Drive North America

Searching for even more wild places and new experiences, Dan became determined to explore 'off the map' in Africa. From the mighty Sahara Desert in the north to the dense equatorial jungles of the Congo and the open grasslands of Southern Africa, Dan turned his biggest dream into reality. Over the course of three years Dan's second major expedition spanned fifty-four thousand miles through thirty-five unique African countries. THE ADVENTURE WAS A THOUSAND TIMES BIGGER THAN HE DREAMED POSSIBLE. After exploring the Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina Dan became hooked on the freedom of global overland travel, and he only wanted more. New languages, exotic foods, stunning landscapes and local people with an entirely different outlook became Dan's everyday life. As the months turned into years, through highlights and despair Dan gained a new appreciation for what it truly means to be alive. Viewing our modern world through African eyes gave Dan a new perspective, and he was pulled in by the endless joy, laughter and kindness at every turn. While the landscapes and wildlife are undeniably breathtaking, it is the natural warmth of the African people that is truly unforgettable. All across the continent Dan was welcomed with love and generosity, and now he will never be the same.

In the fall of 2013, while at a crossroads in life after a divorce, Aaron Lauritsen, did what many of us dream of doing but few ever will, he put his problems in the rearview mirror and headed out the door. After selling his business and all his possessions, he and his trusty K9 companion, Athena-bear, jumped in his Toyota pick-up truck, then ventured into the heart of North America for a road trip to end all road trips. Because he hoped that by getting lost out there he would somehow find himself again, he left without a plan or even a map, then for one hundred glorious days journeyed the continent carefree, via secondaries that were not only off the beaten track, but that were often all but forgot. On them he traversed some 30,000 zig-zagging miles through thirty eight of the lower forty eight states and seven of the ten Canadian provinces. And yielded in the process an untold number of encounters weaved by confronting personal fears, history, worldly cities, eccentric people and adventurous activities. The real prize afforded by the time, distance and space however, was his spiritual awakening. Follow along as he paints that epic voyage of discovery and experience the same unexpected serendipity that awaited them around each bend of the open road.

Have you ever wanted to go for a really long drive and explore along the way? I am not talking days or weeksI am talking months and years. Wouldnt it be great if you could just take off on a long journey and start a whole new life? A life of discovery and adventure, satisfying your curiosity about the modern and ancient worlds, the different geographical locations, and the cultures of two completely different continents. Is doing your favorite sports or activities in an entirely new environment of interest to you? Do you want to challenge yourself learning new languages and dialects, including the local slang? Do you want to know about some of the most amazing places on the planet? If yes, then come with me on an entirely enlightening and inspiring, epic journey through the northern and southern hemispheres, through the continents of North and South America, by car.

From the award-winning author of American Canopy, a dazzling account of the world’s longest road, the Pan-American Highway, and the epic quest to link North and South America, a dramatic story of commerce, technology, politics, and the divergent fates of the Americas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Pan-American Highway, monument to a century’s worth of diplomacy and investment, education and engineering, scandal and sweat, is the longest road in the world, passable everywhere save the mythic Darien Gap that straddles Panama and Colombia. The highway’s history, however, has long remained a mystery, a story scattered among government archives, private papers, and fading memories. In contrast to the Panama Canal and its vast literature, the Pan-American Highway—the United States’ other great twentieth-century hemispheric infrastructure project—has become an orphan of the past, effectively erased from the story of the “American Century.” The Longest Line on the Map uncovers this incredible tale for the first time and weaves it into a tapestry that fascinates, informs, and delights. Rutkow’s narrative forces the reader to take seriously the question: Why couldn’t the Americas have become a single region that “is” and not two near irreconcilable halves that “are”? Whether you’re fascinated by the history of the Americas, or you’ve dreamed of driving around the globe, or you simply love world records and the stories behind them, The Longest Line on the Map is a riveting narrative, a lost epic of hemispheric scale.

This issue of Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, Guest Edited by Dr. Rahul K. Shah, is devoted to Patient Safety. Articles in this important issue include: Systems Science: A Primer on High Reliability; Leadership Driving Safety and Quality; Patient Engagement; Using Public Data to Drive Improvement; Simulation Saves the Day (and Patient); Tracheostomy Care: How Collaboratives Drive Improvement; Re-thinking Morbidity and Mortality Conference; Clinical Indices as the Driving Force for Quality Improvement in Otolaryngology; Button-battery Safety: Industry and Academic Partnerships to Drive Change; Resident Engagement in Safety and Quality; Fire Safety; Anesthesia Safety in Otolaryngology; Device Safety; Reprocessing Standards for Medical Devices and Equipment in Otolaryngology; PS&Q for Office-Based Procedures in Otolaryngology; The Impact of Cognitive/Implicit Bias on Patient Safety and Quality in Otolaryngology; and Safety in Audiology.

This fascinating multivolume set provides a unique resource for learning about early American history, including thematic essays, topical entries, and an invaluable collection of primary source documents. In 1783, just months after the United States achieved independence from Great Britain, General George Washington was compelled to convince his officers not to undertake a military coup of the Congress of Confederation. Had the planned mutinous coup of the Newburgh Conspiracy gone forward, the American experiment may have ended before it even began. The pre-colonial and colonial periods of early American history are filled with accounts of key events that established the course of our nation's development. This expansive three-volume set provides entries on a wide variety of topics and themes in early American history to elucidate how the United States came to be. Written in straightforward language, the encyclopedic entries on social, political, cultural, and military subjects from the pre-Columbian period through the creation of the Constitution (roughly 1400–1790) will be useful for anyone wishing to deeply investigate the who, what, where, when, and why of early America. Additionally, the breadth of primary documents—including personal diaries, letters, poems, images, treaties, and other legal documents—provides readers with firsthand sources written by the men and women who shaped American history, both the famous and the less well known. Each of the three volumes also presents thematic essays on highlighted topics to fully place the individual entries within their proper historical context and heighten readers' comprehension.