The author, who is openly gay, has called his trip a "hobo-homo journey." However, the adventure turned out to be not nearly as shocking as some of early movie scenes (nor as perverse as what he fantasized the trip could be, as written in the first part of the book), but just as entertaining. Waters recounts his first encounters with certain fast food chains and motels, as well as meeting a range of people – from an 80-year-old farmer to an indie band on tour and a young Republican in a Corvette.