Book excerpt: Known as the Coastal Highway, U.S. Route 17 runs along the Eastern Seaboard from Punta Gorda, Florida, to Winchester, Virginia, passing many of the prime shrimping waters in the southern United States. Visiting remote ports-of-call cluttered with trawlers, and the many eateries along the route--some established, some obscure--the author explores the Lowcountry shrimping culture and presents a colorful profile of the "17-ers," the eccentric lifetime residents of the highway corridor.