Visions of the Appalachian Trail Quotes in A Walk in the Woods

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

And then we were alone with our packs in an empty motel parking lot in a dusty, forgotten, queer-looking little town in northern Georgia. (1.5.71)

During their walk, Bryson and Katz get a tour of various small towns across America. To be honest, Bryson's a little biased against the South—his depictions of Southern life often border on the stereotypical. Still, the guy does not like the South, and he makes that belief abundantly clear.

Quote #5

Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile becomes a long way [...] fifty miles at the very limits of conception. (1.6.1)

Walking across America is a completely different experience from driving across it. You can still have plenty of great experiences while taking a cross-country road trip, sure, but Bryson is getting to know the land on an incredibly intimate level.

Quote #6

Gatlinburg is a shock to the system from whichever angle you survey it, but never more so than when you descend upon it from [...] isolation in the woods. (1.8.3)

Gatlinburg is a crazy place: a tourist town tacky beyond belief. This is even more pronounced because Bryson and Katz have just been walking along a desolate countryside for weeks. That would be like wearing earplugs for a year and then taking them off to go to Coachella.