Rocco Versaci 
That Hidden Road 
A Memoir

Rocco Versaci grew up in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove and is the product of an Italian-American family, too much television, and countless books. He currently lives in San Diego, where he is an English professor at Palomar College. He has two sons, two bikes, and only a few regrets.

About the author

On a Wednesday morning in May of 2010, 42-year-old Rocco Versaci dipped the rear tire of his bicycle into the Pacific Ocean and began to pedal, alone, across the country.

He had what he thought was a simple idea—to sort out the story of his life, which had taken a couple of unexpected detours in recent years.

That Hidden Road is a memoir of the two months he spent crossing the country by bike. It’s a story of burning saddle sores, heart-popping climbs, and unleashed dogs with a taste for ankle. It’s a story of America’s less-traveled roads and the people who live there. And it’s a story of rebuilding a life from fragments, the spirit of the whole journey captured in a question most of us ask at one point or another—Can I find my way home?

Blending travel writing, memoir, and even comics, That Hidden Road—like Kerouac’s On the Road, William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways, and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild—is an unforgettable story of being lost and found on the road in America.