Klaus Komenda had achieved what he had fantasized about for years. He had moved to the United States, worked for a prestigious company in Silicon Valley, was able to afford the luxury German car and the one bedroom apartment in a gated complex with swimming pool, gym and manicured lawn. Yet something was missing. A chain of events turned his life upside down and made him question the path he was on. After much deliberation and hesitation, he decided to step off that path and go on an adventure. Highways and Backstreets is the story about one man's solo journey across the United States on a bicycle. In an effort to learn more about himself and the country he had called home for so many years, he rode 5,000 miles from San Francisco, California to Washington, D.C. It is a story about coming alive through adventure. He cycled across breathtaking scenery and serene country roads, while enduring intense heat, agonizing headwinds, gear breakdowns, thirst and hunger. But most of all, it is a story about human connections and the people he met while pedaling 92 days across the fourth largest country on Earth.