First We Quit Our Jobs: How One Work Driven Couple Got on the Road to a New Life

by Marilyn J. Abraham

Book Overview

What happens when two executives leave their jobs, friends, and the city behind to hit the road in a twenty-seven foot RV? America the beautiful becomes a place of sights, foods, people, memories, and a little wisdom. After fifty-two combined years in the corporate fast lane, Marilyn Abraham and her husband, Sandy MacGregor, embarked on an adventure that every work-driven professional dreams about but hardly ever has the courage to realize. They quit...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044050757X
• ISBN13: 9780440507574
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Dell
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Traveling Around The US From One's Living Room

I have been on a travel essay/arm chair travel reading kick (I am usually the legal and medical thriller fan)and picked this book on the title and cover since I did not know the writer. What a blast I had trekking across the US from New York City to Alaska down to New Mexico and back to New York City with Marilyn and her husband, Sandy!! I started the book on a Sunday morning and finished the book by Sunday night. It was like I was tucked away in their RV as they followed their dreams.It's also an inspiring book when you learn that the author had a "choice" career as a book editor at one of the major publishers in the US and her husband, although going through a career change, was of the same ranks in careers gave it all up to follow their hearts and see the USA and make the life altering decision to give up the high stressed jobs to do this and to eventually move from the hustle bustle of Manhattan.This book was a pure joy to read and an absolute entertaining way to getting the laundry done! For any arm chair travel reader, I high suggest purchasing this book and diving in! I enjoyed it as much as my favorite arm chair travel writer, Joei Carlton Hossack!Waiting until Marilyn and Sandy get back on the road again!

A refreshing book

I had never read a book such as this until after I read Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". Then I got on a Travel Essay kick and read everything I could get my hands on. This book is so funny ! Even the parts that you can tell the writer is serious about just scream "hilarious". I can't wait for more from this author !!

Soul searching RVer

I must say this is an entertaining read; one that gives much encouragement to making the choice to quit, sell up, and hit the road. Ms. Abraham does much soul searching and philosophizing about the choice she and her husband made, even getting down right personal sometimes. I loved her self-deprecating anecdotes of what it is like for a born 'n bred New Yorker to discover that the vast beyond isn't as deprived of culture or gourmet food as she had always believed. The only downside is that, if you are looking for the technicals of RV life, they won't be found here. That was fine for me, I can always hit the RV web pages and newsgroups for the cold, hard facts of RV life. What I found here was the spirit of an RVer.

Captures the true feeling of freedom

This is the best book I've read regarding the RV lifestyle. As an Escapee, a 50-something free spirit with a wife who has lived all her life in Astoria, Queens, this book says it all about the freedom from the corporate world. For those of us having to work on the road, nothing was mentioned regarding finances. This is the only shortcoming of the book. It takes guts to do it but the rewards are many.

You touched my heart !

I first saw Marilyn and her husband on a talk show in Pittsburgh. Since I have always wanted to drive an RV to Alaska, I bought this wonderful book and read it in one afternoon. I laughed, I cried and was deeply touched. If they hadn't gone on this trip of miles and of the spirit, I believe that they would have died years before anyone put them in a cemetary. I loved her touching stories of the people they met along the way, but I feel that these people have touched them instead. I couldn't put the book down; I didn't want them to come back to the beginning and I'm glad to hear that they have gone back to their roots in Santa Fe. What a wonderful book. Thank you for sharing your life with me. You have lifted my spirits!! When my trip to Alaska comes about, I will take your book with me, simply to relish your experiences as I experience my own. God Bless and never forget," Hey,Bear" !! Feel free to write if you so choose.