Read or download the 1951 novel by Clinton Twiss for free!

Hey, thanks! I just got it in my kindle. You win the Dr. Humphries' Be A Pal Award! : )

Thanks for the link - I am about 2/3 through. It is interesting how the screenwriters honed down the actual story - pulling most of the film's plot from the first half of the book.

I'm no fan of the movie, but it is actually more enjoyable than the book, which can become increasingly tedious. Plus, the Twiss couple is ten times more annoying than the Ricardos, er, I mean "Tacy" and "Nicky" - and I felt that THEY were irritating before I even read the "true life" story. Actually, Merle (an actual person) appears to be an absolute shrew compared to Lucy's character. Clinton is somewhat of a wimp, but with way too much pride - Desi Arnez managed to get that personality across.

Wouldn't it had been great, if an altered version of the novel's "Culpeppers" had been included in the film, played by Vivian Vance & William Frawley?

I would have loved to follow the book's pre-Interstate jaunt, but current maps don't have the same numbers. Some of it I have been able to figure out (as I-40 follows much of the same route as Route 66 west of Oklahoma City). I could also follow their route on what is the current I-20, then the current I-10 (now Old 90).

I realize that Clinton Twiss exaggerated his characters - but still, there seem to have been some pretty horrible people traversing the nation in "trailers" back then.

If you ever revisit here, dogsandcats, thanks you so much for the link letting me enjoy this book.

For anyone reading this, I am well into the book, as the couple has gone all the way to Florida and up the east coast, and I believe the novel is 7 times as funny as the movie. The author has a way of wording things that make all the funny points better than if I or most people tried to write the same thing.

I have found, so far, most of the episodes from the movie contained in the book, very, very similar, only better.

For anyone who hasn't peaked at the book, I will say that it provides much more detail about choosing a trailer, operating it, and the expenses involved in repairs along the way. There is a lengthy section where they become friends with a couple who wear out their welcome long before they quit following our heroes on their travels. This is one of the funniest sections in the book.

If you've seen the movie, you surely remember the "Turn right here" scene. On film, it seemed awkward and not very funny because it was worded poorly. In the book, knowing the basics of it, the wording was better done so that we more fully understood what she was trying to say, and it was funnier than the film.

The film had the couple never get farther than the western Rockies, which really reduced the enjoyment to me. The book lets them really see the U.S.A. The book mentions several famous places they visit, although the focus is still on traveling with the long, long trailer. On film, we get a few glimpses of Yosemite (without a mention to let the uninformed viewer know that's where they were) and no mentions of any places visited other than a town or two.

I would say that the film gives me a look at a newlywed couple who don't communicate well whose marriage is jeopardized by being together constantly in a small home while enduring pulling a big trailer through steep mountains.

The novel shows me a longtime-married couple's experiences traversing the country in a long trailer, giving me a real taste of what it would have been like to travel this way all around the country in the early 1950s.

One last note: Merle is far, far funnier in her quoted lines in the novel than Tacy was in the film.

Thank you! Just saw the film for the first time and really enjoyed it. So now I'm intrigued about the book.