South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels

A short book review

“The road immediately grows darker under the mountain’s shadow. Evergreens shade the highway; what little light we receive comes through the narrow sliver of leaden sky overhead...while the highway shoulder is thinner than a slice of toast. Alisha and I switch on our bike lights, but compared to car headlights our beams appear pitiful. As inconsequential as fireflies darting around porch lights.” (Hackinen, 2019, 75)

South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels is the story of Meaghan Hackinen and her sister as they go on a low-budget bicycle adventure. Neither has any experience with bicycle touring, nor familiarity with basic bicycle maintenance—not even knowing how to change a tire. The book tells of Hackinen's journey beginning in Terrace British Columbia, riding until she is joined by her sister in Shawnigan Lake and continuing along the west coast through the United States and Baja-California.

Originally from Surrey BC, Hackinen spent her post-undergrad summer putting her archeology degree to work at a museum in Northern BC, the starting point for the memoir. She has since completed an MFA in Writing. She continues sharing her stories of the road in literary journals and cycling magazines.

Hackinen writes with flare that allows you to visualize and feel the strains of cycle touring during unpleasant conditions, such as how “breathing life into ghost-pale fingertips to unbuckle my panniers becomes a recurrent struggle” (30). Unlike other authors, when she writes about the physical struggles while peddling, it isn't as exhausting as the riding itself.

The narrative shares their struggles with being on a very low budget, although Hackinen admits that their budget turned out to be lower than she had planned for. This affects the way they travel, choosing to mostly wild camp—common among low-budget cycle touring, wild camping refers to finding free places to hide away your tent at night, leaving no trace—or occasionally finding willing hosts through a website called Couchsurfing. They also purchase inexpensive groceries and avoid eating out.

Throughout the book, I struggle with ultra-low-budget cycle travel. Spending so little money means that they are not supporting the communities they are cycling through. To me, this feels like taking without giving back, and it is a layer of privilege that feels unethical to me. This has highlighted an underlying theme that I will need to further develop in my stories, about how to ethically travel when you have privilege.

Overall, the book provides an entertaining view of cycle touring that allows an armchair traveller to get a sense of what the trip was like. You feel the sense of accomplishment when Hackinen and her sister arrive at the end of their adventure. The take home message for her journey is like other low-budget cycle stories—that anyone with a desire can do it. Even though she addresses her whiteness in one reflective scene, it lacks acknowledgement of the additional privileges that allow her to take the journey in the first place.

Maybe I'm asking too much? Should adventure travel authors be expected to acknowledge their privilege?

Reference List

Hackinen, Meaghan Marie. South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels. NeWest Press, 2019.