Most of you already know about Dan Rice, owner of the 66-to-Cali souvenir shack at the Santa Monica Pier who was the guiding force behind getting an “End of the Trail” Route 66 marker erected at the pier.
However, a book coming out in the winter is going to tell another side of Rice’s story:
In a new autobiography published by independent press The Way Things Are Publications, author Dan Rice, 66-to-Cali Inc. owner, Route 66 enthusiast, and a permanent fixture on the iconic Santa Monica Pier, reveals his journey to recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury in attempt to raise public awareness of the condition and how it can be treated. The book, End of the Trail, explores a psychological struggle with deteriorating mental faculties, depression, anger, suicidal ideations, and an increasing inability to understand the world around him due to a trauma that often is misunderstood by both the medical field and the general public.
Rice’s eight-year recovery from TBI began with a near fatal car accident in 2002 that halted a Hollywood career and high-paced track toward a Ph.D. in Psychology. The undiagnosed injury threw Rice into a downward spiral in which his perceptions of reality were completely transformed, unintelligible, and in some cases altogether removed. The story of his recovery is intertwined with the story of his passion for Route 66, illustrating that the economic trauma of the historic route, representing a larger economic trauma of middle America, mirrored his own physical trauma.
According to the news release, Traumatic Brain Injury has become the signature malady of the Iraq War. It affects 1.5 million Americans and kills more than 50,000 annually.
The Way Things Are Publications will publish the book in hardback form in the winter of 2010. The cover of the book can be seen here.