Crossing over county lines

We just got back from a week long trip to Central Oregon. From my experience, when people think of Oregon, they think of Portland -- rainy, green and filled with beer drinkers and hippies. Central, and particularly eastern Oregon is dry, brown and sparsely populated. It reminds me of Utah really. Below is a photo of Ayers Rock/Uluru like Fort Rock which rises out of the flat desert. Highly recommended.


While out there, we visited the farming family of my wife's cousin. They do have neighbors, a handful or so within a circle of ten miles. So I am very pleased to be reading Michael Perry's Population 485, a collection of autobiographical essays about working as an EMT in a very small Wisconsin town. While the geography is different, I am looking forward to reading about life in small communities.

The book is part of Citizen Reader's upcoming book menage. Do participate, won't you? Also, congratulations are in order, as CR will be guest blogging on Book Ninja!