William A Stoever

Freshman on the Freeway William A Stoever

Bill Stoever hitchhiked 50,000 miles in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He was imprisoned by the secret police in communist East Germany, sailed to Zanzibar on an Arab dhow, was stranded on a hippo island in Uganda, impersonated a Russian journalist at Uganda's independence ceremonies, violated the apartheid laws in South Africa, rode six hours through the Congolese jungle standing in the back of a truck, celebrated a Christmas in Madagascar, and moved in with a Somali woman in Mogadishu. "Most travelers haven't taken the risks I took, living on three dollars a day and thumbing rides with strangers," says Stoever. "My story is different, stranger, wilder, and more adventurous than most travel books." A wild ride full of laugh-out-loud moments and harrowing predicaments, Hitchhike the World is a one-of-a-kind, captivating journey into the heart of a free spirit, a modern-day Marco Polo whose daring exploits remind us that life is to be lived. The author describes his experiences in a straightforward narrative with humorous asides that will appeal to fans of Paul Theroux or William Least-Heat Moon and to all readers interested in a good adventure tale.