U.S. of Peter
A lake that kept the sky. Mailed from a general store that still sells stamps.
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Vol. 12 · From the road · United States
United States of Peter
A one-man gazette of the fifty states. Peter writes the booth, the trailhead, and the cheap room. This page is the desk.
50states on the map
31dispatches filed
14kmiles this loop
Dispatches by region
Tabs, not a slideshow. Pick a belt of the country.
Northeast
Ferries, brick, and coffee that costs too much. Peter files these from booths that still put a paper on the counter.
Postcards
Stamped notes from the loop: a town, a weather line, a booth.
Granite and a parking lot full of rental cars. The dispatch is the quiet after 4 p.m.
Switchbacks, thin air, a thermos. Peter dated this one on the glove box map.
Fog that ate the road. Breakfast was pie because the eggs were gone.
A ridge walk with too much sky. The town below still had a single blinking light.
A cabin porch and a dog that was not his. Filed after the last radio station faded.
Gazetteer
Twelve states on this pass. Tap one for the desk note.
Maine
Lobster rolls overpromised, fog did not. Peter slept in a room that smelled like salt and photocopier toner.
The desk
Peter is one person with a notebook and a cheap sedan. The “united states” in the title is how many Americas he keeps trying to hold in one issue.
Letters to the gazette
Notes on the series, from people who mailed towns.
★★★★★
Peter writes the diner before the vista. I sent the Georgia dispatch to my sister on I-75.
Ruth Calder★★★★★
The West tab is the one I reread. Parks without the brochure voice. Miles counted, not bragged.
Owen Blake★★★★☆
I mailed the desk a town. Two weeks later a note came back with a diner name. That is the whole project.
Mina PatelQuestions
A gazette of the fifty states, written by Peter. Each dispatch is a place he actually
sat: a booth, a trailhead, a ferry line.
Yes. This is his desk. The union in the name is a joke about how many Americas fit in
one notebook.
By the next cheap room and a map with coffee rings. Regions on this page group the
latest notes, not a ranking.
Yes. Use the form or email [email protected]. If he can reach it on this
loop, it goes in the gazetteer.
Mail the desk
Send a town, a diner, or a reason to turn the car around. [email protected]