I thought that I would – for reasons unbeknownst to me – share my opinions of the book I just finished. In William Least Heat Moon’s classic 1982 book Blue Highways: A Journey Into America, the author loses his job and his wife and decides to travel around America to clear his head. He stays away from the interstates and large cities. He drives the narrow highways and talks to people he meets in places like Ninety Six, South Carolina and Liberty Bond, Washington.



What results is a very enjoyable picture of our great country and many of its residents. Least Heat Moon has an amazing ability to find people who are eager to talk and share their stories. The reader of this fantastic book will enjoy great images of interesting places. The author drives a modified cargo van (named Ghost Dancing), equipped with a small stove and a sleeping bunk. One gets a sense of how the culture of the towns may change from region to region, but the thing that doesn’t change is the realness of the people.



After driving through the Upper Midwest for a few days, Least Heat Moon begins to observe that the people of that area – especially North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan – are reserved, standoffish and not very open to conversation. By the time he makes a short cut through Canada on his way to New York State the author is lonesome and annoyed. This is an interesting point, however I strongly disagree. I’ve lived in the Upper Midwest all my life, and we are certainly not reserved, nor are we standoffish or against conversation. I’d like to discuss this point more but I’ve suddenly grown weary of talking about this book – or about any subject whatsoever. Just read the book, okay? I have to go now.