me!

Readers younger than I, for whom the Internet is as normal, natural, and ever-present as air or breathing, will get a kick out of the read; Edwards and her husband are influencers at the beginning stages of the Internet, quite the other side of the coin from the Kardashians, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, or the darlings of tomorrow I haven't found out about yet.

Readers my age and older will enjoy the trip down memory lane, of very different times. The read captures the slow--and then, suddenly, very quick--adoption of "teh intarwebs" and the struggles (and open doors) that come along with it.

Content notes: several parties that included a closer look at drugs, alcohol, and "entertainment" than I personally needed; language.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Rachel Stansel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting recent history road trip. I enjoyed the road trip portion. I was just starting college when the road trip was happening and was both on the cusp of this and not really aware of the bigger picture. I found it an interesting story and I think those closer to the author's age might find it even better from a nostalgia perspective.

Full disclosure - I received a copy of the novel from the publishers in exchange for am honest review.

[Maggie Shanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A journey from the edge of technology, but it rang bittersweet for me, still living in a rural area plagued with little or no internet connection. The road trip is so personal and unique to everyone who embarks, Megan and Mark had a compelling reason to hit the road, and in some ways she is very frank but I am still not sure how they made money the first couple of years.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected

This book Roads from Ashes was not what I expected. I thought it was more about the couple's road trip. Instead is was more about the infancy of cyberspace which although interesting not what I was looking for.

[Jo Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun read!

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read (July 2020). A couple’s home was destroyed by fire in California and instead of rebuilding, they bought an RV and wandered off, across America in the 1990’s. They both worked in fairly portable professions, although the internet was not yet born as such and they had to deal with dial up and faxes and phone calls. They started what might have been the first, or at least one of the first blogs in RoadTripAmerica.com and the interesting writing caught my attention. The ease at which we as a society now pull up stakes and websites is a contrast to the vagaries of the early rigmarole that the Edwards face in this memoir. Their relationship is fun and their early deficiencies as RV’ers are related fairly and with good humor. I had real envy for the Phoenix (the home that rose from the ashes and carried them away on their dreams) so much so that I looked up the company and daydreamed for myself. Stuck at home under travelling restrictions, I longed for the freedom, while laughing at the now comical, truculent nature of the newborn technology experienced by the author.
Some travelogues are obviously written by amateurs and this one undisputedly by a professional, the wide ranging descriptions, from the vehicle, people met and nature, as well as the inner thoughts and dreams of the author are evocative and a pleasure to read. A very well spent attempt at escaping our current depressing situation. I can only hope that we can again look forward to travel waiting to be immortalized.

[Star Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entire review can be found at In Pursuit of My Own Library.

Megan Edwards's home caught on fire back when the internet was nothing but a fledgling idea. With nothing to their name, she and her husband decided to buy an R.V. and hit the road. They didn't want the stereotypical experience of campers hauling themselves from state park to state park. They wanted to work while exploring the United States.

Megan recounts their adventures as they struck out on a road less traveled and made money doing it. Megan and her husband pioneered a lifestyle that was little thought of in the '90s. With that endeavor, they came across many challenges and plenty of frustrations. Megan captures all the anxiety and pressure of living life off the beaten path, but she also has a way of capturing the humor that comes from failure.

The most surprising part was all the interactions during their travels. They really met the cream of what the United States has to offer. All those people are really why they managed to have their success, in my opinion.

There is a ton of nostalgia to this book--which sealed my love for it--but all of the concepts still hold value to a modern reader. If you dream of a mobile life, or already have the fortune of living it, this is a book you should really read.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a pleasure touring around the USA with Megan, Mark and Marvin. Megan's writing is informative and interesting, and touched with a good dose of humor. I enjoyed meeting everyone that Megan wrote about and getting to know the country a little bit better. Thanks for taking me along for the ride.
#RoadsFromTheAshes #Megan Edwards

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a unique memoir of the author and her husband's travels in a custom built motor home after losing their home to a wildfire. I found their journey to be interesting, but found that the author spent too much time on certain things, which made it drag a little.