Backyard Traveler author back with new book

Rich Moreno moved away from Nevada more than two years ago, but he's found it very hard to really leave the state he spent 26 years exploring.

The former publisher of Nevada Magazine and author of several books about Nevada, as well as the Backyard Traveler column that ran in the Nevada Appeal for 20 years, left to pursue a career teaching journalism in Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill.

"I think I wrote sometime back that it's hard to get Nevada out of your system," Moreno said Saturday while at a book signing for his latest work, Nevada Curiosities, at the Borders book store at Carson Valley Plaza. "I don't think I'll ever get it out of my system. It's still there. Even when I just come on family trips in the last two years, I find myself going out to place here. I still have it in my blood."

And his many friends haven't forgotten Moreno, either. He spent most of the three hours of the book signing event surrounded by friends and past coworkers, anxious to catch up with one of Nevada's best travel writers.

"It's kind of interesting being back, because it's like I haven't really left," he said. "It's a little different from most book signings where you sit there and you don't really know who the people are."

Perhaps typical of his nature, he took a short hike down Carson River Road before the event, just to see a part of the state he left behind.

His work teaching journalism and serving as adviser to the student newspaper has its own rewards.

"I'm around students all day long, and that's probably the most gratifying thing about the new job, because I really like working with young people," he said. "It's just kind of fun to learn about all these new things they are doing, Twittering, MySpace,

Facebook, etc."

One other advantage is that Moreno is finding more time to write, and he mostly writes about Nevada.

"When I left, it kind of felt like I wouldn't be doing as much of that anymore," he said. "If anything, I'm doing more Nevada writing than I was when I was at Nevada Magazine."

Moreno is working on exploring his new home state and learning its history. He visited a ghost town, and noted that famous Nevada resident Orion Clemens is buried about 40 miles from his home. The town of Hannibal, Missouri, made famous by Orion's

brother Mark Twain, is also close by.

"We like where we're at in the Midwest," Moreno said. "We like what we are doing. But I'm not going to retire there, I couldn't stand the weather. When I get to that point in my life, I'm sure we'll be back in Nevada or the West somewhere."

Moreno said he would be back in Nevada for a family event in July, and has another book, Nevada Mysteries and Legends, that will be released in the fall. He's also working on a book about the history of Carson City, that he hopes to have on bookshelves in a couple of years.

"I've been fortunate enough to have a couple of books come along," he said "I just keep getting dragged back into Nevada."

He also hopes to start work on his first book about his new state, tentatively titled Illinois Curiosities.

Despite the many books and countless columns and articles detailing his travels around the state, there are still places Moreno hasn't been yet, but he hasn't given up on visiting them.

"I would love to get a four-wheel drive and spend a couple of weeks wandering around parts of the state I still want to get to," Moreno said.

- Contact reporter Kirk Caraway at kcaraway@nevadaappeal.com or 775-881-1261.