When a couple buys a remote Oregon store convinced they know exactly what they are doing, the valley quietly, stubbornly, and hilariously teaches them everything they got wrong.

An illustrated infographic titled 'The Store on the Edge of Highway 395,' depicting life in Silvies Valley, highlighting themes of isolation, community, and the challenges of operating a remote store in a high-desert setting.

Book cover for The Store on the Edge of Highway 395
Coming November 15, 2026

Running a rural store sounds romantic until the snow arrives in October, the customers don’t, and you are hauling lumber in a Buick because no one told you a truck was non-negotiable.

“The Store at the Edge of Highway 395” is a true account of one family’s years inside one of Oregon’s most remote valleys, where a population of nine, a phone booth that served as the only communication link for seventy miles, and a highway with more elk than traffic tested every assumption they brought with them.

It is a memoir about rural economics, rural ingenuity, and the surprising richness of a life lived far outside the ordinary.


Take a gander at the Tropes in this Memoir/Travel Guide/Education Tool


Cover of the memoir 'The Store on the Edge of Highway 395' by Alexie Linn, featuring a rural landscape with a winding road and mountains in the background, outlining common tropes in the story.
Coming November 15, 2026

Got a yearning to see a minute storyboard trailer?