By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

There's something about the open road that brings out the best in Americans. In a lot of ways, the open road defines who we are.

In Hawai'i, of course, open roads are a premium. There are only so many places that even come close. In fact, we can't think of even one.

That doesn't mean, however, that you can't experience the feeling. That's why we have books.

As hundreds of thousands of Americans prepare for a summer driving season that promises to be one of the busiest in years, research staff members here at Drive Time have put together a list of our favorite driving books — the ones that can take you from one end of the country to the other without leaving Kane'ohe.

We're just like most of you. We don't expect to have enough time or money this year to take a cross-country trip, so we'll just have to live the experience vicariously through some of our favorite authors:

• "On the Road," by Jack Kerouac (1957). For our money, the ultimate road trip, wildly bumping from one end of the country to the other and back again with those famous Beats, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty.

• "Travels with Charley: In Search of America," by John Steinbeck (1962). Rambling around in a camper called Rocinante and accompanied only by his French poodle, one of America's best-known authors finds his way home again from New York to California.

• "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values," by Robert M. Pirsig (1974). A full-throttle motorcycle ride in search of meaning, with plenty of time out on the side of the road to make connections with a young son.

• "Mad Monks on the Road," by Michael Lane and Jim Crotty. Can a couple of gay guys successfully leave the San Francisco scene behind and find tolerance and happiness on the road in a 1972 Econoline van for eight years? A cult favorite.

• "Road Scholar: Coast to Coast Late in the Century," by Andrei Codrescu (1993). A Romanian-born commentator for the Public Broadcasting Service casts his critical eye on New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas and a hundred other places.

• "Highway 50: Ain't That America," by Jim Lilliefors (1994). A cranky journalist follows the longest, loneliest road in America from Ocean City, Md., to the Pacific Ocean, with lots of stops in dingy bars along the way.

• "Another Roadside Attraction," by Tom Robbins (1971). A fictional romp through America's best highway sideshow attractions, including one that features a trained flea, a tsetse fly (dead of course), and a corpse that is actually the Second Coming freshly stolen from the Vatican.

• "American Quest," by Jack Barth (1990). The subtitle says it all: "He went looking for America and found it all over the country."

• "Highway Honeymoon," by Mike Leidemann (unpublished). How one man stayed married to the same woman for 25 years, even though their honeymoon consisted of a 2,800-mile trip across Illinois, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico and other places in an Econoline camper in the coldest winter in decades.

Coming next month: The greatest rock 'n' roll songs of all times. Get your entries and suggestions in early to Drive Time at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.