Read The Lost Continent Online
Authors: Bill Bryson
return to, after Eastern states trip, 227–35
return to, after Western states trip, 343–44, 346–47
Roosevelt commemoration stone at Warm Springs, 89
Southeast, 30
Southwest, 243
cows and tornadoes, 343
State Fair, and strippers, 169
University of, 229–31
women of, 6–7
See also
Des Moines; Iowans
Iowa City, Iowa, 229–32
Iowa Oaks baseball team, 204
Iowa State University, 240
Iowans
and avoidance of sales taxes, 63
character and friendliness of, 9
and serenity, 1, 10, 347
Ireland, 304
It Came From Outer Space
(film), 96
It Happened One Night
(film), 44
J. C. Penney’s, 54, 213
Jackson, California, 302, 338
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 316
Jackson Mountains, 307
Jackson, Tennessee, 64
Jacksonville, Missouri, 48
Jamestown, Virginia, 179, 316
Janamanos, 204
Japan
company ads in Times Square, 167
tourists, 209
Jefferson Memorial, 139–40
Jefferson, Thomas, 124, 131, 317, 336
Jehovah’s Witnesses, 346
Joggers and jogging, 138, 140
John Deere caps, 6, 19
Johnson County War, 327
Johnson, Lady Bird, 58
Johnson, Lyndon, 121
Jones, John Paul, 131
Journalists, 149
K Mart stores, 54
Kanab, Utah, 276
Kankakee, Illinois, 49
Kansas, 58, 244–53
and Clutter murders, 249–52
drivers in, 253
Kaweah, Lake, 296
KCBC Radio, Des Moines, 204
Kelly, Gene, 297
Kennebunkport, Maine, 182
Kennedy, John F., 5, 210
family of, 179
Kennedy, Stan, 251–52
Kent, Clark, 20
Kentucky, 63–64
Keokuk, Iowa, 30, 49
Kerouac, Jack, 7
Ketchum, Idaho, 311
Key West, Florida, 293
Keynes, John Maynard, 184
Keystone, Wyoming, 335
King, Martin Luther, 82
Kings Canyon National Park, 296
Kodak Corporation, 167
La-Z Boy Furniture Company, 208
Lafayette, Marquis de, 131
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 157–59
Lansing, Michigan, 213
“Laramie,” 13
Las Vegas, Nevada, 282–87, 304
Laurel Bay, South Carolina, 96
Lauren, Ralph, Stores, 193, 316
Le Claire, Iowa, 323
Leadville, Colorado, 259
Lebanon, Kansas, 244–45
Lefrak City, Queens, New York, 165–66
Legionnaires’ disease, 143
Lewis and Clark expedition, 125
Libya, 289
Life
magazine, 252
“Li’l Abner,” 120
Lincoln, Abraham, 44, 50, 139, 210, 212
and Gettysburg Address, 153
on Mount Rushmore, 336–37
Lincoln Highway, old Route 40zz, 302
Lincoln Memorial, 137, 140
Litchfield, Connecticut, 173
Little Bighorn, Montana, 324
Little Bighorn River, 325
Little Brown Church in the Vale, 7–8
Little White House, Warm Springs, 88–89
Littleton, New Hampshire, 184–89
Livingston, Montana, 321
Lloyd, Harold, 243
Lodge Grass, Montana, 327
Log cabins, 50–51, 109
London, 141, 146, 298
buses, 267
shabbiness of, 175
Lone Ranger, 290
Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe, 266
Los Angeles, 144, 146, 288, 298
smog, 290
Los Angeles Aqueduct, 290
Los Angeles Dodgers, 269
Louisiana, 62
“Love Boat,” 233
Low Countries, 340
Mackinac Bridge, 215, 221
Mackinac Island, Michigan, 14, 214–15, 217–21
Mackinaw City, Michigan, 214
MacMurray, Fred, 46
Macon, Georgia, 91
Madonna, 231
Madrid, Iowa, 61
Maglie, Sal, 196
Maine, 181–84, 192, 311
Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, 321
Manhattan, 193, 274
bus to, 162–63
See also
New York City
Manilow, Barry, 30
Manistee National Forest, 213
Mantle, Mickey, 196
Manzanola, Colorado, 254
Maps, 47–48
Marijuana, 120, 231–32
Marine Corps Band, 140
Mark Twain home and museum, 41–43
Marshall, James, 302
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, 179
Martinsburg, Iowa, 16, 21
Maryland, 141–42, 316
Massachusetts, 176–80
Massacre Rocks, Wyoming, 315
Masterson, Bat, 248
Matheson, Richard, 35
Mays, Willie, 345
McCarthy, Kevin, 280
McDonald’s restaurants, 54, 215, 275, 295
road signs for, 101
starting wage, 192
McGibbons family, 155
Meadows of Dan, Virginia, 123
Melones, California, 302
Melungeons, 117–19
Mennonites, 157
Menominee, Michigan, 222
Mercer, Lucy, 91
Meredith, James, 74
Mexican music, 262
MGs, 124
Michigan, 207–23
Amish in, 159
Michigan, Lake, 214, 221
islands in, 221
shoreline towns, 213
Middle Atlantic states, 100
Midwest, 77, 97
and absence of landmarks, 17–18
farmers in, 39–41
and foreign place names, 61–62
Henry Ford Museum, Village of famous Americans, 211–12
and nice people, 330–31, 335, 346
return to, 343–44
signs of spring, 246
silence of, 17–18
and small-town stores, 19–20
tornado belt, 342–43
weather, 243–44
See also
Midwesterners
Midwesterners
directions, and geographical obsession, 17
goodness of, 330–31, 335, 346
Milan, Italy, 298
Millville, Iowa, 228
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 222, 345
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 6, 344
Minnesota, 343–44
Minnesota Twins, 344–45
Mississippi, 62, 66–71
percentage of blacks in, 78
University of (“Ole Miss”), 69, 73–74
See also
names of cities; Southerners
Mississippi River, 7, 30–31, 38, 39, 43, 227
confluence of Ohio River, 62
Missouri, 30–31, 39
and sales taxes, 63
Missouri River, 7, 243
Mist Falls, Sequoia National Park, 296
Mita Copiers, 167
Mobil Travel Guides, 97, 100, 276, 340
Mojave Desert, 290
Monroe, Michigan, 207–8
Montana, 305, 321–26, 338
population, 340
Monte Cassino, Italy, 184
Monte Vista, Colorado, 261
Monticello, 124, 126, 140
Montreal, 222
Morison, Samuel Eliot, 131
Mormons, 280–81
Morrisey, Mr. (milkman), 210–11
Morrison, Marion, 242
Mother (author’s)
and asking for directions, 241
on author’s return home, 235
and horse manure on Mackinac Island, 218
and misreading maps, 61
on Reagan, 8
stock phrases, 11–12, 67
use of turn signals, 234
and vacation choice, 294
Mother Teresa, 56
Motor homes, 111, 176–77
Mount Airy, 149–50
Mount Pisgah, Colorado, 257
Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 17, 27, 293
Mount Rushmore, 335–37
souvenir lamp, 339
Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, 131–32
Mount Vernon, Virginia, 131–32
Mount Washington, 184
Mount Whitney, 289
MOVE (sect), 147
Movies
going to, in the past, 93–94
hero-saving-heroine melodramas, 256
in hotel rooms, 169–70
location shots for TV Westerns, 290
location shots in Utah for Hollywood Westerns, 277, 290
and the perfect American town, 44–46
See also film titles
“Mr. Ed,” 170, 288
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(film), 44
Muggers, 140
“The Munsters,” 57
Murders and murderers
and blacks in urban areas, 145
of Clutter family, 249–52
serial, 8, 306
Southerners and, 66
unsolved, 306
See also
Crime and violence
Murdo, South Dakota, 341
Murphysboro, Illinois, 54
Musial, Stan, 345
“My Friend Flicka,” 277
Nakasone, Yasuhiro, 138–41
Napa Valley Restaurant, 53
Narragansett Bay, 173
Nashville, Tennessee, 62
National Air and Space Museum, 139
National Endowment for the Humanities study, 84–85
National Geographic,
8
National Health Service, in England, 225–26
National Park Service, 298–99
National parks
American, 108–12
visitors’ centers, 148–49
Naval Academy, U.S., 141
Nebraska, 239–41, 242–44, 256
Nebraska City, Nebraska, 243
NeHi Pop signs, 14
Nevada, 282–89, 304–9, 326
and crime, 282, 287–88
population distribution of, 304–5
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
(film), 44
New Brunswick, Maine, 183
New England, 172–94, 195, 316
New Hampshire, 180, 183–89, 316
and commercial squalor, 181
New Jersey, 316
New Mexico, 260–70, 316
New Salem, Illinois, 44, 50–51, 109
New Vienna, Iowa, 228
New York City, 93, 165–70, 181, 193, 268, 274, 302, 305
bus to, 139–65
hotel room, 165, 169–70
murder rate, 145–46
See also
Lefrak City, Queens, New York
New York Morning Telegraph,
248
New York Post,
168
New York State, 195–200, 316
violent-crime rate, 282
See also
New York City
New York Times,
249
advertising supplements, 27–29
New York Times Magazine,
106, 203
New York Yankees, 134, 196
The New Yorker,
22
Newport, Rhode Island, 175–76
Newsweek,
286
Newton, Wayne, 282
Nibs candy, 94
North by Northwest
(film), 336
North Carolina, 101–2, 107–15, 182
North Dakota, 340
Northern Plains states, 340–41
Norwegian students, 139–65
Nuclear waste storage facilities, 312–13
Nymph Lake, Wyoming, 321
Oasis Motel, St. George, Utah, 279
Oconaluftee Highway, 109–10
O’Hare Airport, Chicago, 146
Ohio, 200–208
Ohio River, 62
Oklahoma, 59–60
Old Faithful, 319, 321
Olds, Iowa, 16
Omaha, Nebraska, 240
Onion Valley, Sequoia National Park, 296
Ontario, Lake, 221
Ordway, Colorado, 254
Ore House, Santa Fe, 264–65
Oregon, 297
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 226
Oskaloosa, Iowa, 16, 21
Otis Redding Memorial Bridge, 91
Otley, Iowa, 16
Otsego, Lake, 195
“Our Miss Brooks,” 13
Oxford, Mississippi, 67–70, 73–74
Oxville, Missouri, 47
“Ozzie and Harriet,” 18, 45
Page, Arizona, 276
Palmyra, Missouri, 39
Panama Canal, 221
Panasonic Corporation, 167
Panhandlers, 136, 167
Panty shields, 106
Paris, France, 8, 338, 340
Parking lots, 129, 207, 209
Pasties, 222–23
Patrick Springs, Virginia, 125
Paul Revere and the Raiders, 247
Peacham, Vermont, 189–90
Peale, Charles Wilson, 131
Pella, Iowa, 16, 79, 249
little windmills in, 19–21, 59
Penn, William, 146–47
Pennsylvania, 200–201
See also
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Dutch, 157–58
restaurants, 159–61
Pepsi-Cola, 167
Perkins, Anthony, 8
Phantom Canyon, Colorado, 255
Philadelphia Inquirer,
149
Philadelphia, Mississippi, 67
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 142–45, 146–51, 181
government corruption and incompetence, 147–48
Museum of Art, 151–52
Pierport, Michigan, 213
Pikes Peak, 257
Pilgrim fathers, 179, 263
Pine Mountain, Georgia, 87
Piper, Mr. (author’s neighbor), 3–5, 9
Piscataqua River, 182
Pisgah, Mount, 257
Pittsfield, Missouri, 47
Pizza Huts, 129, 184, 304
in Carbondale, Illinois, 55–56
Place names
Amish, 158
in Colorado, 254
Grand Teton Park, 317
Great Lakes, 221
Illinois and Midwest, 49–50
Sequoia National Park, 296
Southwest, 316
in Virginia, 123
West, 315–16
Yellowstone Park, 321
Plank, Eddie, 196
Platte River, 239–40
Playboy
magazine, 71–73
Plum Point, Rhode Island, 173–74
Plutonium, 313
Pocatello, Idaho, 313
Poconos, 102
Polland, Reg, 114–15
Pollock, Jackson, 324
Pollution, water, 201–2
Pop-Tarts, 106
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 182
Pot, smoking of, 231–32
Poverty
in Appalachia, 118, 121–22
in beautiful places, 192–93
in Colorado, 259
in Philadelphia, 144–45
in Tuskegee, 83
Prairie City, Iowa, 16
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, 227
Preparation H television commercial, 104
Preservation, Historic
Americans and, 266–67
of California gold-mining towns, 302
Williamsburg and Mount Vernon, 129–32
Presley, Elvis, 74, 76–77
Prostitutes, 282
Provincetown, Massachusetts, 178–79
Public Broadcasting System (PBS), 216
Pueblo, Colorado, 254
Quincy, Illinois, 31, 33, 39