Stories About Stories: Don't Call Me Mrs Rogers by Paige Parker

Paige Parker’s memoir, Don’t Call Me Mrs Rogers: Love, Loathing and Our Epic Drive Around the World, reveals her personal journey, from small-town Southern naif to a woman of the world,coupled with an account of her epic journey around-the-world with husband Jim Rogers, a three-year drive that led to a Guinness World Record.

Jim and Paige dreamt of the wind in their hair via the comfort of a convertible. (Little did they know comfort would be a foreign creature on much of the journey!) Their desire led them to build the first-ever all-terrain convertible four-wheel drive. The car, created by combining a Mercedes SLK body with a Mercedes G300 short wheelbase chassis, had a six-cylinder, 3-litre turbodiesel, with full-time four-wheel drive, three differential locks and a fuel range of 1,000km.

Attached to the car was a trailer that sat on leaf springs (which broke while they were in the Serengeti, of all places). It utilised electric brakes, with the same 18-inch tall wheels as used by the car. It housed a spare tire, drinking water, medical supplies, a spare fuel can, a tent and two suitcases.

On the drive through 116 countries, Paige’s worldview is turned upside down as she meets women from every walk of life, monks in China, boy soldiers in Angola and oppressive patriarchy in too many countries. Yet she still walks away with a profound faith in humankind and ultimately makes her home in Singapore. 

Here, Paige offers her top drives from her time on the road:

1. Take the two-lane 1,332-km Ring Road around Iceland (detours included). It's a spectacular drive in summer or winter. Along the way, you’ll find Reynifjara Beach, among the world’s most famous black sand beaches from the heavily eroded volcanic rocks; Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, where you can frolic behind the falls; and Hekla, the country’s most active volcano, which was known as ‘The Gateway to Hell’ in the Middle Ages. All through the drive, there are lakes, mountains and beaches, with sheep, cows and reindeer dotted here and there, and plenty of geothermal baths to rid of any tension from the drive. 

2. Central Turkey from Erzincan through Erzurum. A highlight of this drive are the emerald-coloured lakes beside almost untouched villages on the winding roads. But you must visit the Seljuk-style Cifte Minareli Medresesi (Twin Minarets Madrasa) built in the 13th Century as a theological school, on to the pebble beach of Hopa on the Black Sea. If you're keen on mountaineering you can stop off at the landing site of Noah’s Ark, Karanlik Kanyon (Dark Canyon) – which is second in size only to the Grand Canyon.

3. Drive the 50km stretch of the Amalfi Coast in Italy along the southern tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula. No need to manage your expectations, since the mammoth cliffs, ragged coastline, exceptional vistas, pretty pastel villages – and one of my favourite hotels, the legendary Le Sirenuse in Positano – will leave you gobsmacked. You might never want to return home.

4. Nouadhibou to Nouakchott in Mauritania. Oh, there's no road, you say?  Simply drive through the Sahara Desert! A highlight of this drive is when you reach the wide beach, where you get spray from the Atlantic Ocean on the right side of the windshield and sand from the voluptuous sand dunes on the left. You will come across fishing villages, camel nomads and bird sanctuaries – but make sure you head back into the desert when the tide comes in.

5. Benguela to Lubango. With the civil war long over in Angola, it’s safe to drive from Benguela, famous for its beautiful beaches such as Blue Bay Beach, to Lubango, perched 1,700m above sea level. You’ll reach the marvel-of-engineering that is Serra de Leba Pass, a national landmark built in the 1970s; and keen drivers can relish tackling the hairiest hairpin roads we faced. The steepest 1.7km offers seven tight turns – and there are no guard rails. You’ll experience three different climate zones going up or down. Don’t look over the edge, but try to take in the stunning rock formations. Prepare for sweaty palms!

6. Drive the Minangkabau area of West Sumatra. You honestly can’t make a wrong turn, and the sites are countless: there's Indonesia’s highest mountain, Gunung Kerinci, which happens to be the highest volcano in Southeast Asia, plus lakes such as Singkarak Lake, and deep canyons such as the stunning Sianok Canyons; as well as streams, beaches and rainforest. But the stunning and omnipresent spired roof architecture (think roof eaves soaring like a buffalo’s horns) in the world’s largest matriarchal society will make you just stop and stare.

7. Take State Highway 1, which is possibly the least sexy name ever for such a rousing road, and head down the scenic east coast of New Zealand’s South Island (pictured left is the Picton to Christchurch stretch).
It starts from the uppermost tip of North Island and continues down South Island, with a short hop on the ferry from Wellington to Picton. The hills soon will turn to rolling plains covered in grapes harvested in the cold-climate wine region, cherries (if you’re lucky), and you can spot maybe a pony, sheep or alpaca farm. Cool cafes and art galleries may bring pause, but then you’ll be back on the curvy road, inevitably seduced by the colonies of sea lions resting on rocks – all day long. What a life!

8. Cross the Andes (bucket list!) driving from Santiago through wine region, rolling hills and onward to rising twisting roads, where ski resorts resemble minuscule toy scenes against the mammoth mountain; then to Paso de los Caracoles and her larger-than-life turns, whitening your knuckles as you ascend to 3,200 metres. The slim-lane switchbacks, almost 30, are spectacular, albeit headache-inducing. Awaiting you in Argentina, if clear skies, is Aconcgua, the tallest mountain outside of Asia, and onward to barren mountains, dry plains, then aqua lakes before reaching Mendoza, where you may seriously chill with a glass of award-winning Malbec.

9. Drive the iconic Alaska Highway. Constructed during World War II to connect the lower 48 states to Alaska through Canada, you should start from Dawson Creek at Mile 0, the official starting point of the legendary highway. Or if time permits, at the turquoise, glacier-fed water of Lake Louise. You’ll experience endless mountains, diverse flora and fauna, perhaps a few bison, elk, moose, mountain goat, and, less likely but still possible, bears. Don’t miss Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, and stop at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Whitehorse, where you can learn about the massive land bridge that once stretched from the Yukon to Siberia. Undoubtedly, you’re sure to meet various mavericks in the roadhouses along the way.

To travel is to live. See you on the road!

Follow Paige at @iampaigeparker and www.dontcallmemrsrogers. You can buy her book here.