Back twenty years to... Tuesday, July 18th, 2006. Day 101. A fine example of Andrew Carnegie’s bibliographic legacy, and the home towns of Judy Garland and Charles A. Lindbergh. Peed-off kids, the astounding 'Bavarian Blast' and Youth League baseball.

"Minnesota is, by common consent, 'The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes', and on this stretch of highway there are so many signs for tourist resorts. Fishing and boating – Camping and hiking. Bait, tackle and grocery stores, all catering to the modern day 'Frontiersmen' – and women. It's just what folk do around here. I'm in the Chippewa National Forest, the 'Leech Lake Indian Reservation' to the south, and the watery scenery is beautiful, with the sun sparkling on the cobalt-clear blue water. I plan a stop in Bena – south of the trickily named, Lake Winnibigoshish – but blink, and miss it.

At Deer River, along with three churches, two bait shops and four 'Antique Shoppes' – there’s a fabulous motel, with some superb neon signage, and bright-red angled steel stanchions supporting the decorative stucco porches. This is simply, lovely stuff.

I drive past Zemple, through the 'nothing' that is Cohasset, and now on into Grand Rapids. The town is the birthplace of Judy Garland – and there's an absolutely hideous mural of the little Miss, stepping-off from the Yellow Brick Road in the magical land of OZ – down onto a messed-up, closed-up, gas-station forecourt. 'JG' is the town’s 'USP', but for me, there’s also a charming selection of homeware and clothing shops – and the utterly fantastic, faltering neon sign of the 'Reed’s Drug Store'.

Neon signs became iconic symbols of the American cityscape, mainly illuminating storefronts, with their vibrant colours and striking designs. 1920 and onward marked the golden age, as urbanisation and electrification surged, and the bright signage began to adorn the facades of many more varied businesses, transforming main streets into vivid glowing landscapes, and new cities such as Las Vegas, embraced them wholeheartedly. However, the sixties marked a turning point, as new types of lighted signs came to market. These alternatives: LEDs – Light Emitting Diodes, and: LCDs – Liquid Crystal Displays, offered significantly lower energy consumption, longer life-spans and posed a serious challenge to the original, traditional and far more beautiful and versatile neon."

In Search of Small-Town America: Volume 1 is a free-of-charge Pdf digital download – available from our shop. A table of contents, the introduction, the route-map – and featuring content on the first two States travelled: New Mexico and Arizona.

Jeremy Hammond I am a British writer and photographer, and have travelled through India, China, Southeast Asia and Australia, but most extensively in North America. In the late seventies and early eighties, I worked as lighting crew, and later designer, for many top-named British bands, on tours through Europe, Japan, and the USA. I’ve worked as a cruise-ship photographer, in office and store design, database design, visual arts book publishing and as a London-based freelance photographer, specialising in interiors and architecture.