The author of Blue Highways is part Native American which accounts for his unusual name. Heat Moon has accomplished something that many Americans, including myself, have at one time wished they could do – to take a road trip across the United States meeting folks from small towns and chronicling his adventures along the way.
Heat Moon’s journey began in his home town of Columbia, Missouri from which he drove 13,000 miles in his old green van which he named “Ghost Dancing.” His route took him first to North Carolina, then to Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, California, Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, New Jersey, and states in between until he came home again to Columbia, Missouri.
Blue Highways refers to the small, out of the way roads of rural America of which we are mostly unaware and on which are small towns with unusual names where Americans with long memories of the history of their area abide and make their living. The Old Rand-McNally Atlas marks these roads in blue; hence, the name.
A broken marriage and a lost job prompted Heat Moon to take his long journey during which he slept mostly in his van, ate in quaint country homespun restaurants and sought out the natives of towns with strange names such as Hat Creek, Ninety Six, Rosepine, Eagle Flat, Elephant Butte, New Pass Station, Frenchman, Salt Wells, Humbug Creek, Hallelujah Junction, Liberty Bond, Jawbone Flats, Dinosaur, Hoople, Cape Porpoise, and many, many more. Some towns had only three houses and a barn, according to Heat Moon.
Wherever he stopped, the author made a point of seeking out the town “historian” or a facsimile who might give him some insight into the people who chose to spend their lives in such out-of-the-way places. It is a fascinating look at a side of America with which we are not familiar.
Heat Moon is an articulate man of great insight who keeps the reader spellbound with his stories told in the vernacular of the area in which he finds himself.
You may never have an opportunity to drive across America as Heat Moon did, but reading his book will be a close second. Then again, it may spur you on to replicate his adventure and take off for parts unknown next week.
Source:
Blue Highways – A Journey into America by William Least Half Moon