{"id":2452586,"date":"2019-12-25T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-25T22:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-runner-rickey-gates-to-publish-book-about-his-transamericana-journey\/"},"modified":"2019-12-25T15:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-25T22:52:00","slug":"aspen-runner-rickey-gates-to-publish-book-about-his-2017-transamericana-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-runner-rickey-gates-to-publish-book-about-his-2017-transamericana-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen runner Rickey Gates to publish book about his 2017 Transamericana journey"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.6660550458716\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-318281-805\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/runner-atd-122619-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/runner-atd-122619-2-1024x732.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Rickey Gates enjoys a beer at Aspen Brewing Company in 2017 while visiting his hometown. Gates, an accomplished runner, was roughly two-thirds of the way through his Transamericana project at the time, which was to run from South Carolina to California, exploring the country along the way. He wrote a book about the experience that will go on sale this spring. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"14\">\n<p><strong>Rickey Gates enjoys a beer at Aspen Brewing Company in 2017 while visiting his hometown. Gates, an accomplished runner, was roughly two-thirds of the way through his Transamericana project at the time, which was to run from South Carolina to California, exploring the country along the way. He wrote a book about the experience that will go on sale this spring. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/runner-atd-122619-2-1024x732.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Rickey Gates enjoys a beer at Aspen Brewing Company in 2017 while visiting his hometown. Gates, an accomplished runner, was roughly two-thirds of the way through his Transamericana project at the time, which was to run from South Carolina to California, exploring the country along the way. He wrote a book about the experience that will go on sale this spring. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/runner-atd-122619-2-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/runner-atd-122619-2-1-808x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy | Aspen runner Rickey Gates' first book is expected to go on sale this spring.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Aspen runner Rickey Gates&#8217; first book is expected to go on sale this spring.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/12\/runner-atd-122619-2-1-808x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen runner Rickey Gates' first book is expected to go on sale this spring.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-runner-rickey-gates-to-publish-book-about-his-transamericana-journey\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-runner-rickey-gates-to-publish-book-about-his-transamericana-journey\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In 2017, Aspen native Rickey Gates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-runner-rickey-gates-completes-his-transamericana-journey\/\">spent five months making his way across the United States<\/a>, mostly on foot. Already an accomplished professional runner, this was hardly out of the norm for the then 36-year-old, although it became something that stuck with him in a far greater way than many of his other foot-powered adventures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think about it often,\u201d Gates said in a recent interview with The Aspen Times. \u201cI\u2019ve had a couple little endeavors in my life that have made me stronger as a human being and believe in myself, but also that provided me with an immense amount of empathy for my fellow human beings, and that has certainly stuck through with me since that trip.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The trip, which Gates called \u201cTransamericana,\u201d is now a book, another new endeavor for the first-time author who now calls Sante Fe, New Mexico, home. Published by Chronicle Books in San Francisco, \u201cCross Country: A 3700-mile run to explore unseen America\u201d will officially hit bookshelves in the spring, although it\u2019s already available for preorder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gates said the book is 20,000 words over 13 chapters with 200 photographs from his trip. Some of the words are no more than small vignettes about people or places, while the rest weave the full narrative of his journey. Not only does the book focus on the five months of his trip, but Gates also spends time talking about the five months both before and after his 2017 odyssey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s super exciting. Been working on it for a few years and it\u2019s fun to actually have it in my hand now,\u201d said Gates, who recently held the book for the first time. \u201cI had hoped to write this book before I even set off on my run across the country and I kind of paid attention to everything around me and photographed as though I would be writing a book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gates set off on his trip March 1, 2017, from South Carolina. Born and raised here in the Rockies, the South was a foreign world to the Aspen High School graduate, which is why he wanted to spend time exploring that part of the country. He went through parts of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee before making it into the Ozarks and eventually the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He arrived in Aspen June 1, 2017, for a short bit of rest and relaxation in familiar confines before continuing his journey through the deserts of Utah and Nevada. His journey ended five months to the day after it started at the \u201cfinish line\u201d in San Francisco, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-runner-rickey-gates-runs-every-street-in-san-francisco-in-latest-project\/\">where he called home for a while<\/a>. All told, Gates said his trip was roughly 3,700 miles long.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI didn\u2019t feel I really had something worthy of a book up until I ran across the country,\u201d said Gates, who had done some writing previously, including for Trail Runner magazine. \u201cIt was pretty awesome to put that focus on the trip as I did. It kind of made me pay more attention than I probably would have, and it also made me slow down and appreciate certain things in a way I wouldn\u2019t have if I didn\u2019t have that intention of writing the book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gates said the first agent he took the book idea to shot him down. He had better luck with the second, who was able to pitch it to a handful of publishers with three agreeing to take it on. Ultimately they chose Chronicle Books, which Gates said has a more artsy following than that of athletes, something that actually excited him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThey go more into the art realm a little bit, and that\u2019s kind of the audience I was aiming for,\u201d Gates said. \u201cI was hoping that if I can put it out there in front of an audience that isn\u2019t my normal one, hopefully I can keep the runners and the sufferers in there and then bring in a new audience as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Not only will there be the book, but Gates said they have put the final touches on a feature film documenting the trip that will come out around the same time. The film, called \u201cTransamericana,\u201d has been submitted to numerous film festivals across the U.S. and Europe. The book, which is available for preorder on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Cross-Country-3700-Mile-Explore-Travelogue\/dp\/1452180881\/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1574197592&amp;refinements=p_27:Rickey+Gates&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1&amp;text=Rickey+Gates&amp;tag=smarturl-20\">Amazon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/cross-country-rickey-gates\/1132830676?ean=9781452180885#\/\">Barnes and Noble<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiebound.org\/book\/9781452180885\">Indie Bound<\/a>, will be released April 14, 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Ultimately, Gates hopes people see the book \u2014 and the film \u2014 as more of a journey about people and places, and not so much about running.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe continue on in our political climate where I don\u2019t necessarily agree with a lot of things that are happening in the country right now,\u201d Gates said, \u201cbut doing a trip like that provided me with the empathy of getting to have known a lot of people that think differently than me and trying to understand their perspective. That\u2019s what kind of still sticks with me two years later, and I hope the book helps convey that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More can be found about Gates at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rickeygates.com\/\">http:\/\/www.rickeygates.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-runner-rickey-gates-to-publish-book-about-his-transamericana-journey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rickey Gates enjoys a beer at Aspen Brewing Company in 2017 while visiting his hometown. Gates, an accomplished runner, was roughly two-thirds of the way through his Transamericana project at the time, which was to run from South Carolina to California, exploring the country along the way. He wrote a book about the experience that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 00:29:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}