Ghost Riders : Travels with American Nomads

Richard Grant has never spent more than twenty-two consecutive nights under the same roof. Motivated partly by his own wanderlust and partly by his realisation that America is a land populated by wanderers, he set out to test his theory. The result is this extraordinary journey into the heart of American nomadism.

"Freedom is impossible and meaningless within the confines of sedentary society, the only true freedom is the freedom to cross the land, beholden to no one." Following this philosophy, Grant traces the trails of the first European to wander across the American West (a failed conquistador); joins a group of rodeo-competing cowboys (and gets thrown by a mechanical bull); tells the story of the vanishing nomadic Indians; and links up with 300,000 'gerito gypsies' - old people who live and travel in their RVs.

"When all is said and done, there are two types of men: those who stay at home and those who do not," wrote Kipling. This is the story of those that did not - the restless souls who populated America and are still travelling across it today.