No Starbucks on This Road

Leo knows things most twelve-year-olds don't. He knows which way the wind blows before the weather app does. He knows how to read a cow's mood, fix a fence with whatever's on hand, and talk to his best friend Clara - three counties away - on a CB radio his grandpa left in the barn. But when the government threatens to shut down the grazing permits that keep his family's ranch alive, Leo realizes knowing the land isn't enough.
He's going to need the whole network - a retired fire lookout who can smell smoke from twelve miles, a rancher with twenty years of water records, and Nico, the new kid from California who showed up with a drone and no idea what a rattlesnake looks like. A story about dry lightning, old notebooks, and the quiet, stubborn work of holding on to something worth keeping.