Where It All Goes Down
A Road Trip
Punkzilla's a blur of highways and seedy hotels, but the general setting is the road between Portland and Memphis, with flashbacks to Cincinnati (Jamie's hometown) and Missouri (home of Buckner, the military school to which his parents send him.) After going AWOL from Buckner, Jamie gets a lift to Kansas, then to Oregon. After leaving Oregon, he makes it to Idaho on the Greyhound before the bus leaves him behind, at which point he hitchhikes through Wyoming, Nebraska, and Illinois before finally getting back on the Greyhound and making it to Memphis.
Welcome to America, Shmoopers. That this story hops from state to state not only suits the plot well, but also adds to the feeling of uncertainty we feel as we follow Jamie around. He's a kid without a home, and so the book lacks one, too.