About the Book
In May 1995, with nothing but a backpack and a vague sense of disquiet, Patrick Dobson left his home and a steady if deadening job in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the next two and a half months he made his way to Helena, Montana, letting chance encounters guide him to a deeper sense of who he was and where he was going. His chronicle of this journey charts his experiences with the seldom-seen people of the small towns, the far-flung outposts, and the Great Plains that make up "our America." Beginning as a seeker, Dobson becomes a faithful recorder of other people's search for contentment, introducing us to a firefighter with a farm at the end of the world, a fiery Christian conservative, a man sharing a van with a crowd of cats, a former circus carny who's found the secret to living life, and a homeless Native American offering a special and enduring gift. Ridden out of a hostile Kansas town, sniffed by bears, confronted by bison and recalcitrant moose, Dobson cannot help but see how land, sky, weather, and a world of circumstances influence people. Against the majestic sweep of the open plains and endless horizon, his story is one of hope and desperation, richness and simplicity—a portrait of who we are in the heartland of America.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
1. A Leap into the Prairie Sea
2. "I'm going to Helena, Montana": The Kansas Cities
3. "Don't worry, kid, you'll be all right": Lawrence, Topeka, Saint Marys, Wamego
4. "It's the best you're gonna find here": Manhattan, Randolph, Marysville
5. "You'll find everything you need there": Beatrice, Nebraska; Wilber
6. The Jims: Friend, Hastings, Hansen, Minden
7. "It's better to try something and apologize later": Kearney, Lexington, Cozad, North Platte
8. "Mostly, you go to the river and get drunk": North Platte
9. "You're a damn fool if you spend all your time worrying about what you ain't got": Grand Island and Kimball
10. "I want to meet people, not shoot them": Gering, Scottsbluff; Torrington, Wyoming
11. "Life ain't easy, but it ain't always tough": Fort Laramie National Historic Site and Guernsey State Park
12. "Probably wouldn'ta killed you, but it woulda hurt": Casper
13. "People seldom seen by the rest of the world": Emigrant Gap, Independence Rock, Lander
14. "If we wait long enough, white men'll go away": Riverton, Wind River Indian Reservation, Dubois
15. "Now you know, and that's somethin": Jackson
16. "It's not all about you": Teton Village, Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park
17. "Walk quietly in any direction": Yellowstone
18. "That'll get you anywhere you want to go": Livingston, Montana; Three Forks, Helena
19. "You'll get to the other side": The Missouri River
About the Author :
Patrick Dobson is a freelance writer, former journalist, and working member of Ironworkers Local Union no. 10 in Kansas City, Missouri. He is pursuing his doctorate in U.S. environmental history and American literature at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.
Review :
"With open eyes and open heart, Patrick Dobson shows us the heart of the nation." David Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and syndicated columnist with Universal Press "This intimate search for self-discovery and renewal is so well told, you'll smell the dew on the morning grass, and you'll know you've found something truly delicious. I've put in more than 100,000 miles, some on these very highways. Dobson paints a clearer portrait with words than I ever captured with cameras. Bravo!" Michael Murphy, co-author of Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations and vice president of programming for Kansas City Public Television "Lighting out for the territories---as Mark Twain would have put it---Patrick Dobson discovers his country, his neighbors, himself. Peter Jenkins (A Walk across America) meets Robert Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance). Seldom Seen inspires the adventurer in me---as it should all of us---to go out and do something similar." Eddy L. Harris, author of Mississippi Solo: A River Quest and Still Life in Harlem
