Post to the Host:
Enjoyed the map of Lake Wobegon on the cover of PONTOON but couldn't find the "Side Track Tap".

Matt R.
Sturgis, MI

First of all, it's not the worst thing to be unable to find the SideTrack Tap, Matt. You go in there, it's dim, you sit at the bar and inhale some cigar smoke and listen to Lefty Frizzell sing "I Never Go Around Mirrors" and the Grain Belt and Hamm's signs are blinking, it's not too long before you have a Wendy's beer and a shot glass of Jim Beam in front of you and some pork rinds and you are feeling mellow and then before you know it you've told Wally all about your sad life and you've slid off the barstool and you're careening toward the men's room and Patsy Cline is singing "I Fall to Pieces" and you're singing along — how do you know the words? You were a Mozart and Bach guy who never missed a performance of the St. Matthew Passion and listened to "The Marriage of Figaro" in your car, and now you're just a common drunk. That's why it's just as well if you drive on by the place and don't go in.
As for the cover of the novel, a terrific artist named Rodica Prato drew it who is from Rumania and lives in New York and she tried to make a work of art out of that jumble of buildings on Main Street and placed them in a tasteful manner and I suppose it was good taste on her part that omitted the Side Track. At any rate, most Wobegonians were delighted by the omission, and the patrons of the Side Track don't read novels, so no harm was done.