(CNN) -- The following transcript is a chat with Brian Newhouse, author of "A Crossing"—an extraordinary story of one man's solo bicycle adventure across America--and the spiritual and personal awakening he experienced on his journey.

Guest: Mr. Newhouse...Would you elaborate on your spiritual journey?

Newhouse: The spirituality I found developed on the trip and much more so after the trip. It was a more liberal belief system than the one I was raised with.

Guest: Technical Question: Which route did you take?

Newhouse: The northern tier of the states starting near Seattle; then Idaho, Montana, N. Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin. I took a ferry across the northern part of Lake Michigan and cut through Michigan to the south of Detroit and through southern Ontario. Then to upstate N.Y., Vermont, New Hampshire, and the coast of Maine to a tiny town named Rockport.

Guest: Did you stay with strangers, churches, hotels, camps...where?

Newhouse: I stayed with all of the above. Mostly in church basements but I stayed with a lot of farmers. I think I had three hotel nights.

Guest: Mr.Newhouse, what kind of spiritual awakening did you have?

Newhouse: It was not as much a spiritual awakening as it was a realization that the religion I grew up with didn't fit who I was. So I slowly grew to the awareness of a more liberal religious viewpoint. But there was no single religious epiphany on the bike trip.

Guest: Did you learn to look within rather than outward?

Newhouse: No. I think my problem was that I looked within too much already and part of the learning process was to look outward.

Guest: Did you have a ghostwriter?

Newhouse: Not on your life!

Guest: How long did it take you to write the book?

Newhouse: A long, long time. I had never written anything before this and had made my living as a radio announcer. I didn't call myself a writer. But the story seemed so important that I wanted to share it with as many people as possible. So one day I looked around and wondered, "Who's going to write this thing?" -who is the best person to write this story of the bicycle trip I took, of the story of my own father and me and the woman I was dating? The best person obviously was me. So it took me the better part of four years to turn myself into a writer, to learn the craft, and to get this into book form.

Guest: Do you have any plans to write another book?

Newhouse: Yes. My second book is about a bike trip from New Orleans to St. Paul, Minnesota up the Mississippi. And another tortured romantic relationship. Somewhat like the one that appears in this book.

Guest: Mr. Newhouse...what type of bike(s) did you use?

Newhouse: Trek 12-speed touring bike with granny gear added so I could climb the mountains.

Guest: Didn't you get tired?

Newhouse: Everyday. BIG time!

Guest: Average miles per day?

Newhouse: 100. My shortest day was three miles. The longest 175.

Guest: Author...let’s get back to your awakening....what did you mean by a liberal kind of religion?

Newhouse: One based more on my own intuition and understanding of God than a strict Biblical reading.

Guest: Mr. Newhouse, I assume part of your quest for faith, love, and spirituality was "translating" or moving your experiences from your mind and heart onto paper or screen. What was your best memory of that process that relates to that quest?

Newhouse: Sometimes, when writing the book the words were so powerful that I nearly hyperventilated. But getting them down on paper, usually done at a cafe or late at night at home, was tremendously liberating, letting light shine into an old wound.

Guest: Author...what kind of religion were you in when you were growing up?

Newhouse: Mainline Scandinavian Lutheran. Though I had strict fundamentalism rammed down my throat four or five times a year on top of that.

Guest: Scandinavian Lutheran is strict fundamentalism?

Newhouse: They are separate.

Guest: Did your family support you going on the trip?

Newhouse: No, not really. They were frightened that I would be killed.

Guest: Do you have any kind of relationship with your parents?

Newhouse: Yes. Now, a very close one. This book is only framed by the bicycle trip across the country. It really is much more a father-son story, of coming to terms with a relationship that was not working and needed some desperate attention. I'm very glad that this father-son story, though it had its tough times, has a happy ending, particularly now that my father has Alzheimer's disease and would not now be able to do the things we accomplished together.

Guest: Question: Is their one particular place on your journey that stands above all the others?

Newhouse: Yeah. Going-to-the-Sun highway in Glacier Park, Montana. It was 12 miles of straight up hills, the last half-mile of which a flood of adrenaline hit me and I sprinted to the top.

Guest: Were you still riding at that point?

Newhouse: Yes, all of this on a bicycle. And then I sped down the other side of the Rockies at 60 mph.

Guest: Do you think that the process of "searching for oneself" is peculiar to American culture?

Newhouse: No. In a lot of the European countries there is something called a "wanderjahr", when a young person sets out to find himself. So lots of cultures have this "young person searching" phenomenon.

Guest: Worst place standout Mr. Newhouse?

Newhouse: Oh yeah. Far western N. Dakota where I hit a stretch of about 70 miles of absolutely nothing, not even a wide spot in the road, and got nailed by the most frightening lightening storm I had ever seen.

Guest: I can see why that would qualify as a low point. How many days were you on the road Mr. Newhouse?

Newhouse: The trip took seven weeks, all told, and I averaged about one rest day for every six I rode.

Guest: Did you lose weight on this trip?

Newhouse: Yes, I did. When I started I thought I was pretty trim at 165 lbs. I ate like an absolute horse, but finished at 156 lbs. Sometimes I'd have three breakfasts, two lunches, and three suppers. And I still lost weight. Best diet plan there is.

Guest: Ever stop in to a McDonald’s?

Newhouse: Never once to a MC D's. I actually became a vegetarian on this trip. Not out of any moral choice, it was just that I felt better with major carbos and very little protein.

Guest: Author I may have missed this...but did you keep a diary during this trip?

Newhouse: Yes I did. Every day. But some days I was simply too tired to write more than a few words.

Guest: Did you ever at any time get stranded out in the NOWHERES? And where did you sleep?

Newhouse: I never really got stranded. For the most part, I slept in church basements.

Guest: How much money did you bring?

Newhouse: A thousand dollars, all in traveler's checks. I had probably three hundred dollars at the end of the trip.

Guest: Thousand dollars....you could have gone by bus.

Newhouse: So it was "See America on a hundred dollars a week!"

Guest: How old were you when you found the need to set out on this "quest"?

Newhouse: 27

Guest: Author did you make close friends like Peter Jenkins did along the way?

Newhouse: Yes, one man. A total suprise to me. A guy on a bike in central Washington who happened to be going my way. Silliest, most humane person I'd ever met. We hit it off and rode together for ten days. And I still call him my friend.

Guest: Mr. Newhouse, what is your profession?

Newhouse: Radio announcer, professional singer, stay at home dad.

Guest: Is this a 'Kerouac-esque' introspective via the open road?

Newhouse: I'm sorry, I've never read "On The Road". But it is a story of wanderlust-the same spirit that drove Kerouac.

Guest: Not to kill the ending of the book, but what did you find at the end of the road?

Newhouse: The Atlantic Ocean.

Guest: Hope you had good brakes <S>

Newhouse: The brakes got wet.

Newhouse: I knew how much I would regret not completing this trip. I knew I would die an unhappy man if I never finished and that was all the motivation I needed.

Guest: Author...you have sold me...I will buy this book!

Newhouse: Thanks. Buy a box!

Newhouse:Thanks to everyone for the great questions!