Most travellers measure a trip by its landmarks. Cory Mortensen measures it by the places in between: the overlooked towns, forgotten roads, roadside diners, and quiet main streets that most people drive past without ever learning their stories. That is the territory of his award-winning historical travel memoirs, which blend adventure, humor, history, and the unforgettable people found far from the interstate.
His newest book, Middle Miles: Cycling from Canada to Mexico Along the Pacific Coast Highway, takes that approach to one of the most famous roads in America. It follows Mortensen by bicycle along the Pacific coast, from one border to the other.
Never content with the expected path
Mortensen was born in New Prague, Minnesota, and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. By his own account, he has never been content taking the expected path. He left college to work on Wake Island, a remote outpost in the Pacific, before coming home to build a successful career in architecture, construction management, entrepreneurship, and real estate.
Then he built a company and sold it. That is when he made the choice that defines his writing life. He decided on a different definition of success, one that “couldn’t be measured on a balance sheet,” and devoted himself to exploring, writing, and documenting the places most people pass by.
History outside the museum
Since then, travel has taken Mortensen across North and South America by bicycle, motorcycle, train, car, and on foot. He has crossed mountain ranges, deserts, jungles, and river valleys, and covered thousands of miles of backroads.
Along the way he found the idea at the center of his books: history isn’t confined to museums. It lives in abandoned buildings, forgotten cemeteries, roadside diners, quiet main streets, and conversations with strangers.
History isn’t confined to museums. It lives in abandoned buildings, forgotten cemeteries, roadside diners, quiet main streets, and conversations with strangers.
The award-winning books
That philosophy runs through his award-winning books, including The Buddha and the Bee, UNLOST, and Embracing Bewilderment. Each combines personal adventure with the history, folklore, and culture that shape the places he visits. Equal parts storyteller and explorer, Mortensen asks readers to slow down, look beyond the obvious, and discover the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary.
Middle Miles
Middle Miles brings that same curiosity to the Pacific Coast Highway, cycled from Canada to Mexico. On the cover, a winding road traces the coastline beneath a blazing sun. The title points to the stretches between the start and the finish, which is where Mortensen has always found his best stories.
Early readers have taken note. Goodreads reviewer S. J. Jensen called it:
Like Blue Highways meets Eat, Pray, Love—laced with more grease-stained maps and fewer aspirants. A triumph of quiet reflection.
Beyond the page
Mortensen’s storytelling doesn’t stop at the printed page. He also creates immersive YouTube documentaries, cinematic cycling films, walking tours, and point-of-view travel experiences that let viewers journey alongside him through America’s landscapes and historic communities.
Whether he is writing, filming, or planning his next expedition, he is always looking for another story just beyond the next bend in the road. He lives in Arizona with his wife, Kate, where, he says, they are usually planning the next adventure before the current one is over.
