This is my favorite kind of book. It's a travel narrative written by a contemporary person who follows the trail of a famous figure of the past, both geographically and historically. The goal is to search for lingering remnants of that person's life and to gain new insights from the experience. And if you can weave in some brand-new adventures for yourself, so much the better. Let's go!

When Isaac Fitzgerald sets out to trace the travels of John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, he at first intends to WALK from north-central Massachusetts to Indiana, just as John did. Yet after a few days spent trudging through and camping out in a sudden March snowstorm, he begins to have second thoughts. His parents and his girlfriend have their own thoughts, too. They recommend that he buys a car to continue the route west. He does. The trip is made much easier as a result.

Our folksy view of John Chapman (1774-1845) is one of a barefoot man wearing a tin cup as a hat. He spreads apple seeds around the countryside while he sings, "Well, the Lord's been good to me." How much of this tale is true? This is in part what Fitzgerald aims to discover. He follows Chapman's known path across Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. He seeks out markers and farms and festivals. He paddles on one of the rivers. And yes, he even learns more about a remaining apple tree that is said to have originated with Chapman.

He provides lots of references along the way, proving to us that he did his homework before he set out on this journey.

Yet what Fitzgerald mostly finds -- as surely as Chapman did before him -- are the people of rural and small-town America. They're living their lives, as their ancestors did before them. As many a solo traveler tends to do, Fitzgerald often turns his sights inward, too. He reflects on his own upbringing, which was a challenging time for his parents and for him. He worries that instances of familial mental illness may have been passed genetically along to him. He compares some of his own history with what he now witnesses among strangers and new friends. John Chapman has provided the catalyst for doing this.

The only problem I see with the book concerns the journey map at the beginning. The borders of the northeastern and midwestern states have been skewed and narrowed, presumably so that the resulting map can fit across a double-page spread. It's wonky. Lake Ontario is even pictured as being smaller than Lake Erie. WHAT?!? It's a designer's creation, and not one of a true map-maker. Why not just diminish the whole graphic to a smaller scale overall? Right off the bat, this image leaves the new reader wondering: If the map is this wrong, this "off," what else is? Fortunately, it seems as if nothing else is. If this book heads into paperback form in a year, it should include the appearance of a new and accurate map. You can mess with us readers in the main text all you want. But don't be messin' with us when it comes to real-life geography. The North American landscape is not an alternate universe.

Given the distance of time and the incompleteness of early record-keeping, we may never know the full extent of John Chapman's reach. We may never know exactly what towns he passed through, how much land he bought, how many apple trees he was responsible for starting, or how much proselytizing he did along the way. Isaac Fitzgerald gives the effort his best shot here. He meets interesting folks, visits various bars and downs many a beer as he follows that imaginary apple seed trail.

Maybe this book isn't just about the travels of two men, one then and one now. Maybe American Rambler is a greater story about All of Us.