To create this book, Neely...spent 12 weeks on a journey to retrace the first overland Spanish expedition through California ... Neely's account is a solid mix of adventure story and history lesson. Recommended for anyone interested in California history.
Neely’s task has no international consequences: He just wanted to get acquainted with the land, and he shares his experiences in meticulous, sometimes overwhelming detail. Throughout the narrative, the author offers precise and often lyrical descriptions of landscapes and vistas, sky and sea, flora and fauna ... A sprawling record of a unique adventure.
...[a] detailed travel memoir ... Even walking through subdivisions and cities and along highways, [Neely] finds poetic images in the most unlikely places ... Neely’s naturalist, erudite work will appeal to readers of Thoreau’s Walden and Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire.
