Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own

A pampered Long Island princess hits the road in a converted bus with her wilderness-loving husband, travels the country for one year, and brings it all hilariously to life in this offbeat and romantic memoir.

Doreen and Tim are married psychiatrists with a twist: She’s a self-proclaimed Long Island princess, grouchy couch potato, and shoe addict. He's an affable, though driven, outdoorsman. When Tim suggests “chucking it all” to travel cross-country in a converted bus, Doreen asks, “Why can’t you be like a normal husband in a midlife crisis and have an affair or buy a Corvette?” But she soon shocks them both, agreeing to set forth with their sixty-pound dog, two querulous cats—and no agenda—in a 340-square-foot bus.

Queen of the Road is Doreen’s offbeat and romantic tale about refusing to settle; about choosing the unconventional road with all the misadventures it brings (fire, flood, armed robbery, and finding themselves in a nudist RV park, to name just a few). The marvelous places they visit and delightful people they encounter have a life-changing effect on all the travelers, as Doreen grows to appreciate the simple life, Tim mellows, and even the pets pull together. Best of all, readers get to go along for the ride through forty-seven states in this often hilarious and always entertaining memoir, in which a boisterous marriage of polar opposites becomes stronger than ever.

"Queen of the Road" is Orion's priceless journal of her travels with her husband cross-country in an RV. Although they experience their share of misadventures, the trip has a remarkable effect as these two polar opposites grow closer than ever.

A pampered Long Island princess hits the road in a converted bus with her wilderness-loving husband, travels the country for one year, and brings it all hilariously to life in this offbeat and romantic memoir.

Doreen and Tim are married psychiatrists with a twist: Shes a self-proclaimed Long Island princess, grouchy couch potato, and shoe addict. He's an affable, though driven, outdoorsman. When Tim suggests “chucking it all” to travel cross-country in a converted bus, Doreen asks, “Why cant you be like a normal husband in a midlife crisis and have an affair or buy a Corvette?” But she soon shocks them both, agreeing to set forth with their sixty-pound dog, two querulous catsand no agendain a 340-square-foot bus.

Queen of the Road is Doreens offbeat and romantic tale about refusing to settle; about choosing the unconventional road with all the misadventures it brings (fire, flood, armed robbery, and finding themselves in a nudist RV park, to name just a few). The marvelous places they visit and delightful people they encounter have a life-changing effect on all the travelers, as Doreen grows to appreciate the simple life, Tim mellows, and even the pets pull together. Best of all, readers get to go along for the ride through forty-seven states in this often hilarious and always entertaining memoir, in which a boisterous marriage of polar opposites becomes stronger than ever.

Doreen and Tim are both psychiatrists in their mid-forties. She’s a self-proclaimed couch potato; he loves exploring the great outdoors. When Tim suggests traveling cross-country in a converted bus, Doreen bluntly asks why he can’t weather his mid-life crisis by having an affair or buying a Corvette. But Tim’s powers of persuasion prove formidable and soon they are packing up their belongings, two cats, and a dog, and setting forth in a 340-square-foot bus.

Queen of the Road is Doreen’s priceless journal of their travels to forty-seven states. They stop in small towns where strangers become friends and discover landscapes so glorious that even Doreen succumbs to the call of the wilderness. They experience their share of misadventures, from fire, flood, and armed robbery to finding themselves in a nudist RV park. Most of all, the trip has a remarkable effect on the travelers: as Doreen grows to appreciate the simple life and Tim achieves a mellowness that tempers his type A behavior, this loving marriage of two polar opposites becomes stronger than ever.

DOREEN ORION is a triple-boarded psychiatrist on the faculty of the University of Colorado Health Science Center. Her first book, I Know You Really Love Me, won the Colorado Authors' League Top Hand Award for nonfiction. She is the travel writer for Bus Conversions magazine. Doreen lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband.