Slices of America's Pie - Accepted for Publication

Slices of America’s Pie, a story about my successful attempt to visit each of the 3,076 counties or parishes in the United States, has been accepted by my publisher and hopefully will be available in mid-to-late 2014.  Slices of America’s Pie is made up of short stories written about one memorable county in each of the 50 states.  The quest to visit all these places ended on May 30, 2000, when I entered Deschutes County in central Oregon. It was my final county and a most fitting way to end the journey. (The Deschutes County sign at the start of this story will also serve as the front page artwork for the book).

This will be the 8^th book I have published and the fourth one about travel. 

Following is a synopsis of Slices of America’s Pie as it will likely appear on the back cover of the book.

A simple question posed on a moonlit Wisconsin summer night sent author Craig Faanes on a journey.  Tens of thousands of miles later the journey ended on a highway in central Oregon when he had visited every county in the United States.  Where most people are content to visit all 50 states, Faanes took the challenge one step further and visited every county in each of the 50 states.  His travels provided an intimate glimpse into the foibles and faults and funny characters making up the core of the United States.

This story began in the 1950s when everyone knew their neighbor and when you could leave a car on the street with the keys in the ignition and fully expect it to still be there when you returned.  It ends in the 21^st century when the probity of earlier days is more difficult to find.  This series of short stories reveals that, despite its sometimes mercurial nature, America’s innocence can still be discovered whether it’s a baffled woman at a Jimmy Buffett concert on Waikiki Beach, or a recently-enlightened Lion’s Club member in Palco, Kansas, or Bonnie the waitress with her bouffant hair do at a truck stop near Cuba, Alabama.  The only requirement is a desire to seek out what lies beyond your backyard fence.

The chapters in the book and their titles follow:

Chapter Titles in Slices of America’s Pie

Chapter		Topic/State	County	Chapter Title
1	Introduction			How It Began
2	Alabama		Sumter	Black-eyed Peas for Lunch
3	Alaska		Northwest	Staring Down a Moose
4	Arizona		Cochise	Looking for Trogons with Jennifer
5	Arkansas		Monroe	A Special River Runs Through It
6	California		Monterey	“What Are You Doing to Those Sea Otters?”
7	Colorado		Jefferson	When A Leader Can’t Be Trusted
8	Connecticut		New London	A Tropical Outpost on a Connecticut River
9	Delaware		Kent	Bombay Hook Isn’t In India
10	Florida		Monroe	If They Shoot, Shoot Back
11	Georgia		Clark	What Language Are You Speaking?
12	Hawaii		Oahu	The Best Buffett Concert Ever
13	Idaho		Lemhi	Two Million Acres of Wilderness
14	Illinois		Pulaski	A Safe Haven for Venomous Snakes
15	Indiana		Montgomery	Fossil Hunting in Crawfordsville
16	Iowa		Des Moines	Walking in Aldo Leopold’s Footsteps
17	Kansas		Rooks	A Meeting of the Palco Lions Club
18	Kentucky		Muhlenberg	Mr. Peabody’s Coal Train
19	Louisiana		Lafayette	The Gator Cove
20	Maine		Washington	Barna Norton’s Puffins
21	Maryland		Somerset	See It Before It’s Gone
22	Massachusetts		Dukes	Is Carly Simon On The Island?
23	Michigan		Keweenaw	Wolves and Moose and a Great Lakes Island
24	Minnesota		Hennepin	When WCCO Radio Ruled the Upper Midwest
25	Mississippi		Jackson	The Pascagoula Run
26	Missouri		Greene	A Baseball Game in the Ozarks
27	Montana		Gallatin	Hunting the Elusive Wapiti
28	Nebraska		Hall	Tornado Warning!
29	Nevada		Elko	On Top of the Ruby Mountains
30	New Hampshire		Coos	This Car Climbed Mount Washington
31	New Jersey		Cape May	The Marshes of Avalon
32	New Mexico		Hidalgo	The Mexican Mountains of New Mexico
33	New York		New York	An Irrational Fear of a City
34	North Carolina		New Hanover	My First Time on the Ocean
35	North Dakota		Stutsman	Tranquility Wrapped in Prairie Grasses
36	Ohio		Portage	Never Forget Kent State
37	Oklahoma		Oklahoma	In the Aftermath of Timothy McVeigh
38	Oregon		Deschutes	The End of the Quest
39	Pennsylvania		Delaware	An Urban Center for Environmental Education
40	Rhode Island		Washington	The Clam Diggers of Point Judith Pond
41	South Carolina		Berkeley	Where the Northern War Began
42	South Dakota		Harding	“We’re All Going to Die”
43	Tennessee		Moore	The Dry Home of Gentleman Jack
44	Texas		Hidalgo	The Potential Energy of Dwight Lee
45	Utah		San Juan	Monkey Wrenching With Hayduke
46	Vermont		Essex	The Northeast Wilderness
47	Virginia		Arlington	Riding the Orange Line
48	Washington		San Juan	Where Killer Whales are Guaranteed
49	West Virginia		Cabell	A Wild Plane Ride from Pittsburgh
50	Wisconsin		Pierce	On The Banks of the South Fork
51	Wyoming		Teton	The Otters of Teton Marsh