Eileen: The Ghost Town Artist Who Redefines Travel Authenticity

Overview

Eileen is a real-life figure Blythe Roberson encounters in Chapter 9 of America the Beautiful?. The non‑binary artist (they/them) owns Cisco, Utah—a once‑abandoned ghost town they have slowly rebuilt into a functioning artist haven. For Blythe, Eileen embodies everything her solo road trip lacks: genuine community, place‑based creativity, and a non‑commodified relationship with travel. Their story becomes the emotional high point of the memoir and forces Blythe to re‑examine her own motives as a tourist and writer. This analysis draws on explicit details from the book—such as Eileen’s background, daily practices, and stated philosophy—while distinguishing interpretation from those facts.

Plot Role

Eileen appears midway through Blythe’s journey, during a week when Blythe’s friend Emmy drives from Denver to join her. They arrive at Cisco to help build a wooden camper for the artist residency Eileen is creating. The chapter, “Be Respectful for Fuck’s Sake,” shows Eileen leading a small group of friends in hands‑on construction, managing the quirks of off‑grid desert life, and dealing with unruly tourists. Blythe’s role shifts from passive observer to active (if clumsy) helper. The stay at Cisco offers the first sustained experience of collective purpose on the trip, and it prompts Blythe to question her own identity as a traveler. The visit ends when Blythe and Emmy leave, but its mark lingers through the book’s final chapters.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Eileen’s actions reveal a set of core motivations that set them apart from the travel influencers and casual tourists Blythe critiques:

• Place‑based community over isolation. Eileen did not buy Cisco simply to live alone. They actively invited friends, sisters, and strangers to help rebuild, and they are creating a residency so that painters, writers, and filmmakers can experience the desert’s quiet transformative power. As Eileen told Blythe, restoring old buildings held no meaning unless others could share the place.

• Hands‑on resourcefulness. With no prior construction experience beyond helping their mother tear up a kitchen floor, Eileen learned drywall, insulation, and plumbing from scratch. They scavenge materials from abandoned structures—an RV window here, a plywood mural there—and turn trash into livable space. This do‑it‑yourself ethic rejects consumer quick‑fixes and embraces patience and improvisation.

• Defensive pragmatism. Eileen carries a gun not as a lifestyle statement but as a necessity. They have been shot at by two men in a parked truck, and they receive creepy online messages from strangers. Their response—spray‑painting warning signs, boarding up hiding spots, and keeping a weapon—shows a clear‑eyed willingness to protect themselves and their project in a remote, unregulated environment.

• Non‑monetized generosity. Though they briefly listed two shacks on Airbnb to generate income, county code issues forced them to stop. Eileen does not charge tourists for visiting Cisco; they rely on odd jobs (landscaping, sawmill work), a donation box, and a Patreon. Unlike the #VanLife influencers Blythe critiques, Eileen is not trying to brand or monetize their lifestyle. They build because they are an artist, not because they expect a pay cheque.

Chronological Arc

Eileen’s story, as presented in the memoir, unfolds in three phases:

1. Discovery and purchase (years before the trip). While visiting Utah to see the Holy Ghost pictographs, a seatmate told Eileen about Cisco. The town’s only standing structure was a log cabin. Eileen ran the numbers, sublet their Chicago apartment for a winter, and bought the land. They moved full‑time six years before Blythe’s visit.

2. Rebuilding and community building (ongoing). Over those six years, Eileen cleared rubbish, restored the cabin, built a walkway, created a chicken coop, and started the artist residency. They also installed a composting outhouse with a double seat, which they jokingly call “art.” The residency idea grew after a friend stayed to do mural work and reported that the isolation was perfect for focus.

3. The Cisco visit (Blythe’s trip, 2019). Blythe and Emmy arrive to help build the camper. They work alongside Eileen’s girlfriend J., friend Z., writer M., and Emmy’s partner Bart. The chapter captures a few days of sanding, measuring, eating communal meals, and watching stars. It ends with Blythe leaving to continue her national‑park tour, but she later reflects on the experience in her closing thoughts.

Relationships

Eileen’s relationships are depicted as organic and supportive:

• With Blythe. Initially, Blythe was one of the “pesky tourists” who visited Cisco uninvited. Eileen could have told them to leave, but instead offered popsicles and later invited them back to help. Blythe feels mortified by her earlier entitlement and grateful for Eileen’s hospitality. She sees Eileen as a role model for authentic, community‑focused living.

• With Emmy and Bart. Emmy is a mutual friend who connected Blythe to Eileen. Bart, Emmy’s partner, drives across the country to build the camper. Their collaboration is practical and joyful—spray‑painting a cicada on the roof, laughing about bat sightings.

• With other residents. J., Z., M., and R. all contribute labour or creative work. Eileen’s sisters Renée and Margaret help run the residency. The group forms a loose but effective collective, each person offering skills in exchange for the experience.

• With strangers. Eileen’s relationship with the outside world is wary. They hang signs telling tourists to photograph from the road, and they have learned to anticipate trespassers. Despite this, they welcome sincere visitors—like the Mormon boys who helped dig the outhouse.

Key Decisions and Consequences

• Buying Cisco without construction experience. This decision allowed Eileen to build a life outside mainstream capitalism, but it meant years of learning by doing. The consequence is a fully functional ghost‑town restoration that inspires everyone who visits.

• Carrying a gun. This decision ensures personal safety in a remote area where law enforcement is distant, but it also marks a boundary: Eileen will not be intimidated. The memoir treats it as a practical necessity, not a political statement.

• Starting a residency before housing was ready. Eileen began inviting artists while the camper was still being built. This forced creative solutions—guests sleep in a converted bus or the post office—but it also attracted people willing to contribute to the construction. The unfinished state becomes part of the appeal.

• Choosing not to monetize tourism. Turning down easy Airbnb income (due to code violations) and refusing to sell the town as a brand meant Eileen had to work side jobs. In Blythe’s view, this preserves the town’s authenticity and keeps it from becoming another Instagram destination.

Theme and Symbol Connections

Eileen’s story weaves through several of the book’s central themes, and their character symbolises an alternative to the travel culture Blythe critiques:

• Gender and Travel. Eileen moves through the world as a non‑binary person in a very gendered travel landscape. Their choice to carry a gun and their willingness to confront creeps (they wrote a gun‑fight mural using their actual weapon) challenge the “don’t get murdered” script pressed on women. Blythe contrasts Eileen’s self‑reliance with her own (still gendered) anxieties.
  → More on gender and travel

• Whiteness of National Parks. While Eileen’s race is not directly discussed, the Cisco community is presented as predominantly white. Blythe’s own critique of the National Park Service’s history of exclusion shadows the chapter, and Eileen’s project implicitly asks who gets to claim and restore Western spaces.
  → Explore the whiteness of national parks

• Environmental Critique. Eileen lives with the stark reality of a drying, burning Southwest. They scavenge and reuse, and they specifically mention “watching the Southwest dry up and burn down and blow away.” Their low‑impact, non‑commercial model of rebuilding stands in sharp contrast to the extractive industries that once mined and logged Cisco.
  → Read about environmental critique

• Freedom vs. Collective Responsibility. Blythe begins her trip seeking individual freedom, but in Cisco she sees a different kind: freedom that grows from shared work and mutual care. Eileen’s existence suggests that building something with others can be more liberating than solitary movement.
  → Freedom vs. collective responsibility theme

• Travel Ethics and Authenticity. Eileen directly undermines the #VanLife performance of “authenticity.” They do not stage photos; they do not seek sponsors. Blythe admits her own Instagram posts are complicit in the same culture. Eileen’s town becomes a symbol of travel done without a product tie‑in.
  → Travel ethics and authenticity theme

Questions and Answers

1. Why does Eileen carry a gun?
   Eileen carries a gun for personal safety, not as a lifestyle statement. They have had two men shoot in their direction while they were working outside, and they receive threatening messages from strangers online. The gun is a practical response to living in a remote, unpatrolled desert environment.

2. How does Eileen fund their project?
   Eileen relies on a mix of part‑time jobs—landscaping and working at a sawmill—along with a donation box and a Patreon account. They briefly used Airbnb but stopped when county code issues prevented them from getting a permit for their composting outhouse.

3. What is the artist residency Eileen is creating?
   The residency invites painters, writers, and filmmakers to stay in Cisco for a month to create work. At the time of Blythe’s visit, the main lodging was still under construction (a wooden camper on an abandoned pickup). Eileen’s sisters, Renée and Margaret, help administer the program.

4. How does Eileen feel about tourists who visit Cisco?
   Eileen is protective of their property. They have posted signs reading “PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE ROAD” and “FUCK OFF” to discourage trespassing. They feel that many tourists feel entitled to walk through the town and take pictures without respecting boundaries. However, they welcome genuine visitors who ask permission—as they once did for Blythe and Emmy.

5. What does Eileen’s project represent for Blythe’s journey?
   For Blythe, Eileen symbolises an alternative to the lonely, productivity‑driven model of solo travel. The Cisco visit is the emotional highlight of the book because it offers a sense of community and purpose that Blythe’s national‑park tour lacks. She later concludes that deeper freedom lies in collective responsibility—a lesson she first glimpses in Eileen’s ghost town.