PORTLAND, Maine — While doing research for his book “The Maine Roadshow,” Tim O’Brien and his wife drove all over the state of Maine and put more than 5,000 miles on their car.
All that road-tripping, he writes, “confirms to me that the state is loaded with creative souls who think for themselves, act somewhat eccentric, and at the same time, fit in.”
The book is, as the subtitle suggests, “A Roadside Tour of the State’s History, Culture, Food, Funk & Oddities.” O’Brien visited and wrote about hundreds of places and things, from a giant crank telephone in Bryant Pond to the geographic center of the state in Brownville Junction to the northernmost of Maine’s breweries, First Mile Brewing in Fort Kent.
O’Brien clearly had a grand time moseying along the back roads of Maine, looking for the quirky and offbeat, and he wants readers to do the same.
“You don’t need to leave your cozy couch to enjoy ‘The Maine Roadshow,’” he noted. “However, I encourage you to get in your car and take off.”