In 1978, after separating from his wife and losing his job as a teacher, Heat-Moon, 38 at the time, took an extended road trip in a circular route around the
United States, sticking to only the "Blue Highways". He had coined the term to refer to small, forgotten, out-of-the-way roads connecting rural America, which were drawn in blue on the
Rand McNally road atlases of the time. He outfitted his van with a bunk, a camping stove, a portable toilet and a copy of
Walt Whitman's
Leaves of Grass and
John Neihardt's
Black Elk Speaks. Referring to the Native American resurrection ritual, he named the van "
Ghost Dancing", and embarked on a three-month soul-searching tour of the United States, wandering from small town to small town, stopping often at towns with interesting names. The book chronicles the 13,000-mile journey and the people he meets along the way, as he steers clear of cities and interstates, avoiding fast food and exploring local American culture. Stories that arose from Least Heat-Moon's research as well as historical facts are included about each area visited, as well as conversations with characters such as a
Seventh-day Adventist evangelist hitchhiker, a teenage runaway, a boat builder, a monk, an Appalachian log cabin restorer, a rural
Nevada prostitute, fishermen, a
Hopi Native American medical student, owners of
Western saloons and remote country stores, a
maple syrup farmer, and
Chesapeake Bay island dwellers. ==Reception==