The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

Described by Coyote as a hippy and eccentric, Rodeo is Coyote’s youthful father. He is unshaven, sporting an unkempt beard for five years. He goes shirtless when possible and is totally unconcerned about his appearance or the impact it has on the parents of his daughter’s potential friends. Throughout the story, everyone who meets Rodeo is immediately cautious because of his appearance and demeanor, which is his intent. Rodeo is the creator of the rambling, rootless lifestyle he shares with Coyote.

Behind his disheveled appearance, Rodeo—whose birth name is not revealed—is in full flight from grieving over the deaths of his wife and oldest and youngest daughters. Coyote, Ella, his middle daughter is his only living child. While the circumstances of the accident that took the lives of the others is not revealed, readers learn that Rodeo took the settlement from the trucking company that was responsible, sold all their personal possessions, bought the bus Yager, and began roaming.

Rodeo is so resistant to any reference or remembrance that Coyote is forbidden to call him “Dad.” Rodeo serves as an antagonist around whom Coyote must surreptitiously plan, then openly challenge to achieve her goal. Faced with the possibility of losing the support of his remaining daughter, Rodeo gives in and returns to his home, confronting his sorrows for the first time in five years.

Approximately Coyote’s age, Salvador is a lean, bright, strong-willed Latino boy.

Salvador does not trust Coyote at first, rebuffing questions about him and his mother. Salvador and his mother have left Salvador’s father, who physically abused them. As a result, Salvador is mistrustful of Coyote when she asks questions about him, and he is weary of the police presence at the gas station when they first meet. Salvador reveals that his father physically assaulted him, and he is marked by a sense of anger regarding his traumatic experience.

Differently gendered and coming from two completely different backgrounds, Salvador and Coyote are very much alike. Salvador serves as a sidekick for Coyote on her quest to return home, and they have similarities that help them grow closer. They are both rescuers who take in strays—Coyote takes in Val and the cat Ivan, while Salvador’s first act in the narrative is to rescue Coyote and drive her to safety in his mother’s derelict car. Each of them is protecting their one remaining parent. Each has a questionable future. How long will Coyote ride aimlessly around the country? How long until Esperanza finds a steady, reliable job and home? Each is proud, capable of pushing the boundaries of polite inquiry, and capable of apologizing when they have pushed the other too far.

There is an understated romantic element in the relationship between Salvador and Coyote. They bond into a true friendship that also contains a spark of chemistry. Looming over their budding friendship is the recognition they share that Salvador will soon disappear from Coyote’s life.

Lester is a 20-something Black man who is in love with Tammy, a young woman who cannot accept his musician’s lifestyle. Having decided he cannot live without Tammy, Lester is trying to find transportation from Florida to Idaho when Coyote miraculously appears in his booth at a diner. Lester quickly joins Coyote’s cross-country trek after answering the three questions required by Rodeo for all passengers.

Though not a great deal is revealed about Lester as a person, his goodness and inner strength are repeatedly demonstrated in the insights he shares, the risks he takes for others on the bus, and the decisions he makes when confronted with important quandaries. For instance, when Coyote takes him into her confidence about the memory box, information she believes she must keep from her father, Lester indicates that he will help her on the journey but will not lie to her father. While Lester occasionally serves as a mentor for Coyote, it is much more the opposite, as Lester learns from Coyote about the true meaning of love through her and Rodeo’s efforts to secure a place for Salvador’s performance.

Valerie Beckett is a 17-year-old runaway who pretends to be 19 to accept a ride with the others on Yager. When first introduced, she is in the same position Coyote occupied several chapters before: stranded and weeping at a service station. She has been ejected from her home upon telling her parents that she is a lesbian.

Val, like all the other passengers on the bus, quickly becomes part of the new patchwork family. She proves herself as a worthy addition when she emotionally overwhelms the young security guard in Billings, Montana, who is about to interrupt Salvador’s majestic performance and have the group arrested. Ironically, Val is also the person who inadvertently almost prevents Coyote from achieving her goal when the police almost arrest Rodeo for transporting a minor across state lines.