Roadtripping documents a decade of road trips through the fiefdom of Alberta. The men and women who make up the Buffalo Gals first set out in July 1999 to experience the unusual and charming roadside attractions of south-central Alberta. Never dreaming that this one-off adventure would turn into an annual event, it’s ten years later and they continue their escapades. Each year a new destination is chosen and the weekend-long travel begins. Traditions have evolved including elaborate scrapbooking, eating in gourmet dining rooms (when available) and excessive snacking (without fail). Beyond the joys and challenges of being on the road and a deepening bond of friendship, this book is a love poem to Alberta, a province often misunderstood and mislabelled as being the right-wing cowboy haunt of Canada.

With trip route maps, hilarious photos, and appendices including checklists and recipes, Roadtripping explores the bizarre and wonderful attractions of wild rose country, stuffed gophers, political fanaticism, mad cows and more.

Conni Massing is an award-winning writer working in theatre, film, radio, and television. Recent stage credits include the hit comedy The Myth of Summer, which premiered at Alberta Theatre Projects in 2005; Homesick, which premiered at Edmontonâ??s Workshop West Theatre; and an adaptation of Bruce Allen Poweâ??s The Aberhart Summer (Alberta Theatre Projects/Citadel Theatre). Massing has worked as a television series story editor on The Beat, North of 60, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, and as a story consultant on Anaid Productionsâ??s documentary series Taking it Off and Family Restaurant. Conniâ??s comedic short film Invisible was produced in the fall of 2007. She is currently adapting W.O. Mitchellâ??s Jake and the Kid for Theatre Calgary and writing a book about road trips.

Conni has been playwright-in-residence at Theatre Network, Playwrightsâ?? Workshop Montréal, and the National Theatre School of Canada. She now teaches both playwriting and screenwriting in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta. A proud member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, sheâ??s also a regional representative for the Writers Guild of Canada. Massingâ??s writing has been recognized by the Alberta Motion Pictures Industries Association (AMPIA), the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the Betty Mitchell Theatre Awards, and the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Theatre Awards. A recipient of a Queenâ??s Jubilee Medal (for contributions to the arts), Massing was recently honoured as one of one hundred people who have made a contribution to Alberta theatre in the last one hundred years.

Conni Massing's profile page

Conni Massing, an award-winning Edmonton playwright who has fearlessly launched herself into non-fiction with a travel memoir. —The Edmonton Journal

Steven Beattie, reviews editor of . . . Quill & Quire, notes that books about the road life tend to be a natural fit for travellers. Roadtripping in included on Beattie's list of suggestions.—Special to the Globe & Mail

Albertans or non-Albertans who read this travel memoir will learn something they never knew about the province, feel a little envious toward the Buffalo Gals . . . and, quite possibly, be left with a strange craving for beef jerky. —Canadian Geographic

Roadtripping, [Massing's] love letter to her home province, is both funny and inspiring. —Quill & Quire

A humour-fuelled travelogue. —Westworld