Stockton, California
Stockton, California was his hometown. He spoke of growing up there with an infectious fondness none of us could help but enjoy. He told us about how his grandfather would duck off into a storage shed when he worked overnight shifts at the Rough and Ready Island...
The Land Of Little Rain
When The Land Of Little Rain first appeared in 1906, it’s author, Mary Austin, guided us through areas of the west that were unsettled, unappreciated and unknown. Rooted in California’s Owens Valley and the Mojave Desert, the book unfurls across the barren west. It...
Pismo Beach, California
Pismo Beach, California never looked better. Late afternoon sun hit the salt-stained buildings along Cypress Street in a way that rubbed gentle warmth into their old walls. She took this as a comforting reminder that gentrification comes with limits. Then, when it...
Wenatchee, Washington
Wenatchee, Washington was hesitant to reveal its charms. Then it all changed. The town blossomed. The Wenatchee Mountains began to glimmer and the Columbia River took on a luminous shade of blue that couldn’t be found anywhere else. It happened suddenly and for...
Victorville, California
Victorville, California turned out to be where the devil could be found, not at the crossroads of Highways 61 and 49 outside Clarksdale, Mississippi. Legend has it he tired of all the tourists on the delta, decided to light out for higher ground and took up residence...
West Wendover, Nevada
West Wendover, Nevada was where I last saw him. We figured it best to part ways. Somehow our business dried up faster than we noticed and turned just about everything sour. We spent more time eating breakfast at the Peppermill than necessary. Then the waitress...
Burns, Oregon
In Burns, Oregon they drained the two coolers, bought ice, beef jerky and lottery tickets. Then they went south on 205 to Mud Lake and the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The snow was melting and they were hoping to see some sandhill cranes.
Mountain Home, Idaho
Mountain Home, Idaho always made him think about a helicopter pilot back in Danang. A rangy man with a constant smile, a cautious pilot, unusually so. He was a precise man who liked to talk about fishing for redband trout on the Snake River. But even the cautious...
Missoula, Montana
Missoula, Montana was where she stopped for gas. It was just before daybreak and the sky hinted at a dull shade of green. The gas station was empty and the wind that rattled her truck all night up in the Bitterroot Range had finally let up. The screen on the gas...
Laurel Canyon In The January Rain
Late in the afternoon in Laurel Canyon light rain soaked the silver hills. A ribbon of flickering headlights curled down the road and lit up shifting patches of slick black pavement.
Listening To The Voice Of The Desert
When Joseph Wood Krutch’s The Voice Of The Desert was published in 1955, the southwest was on the cusp of the boom years of bulldozers and population growth. Las Vegas was a small city of 56,000. Reno’s population was 59,000. Scattered throughout the rest of Nevada...
