“Explaining how to find her café in Gas, Kansas, Bonnie Steward said, ‘Come down Route 12, but if you blink, you'll pass Gas.'” Gas isn't all you'll be passing if you come along for the ride with author Gary Gladstone on a cross-country road trip across the U.S.A. With camera in hand and the penchant for the unexpected, Gladstone captures a photographic portrait of small towns with unusual names and the folks who keep them on the map with their (admittedly offbeat) civic pride. You'll meet bar buddies Don, Ron, and Flakey Jake from Goofy Ridge, Illinois; stop in at the mechanics shop in Nothing, Arizona, to confirm that Nothing really does sit in the middle of nowhere; and be regaled with colorful stories from the locals of Boogertown, North Carolina, about how the town got its name. So jump in the backseat of the car and get ready for an honest slice of apple-pie America, chock full of myths, legends, and laughs.• Gary Gladstone received the 1999 Award for Visual Excellence from the Image Bank, one of the nation's leading photo agencies.