VAGABOND SUMMER

A novel about a hostelling trip across the United States and Canada that takes full advantage of all the amusing to serious things that can happen when young people go travelling on bikes. Just out of high school, Peg Madison's head is buzzing with ideas about travel and art school. Unsettled as to whether or not she wants to draw, she persuades her parents to let her take an A.Y.H. trip. She and her bike meet the group in Washington and from there it's a series of long pedallings, squad squabbles, rewarding vistas- during which Peg comes to understand more about people and especially about older Ken, a writer who persuades her to start drawing again and to study at the Chicago Art Institute. A rivalry over Ken and the realization that another boy wasn't as deep as she thought, are a couple of the successfully traversed ruts in the road and there's a general heartiness that will guarantee hostelling converts.