OutridersIn the summer of 2017, I was one of five Scottish writers chosen by Edinburgh International Book Festival to undertake journeys across the Americas.
I travelled through the United States for three weeks, from north to south, beginning in North Dakota, through Appalachia, and ending in Louisiana. For much of this time I was accompanied by the novelist Jennifer Haigh. I wrote the diary posts below as we travelled.
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After a walk through the extraordinary Painted Canyon, we drove down red dirt roads to find Initial Rock, where two of General Custer's men carved their names at an overnight camp in 1876, en route to what would become known as the Battle of Little Big Horn. From Initial Rock we headed east, eventually making our way to Prairie Knights, a casino and hotel just south of Cannonball, owned and run by the Standing Rock Sioux. It is a peculiar, and somewhat terrifying place, filled with cigarette smoke and slot machines. Comments are closed.
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