Category Archives: The West

A Hotel Room Off The Highway 1985

A little after midnight I pull the Pontiac LeMans Off the interstate Before Flagstaff Onto Route 66___ Kyla sleeps against the door Not knowing we are stopping for the night At a motel The Flamingo Motel Hotel Red sign bright neon I pull up to the office Get us a room Kyla wake “Where are […]

TO THE DOOR by Peter Nolan Smith

Published on: Jan 6, 2012 I-5 ran south out of Sacramento. The day was getting hot in the Central Valley and AK cranked up the Torino’s AC. I turned around several times to be disappointed that Carol wasn’t in the backseat. A whisper of her rose attar fragrance clung to the car. She and her […]

Wind River Mountains 1998

Wind River Mountains 1998 In the Spring of 1998 my 78 year-old father and I embarked on a road trip through Wyoming and Montana. We picked up a rented car in Bozeman, Montana and stopped the first night in Chico Hot Springs. The next morning the two of us continued down Paradise Valley to Yellowstone […]

LAST CALL IN BUTTE MONTANA by Peter Nolan Smith

Tonight I rolled into Butte, Montana. Beating the M and M Bar’s last call. Gram Parsons sang on the jukebox. ‘Streets of Baltimore.’ Mona loved that song And I never done her wrong. Last week in Bozeman, Montana I woke to an empty bed No sign of Mona. Only a burning egg And a note […]

Death Valley Hot

A heat wave smothers the continental USA and the national weathermen are predicting that the temperature in Death Valley might hit 120 today. The manager of the Wrangler Restaurant in Furnace Creek on Tuesday closed the establishment after the ACs went on the blink, saying, “We can’t put customers through this — it’s just too […]