Overland Odyssey

The summer of 1972. It was a time when two young men from California could buy a van (which had previously been used for transporting chickens) and drive through Europe to the farthest reaches of Central Asia. The odyssey that would last fifteen months and cover 34 countries and more than 36,000 miles became the adventure of a lifetime. While their plan may have been, as Jerry Schmidt writes, ¿to see a castle here, a cathedral there,¿ the trip would lead them from Scandinavia and...
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The summer of 1972. It was a time when two young men from California could buy a van (which had previously been used for transporting chickens) and drive through Europe to the farthest reaches of Central Asia. The odyssey that would last fifteen months and cover 34 countries and more than 36,000 miles became the adventure of a lifetime. While their plan may have been, as Jerry Schmidt writes, ¿to see a castle here, a cathedral there,¿ the trip would lead them from Scandinavia and Europe to Israel and Egypt, and over the ¿hippie trail¿ through the lands of antiquity, where castles and cathedrals were rare. In those days, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan welcomed young adventurers; now, more than four decades later, there is no region on earth more perilous.In Overland Odyssey, Schmidt takes readers on a trip that was challenging in 1972-73¿and impossible today. He recalls his experiences with wonder, humor and insight, bringing the places and people to life in his narrative and more than 120 of the photographs he shot as an aspiring photojournalist.