On the Back Roads: Discovering Small Towns of America Book

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1
Part I Southern California — Nevada
1 Emmy	7
2 Pegleg Smith's Lost Gold Mine	11
3 Fossils in the Desert	14
4 The Search Begins for Main Street	18
5 Oh-My-God Springs	21
6 The Story of the Salton Sea	25
7 Hunting for a Caboose	30
8 Rest Stop of Wilted People	32
9 A Day Dedicated to the Caboose	37
10 El Garces: A Harvey House	41
11 The Last Boomtown	44
12 Highway 95: 450 Miles and One Traffic Light	49
13 Old Saloons and Tiffany Lamps	54
14 A Class Act of the Old West	58
15 A One-Sidewalk, One-Airplane Town	61
16 Potluck Booze Made Pizen Switch	66
Part II Northern California — Oregon
17 Isolated by Its Hugeness	73
18 California's "Highest" Town	75
19 It's Illegal Not to Have a Gun	77
20 Where Flies Come toDie	80
21 The Driftwood Capital	85
22 A Two-Year-Old Trucker	90
23 Harley-Davidson vs. Honda	93
24 A White-Circle Town	95
25 Living Close to the Land	97
26 The Sucker Jar of Surprise Valley	102
27 The Oldest Living Things	107
28 Can't Root for the Hometown Team	109
Part III Central California
29 Perched on the San Andreas Fault	117
30 Jake's Fish Farm	122
31 A Town That Deserves a Medal	125
32 Its Name Preceded It	128
33 Searching for Main Street	132
34 Where Butterflies Spend the Winter	137
35 A Convex, Equilateral, Three-Sided Temple	139
36 Adventures on a Narrow-Gauge Speeder	141
37 Vandenberg's Thirty-Mile Beach	144
38 Fog, Flowers, and Watermelon Seeds	146
39 Servicetown, USA	150
Part IV California — Arizona — Utah
40 Home for a Visit	157
41 The Year's Longest Day	160
42 Route 66	163
43 The One-Man Post Office	165
44 The Sun's Hot Grip	168
45 The Grand Canyon vs. Route 66	170
46 "Little Hollywood"	174
47 Maybe America's Only Ant Hunter	179
48 "Catfish" Charlie on Butch Cassidy	184
49 Silver Oozed from the Rock	187
50 Dixie Country	190
51 A Monument to a Massacre	193
52 Pioneer Day	196
Part V Wyoming — Utah
53 Welcome to Wyoming	203
54 A Subterranean City	205
55 Oregon Trail Trading Post	208
56 Greatest Pioneer Movement in History	210
57 The Beaver Hat	215
58 Ranch Girls Aren't Prissy	220
59 J.C. Penney Mother Store	224
60 Inside the Temple	229
61 Columbus Day is Transferable	234
62 Truck Attack on the Library	239
Part VI Arizona — Colorado — New Mexico
63 A Bad Day for Arizona	245
64 Indian Country	248
65 Mostly Texans Here	251
66 The Anasazi: Now We Know	256
67 Ten-Cent Coffee	262
68 The Uranium Rush of 1950	265
69 On the Santa Fe Trail	268
70 A Route Around Albuquerque	274
71 Where Dust Bunnies Can't Hide	277
72 Street of Healing Magic	280
73 The True Journey Never Ends	285
About the Author	287