Blue Highways: A Journey into America

After spending time with extended family, Heat-Moon realizes that such prolonged comfort and familiarity could threaten his mission: “The wanderer’s danger is to find comfort” (131). He departs from his cousin’s and heads west, passing the Mississippi and eventually reaching Texas. Once in the Lone Star state, Heat-Moon drives Texas Route 21, which he claims is “older than the mind of man” (132). Additionally, the route was once a bison herd path that turned into an American Indian trail. As with many of his chosen roads, this one has a deep history. Heat-Moon then finds his way to the Caddoan Mound, a unique geographical feature that held spiritual significance to the Native Americans of Eastern Texas.

Continuing on his way, Heat-Moon stops for a haircut in a town called Dime-Box. Like many of the towns mentioned in the book, Dime-Box’s attraction for the author was the name of the town itself. The barber is named Claud Tyler, and like others before, his education comes from observation and experience. Heat-Moon interviews the old barber, and his story boils down to humans’ ability to adapt to a changing world. Tyler’s commentary also suggests that progress and modernity oftentimes build things up only to abandon them, including whole towns.