Sitting in a saloon in Tallinn, Estonia, some years ago, it struck me: why would an Estonian entrepreneur (Finn actually as it turned out to be) put his hard-earned money into an eating and drinking establishment, dressing it up like a saloon of the American Old West, circa about 1880, and calling it the Arizona Saloon? What was his attraction to the American West? Why the fascination?

It turns out that Petri Huovinen - that's the general manager of the Arizona Saloon - has been to Arizona and has also traveled to 39 of the 50 states. He lived in the states for about 18 months, and decided to call the place Arizona Saloon because, as he says, “I like hot Tex-Mex food.” He also volunteers that his wife is Estonian, blond and six feet tall, a “very good reason to live here!”

Over time I started discovering many more establishments with an Arizona name and theme. The obvious thing to do in this case was to write a book about it. The result is Not in Arizona: Around the World from Australia to Zimbabwe, which, if you're paying attention, is A to Z or the two-letter US Postal code for Arizona. Kinda cool, huh?

Petri notwithstanding, I discovered, in my travels that most folks around the world know about Arizona because of Hollywood and the great American Western. And the great American Western movie, I believe, is to a large degree the result - almost - of a 30-second gunfight on a street at about 3:00 pm on October 26, 1881 in a little place called Tombstone, Arizona. Yes, the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. Even though it wasn't at the OK Corral but actually near it and on Fremont Street though Gunfight near the OK Corral on Fremont Street just doesn't have the right ring to it.

That fight was blown way out of proportion first by writers and then by Hollywood, the result being - as I postulate - a plethora of eating and drinking establishments around the world named the Arizona BBQ, Arizona Café, Arizona Restaurant, Arizona Espresso Company (yes, it's true) and a host of others. No offense to you fine folk from, say, Rhode Island, but the Rhode Island Saloon or Café just doesn't have the same clever ring to it as does the Arizona one.

The end product - which I hope you will be able to read soon in book form - is a travelogue with a twist. It is a journey through 13 countries and one province, all chosen because they happen to have a restaurant, bar, saloon or café with the word Arizona in the name, or that of an Arizona city such as Tucson or Tombstone. Choosing a country or city based on a food or drink establishment might seem a tad quirky in choosing a way to engage in travel writing but perhaps a bit more structured than the manner in which US foreign policy is made these days.

It is a bit humorous, entertaining, somewhat absurd, eclectic and eccentric and as I jet around the world, exploring cities and countries and running roughshod over the local populations, I throw in history, art, pop culture, philosophy, architecture, sports, theology, politics, gastronomy and beverages and arcane references to the mating practices of sharks. In the end, I find out what other peoples know about us and discover that we still have much to learn from each other.

So, the manuscript is finished, the website is up and you can visit it at www.notinarizona.com and read short sections of each chapter. That leaves a publisher to be found. Ideas?