First night, Tropical Storm Gordon formed over our heads. Next day, Gordon’s outer bands lashed us as we danced on the edge of the storm. This passage reminded me of a race against time ten years ago: We awoke at … Read More
Souls Along the Road
My newest book–Souls Along the Road–is hot off the press! More “on the road” adventures blending local characters and mom-and-pop food into an archipelago of tasty stories, diving deep into America’s cultural fabric, finding badass good Samaritans and traces of … Read More
A Dickens of a Heist
Boarding a railroad car at Gads Hill, Missouri, Frank James quoted Shakespeare, announcing to startled passengers his gang’s intent to rob them. Just the rich, mind you. Not the working poor, with calloused hands. No women. No children. The Bard … Read More
Where the Carny Sleeps
They were hiding back among some barns and sheds. I’d uncovered a spot where a traveling carnival sleeps in the off-season. Only partially visible from the road, the unique shapes and garish colors jump out from the octopus, with light … Read More
Mom’s Cafe
Hartville.Welcomed by the café’s official dress code–jeans and ball caps–I felt right at home on Rolla Street right next to Bullfrogs Pawn, bathed in the aroma of bean soup and the promise of frog legs. Betty always dreamed of owning … Read More
New Book in 2018!
She handles through turns like a dancer with the spirit of a sports car and the mileage of a miser. Her flanks show dings from parking lot encounters, and her roof is a quilt of dents from hail and scratches … Read More
Road Story
Erifnus waited patiently beside old hotels and farmhouses, chapels and prisons, diners and greasy spoons, graveyards, museums, creeks and canyons and unsavory encounters. She always escaped with a story. She won an Emmy. I just went along for the ride.
Nature’s Canvas
The Great Impressionist has turned expansive soybean fields to green and gold palettes worthy of Monet or Van Gogh, framed by hardwoods who slowly dress for autumn.
When the Big One Washes Us Away
OK, this wasn’t our boat. But the same Hurricane Omar chased us from St. Barts to a hurricane hole in St. Martin. Photo above is on Anguilla, just north of St. Martin/St. Maarten. On a spit island just north of … Read More
12,000 Poles Down
The storm spread a path of destruction through northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. In two Bootheel counties alone, the ice toppled 12,000 telephone poles.