As the author of four previous works of travel – writing – most notably Blue Highways and River – Horse – William Least Heat – Moon believes that when it comes to trip – taking, "to go out not quite knowing why is the very reason for going out at all." The wonder of discovery runs throughout his latest book, Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey.
As Heat – Moon explains, quoz is "a noun, both singular and plural, referring to anything strange, incongruous, or peculiar; at its heart is the unknown, the mysterious. It rhymes with Oz." With his wife, Q, Heat – Moon travels the U.S. in search of it. They trace the bends of the Ouachita River – all 600 miles of it – from its source in Arkansas to its windings in Mississippi and its eventual end in Louisiana; venture to the Gulf Coast and Steinhatchee, Florida; visit Joplin, Missouri, and Quapaw, Oklahoma; take to the road in Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Idaho, North Carolina and many more places.
They uncover stories – lots of them. There’s elderly Mrs. Weatherford and her tale of Northern Light rapture, Indigo Rocket and a 50 – foot femme fatale, the mysterious Goat Woman of Smackover Creek. Jack Kerouac and his 120 – foot scroll of a manuscript make an appearance, as do the Gullah people of Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. There’s even a recipe for pickle pie. "These wanderings," Heat – Moon writes, "took three years and four seasons to accomplish their sixteen thousand miles of journeys to places a goodly portion of the American populace would call ‘nowhere.’
