Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California stirred as little as possible. Another afternoon of hot wind washed over the town and scrubbed it clean. After the white-hot sky burnt itself out and turned purple, the two of them walked through violet twilight to the little French...
Baker, Nevada
Baker, Nevada was where he heard the news. Standing in a phone booth rattling in the gray wind, just off Nevada State Route 50 near the Utah state line, he couldn’t stop shivering. They thought she would make it. That last postcard they sent, the one with the picture...
Hermiston, Oregon
Hermiston, Oregon didn’t even exist back then. First they had to dig out the canal, 26 miles long, down from the Columbia River to the new Cold Springs Reservoir. They built a dam and from there laid in a web of smaller canals and outlet pipes for water to reach the...
Dayville, Oregon
Dayville, Oregon draped its storefronts with bright bunting, as dazzling a display of red, white and blue as could be found anywhere in America. She thought about this stirring show of patriotism and without intending to, returned to questioning every truth. All she...
Fernley, Nevada
Fernley, Nevada was where a raft of changes swept in. She was heading to her father’s funeral in Laguna Beach, California and figured being alone she would roll through a few recollections of him. But very few memories appeared and this surprised her. So did the...
Fredonia, Arizona
Fredonia, Arizona did a decent job living down what some may have considered an indecent reputation. He didn’t care about those polygamous sects. Whether or not they were still around, which he figured they probably were, wasn’t his concern. There were bigger fish...
Towaoc, Colorado
Towaoc, Colorado disappeared then reappeared, faded in and out of focus and finally stabilized. He scraped a thin layer of frost off the inside of the window and looked out at the Ute Mountain Casino RV park. He was still half asleep, still shivering. Off across the...
Lusk, Wyoming
Lusk, Wyoming distinguishes itself as the county seat of the least populated county in the least populated state in the whole country. This entitles you to a one-way ticket out of town. That’s how he saw it. They painted him as a hell raiser. He could have been a...
Havre, Montana
Havre, Montana waited for spring. The town always seemed to be waiting for spring. That’s what the desk clerk at the Quality Inn where the seminar was held told her when she checked in. She sat in the back row. Silently cursed her sister for encouraging her to...
Ivins, Utah
Ivins, Utah roasted under a gnarled sky. Early summer and the red land roasted. Stripes of red and white sandstone crackled. Up in Snow Canyon State Park, she stared out across the chasms and wondered why her overtures were rebuffed, why her olive branches dried up...
Fish Camp, California
Fish Camp, California always lured him back to that old photo, the one Carleton Watkins took in 1861. Driving through town was all it took for that picture of the Yosemite Valley to reappear. It was gorgeous, as stirring a photograph as they came. But he knew it...
Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington turned him around. Not the blaze of light turnaround that resurrects and revives. It was more as if he was shown how to walk into an inner sanctum of truths. He didn’t figure there was anything mystical about this. No born-again visions. Nothing...
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park didn’t exist when Carleton Watkins visited in 1861. It took another 29 years for the creation of the park. The birth of an idea that came to help define the west advanced by two friends who came out to California together from back east. A...
Mountain Springs, Nevada
Mountain Springs, Nevada could have been on the way to nowhere as far as he was concerned. That’s where he worked as a finish blade operator when they widened Nevada State Route 160. Not a bad job. He took it to be left alone. Right away the other guys caught on,...
Durango, Colorado
Durango, Colorado hosted a colony of social climbers who had hit the skids. Once their ambitions withered, this is where a handful of them landed. An exclusive retreat awaited them on the outskirts of town off Sawmill Road. The retreat was the brainchild of a cagey...
Kennewick, Washington
Kennewick, Washington turned sour so fast she hardly noticed. His lies exploded like dry kindling on hot campfire coals. They were brittle and thin. At first she could ignore them, just as she could ignore political ads on the TV news. His truths didn’t turn out to...
Socorro, New Mexico
Socorro, New Mexico lapsed into familiar early morning languor. Dreaminess floated down from the lemon sky into her back garden. She sat with a mug of coffee in cool sunrise shadows. The barking of a nearby dog was accompanied by a sudden jolt of discomfort. It was...
Glacier National Park Celebrates A Birthday
Glacier National Park celebrates a birthday today. On May 11, 1910, President Taft signed the bill that established Glacier as America’s tenth national park. Chances are, President Taft wouldn’t have required Secret Service protection for a hike on the Highline Trail...
