On Friday I took the three-hour drive to Colorado City to see how much has changed since the arrest of the man the overwhelming majority of its residents believes is God's No. 1 dude on earth, Warren Jeffs.

To the rest of us, Jeffs is better known for facing charges related to child rape than for his more spiritual pursuits. Anyway, it isn't clear how aware people of Colorado City are that their prophet was busted in a 2007 Cadillac with a bunch of wigs and $50,000. No store in Colorado City sells newspapers or magazines. The so-called prophet bans those. The public school in town is covered in weeds since the Jeffs pulled all the children out a few years ago. Obviously, there are no bars or video stores.

I dropped by one of the few restaurants: the Vermillion Cafe. The tables were mostly banquet-style for reasons made clear by the one family there that included one man, a few women, and a horde of children. A typical Colorado City brood. They wore their Willa Cather outfits and turned totally silent from the moment I entered until I left. I wasn't even thanked for the tip I left when I paid. Not very Vegas.

I decided to walk around the town. As I wandered about, passing cars slowed down and the male drivers glared at me while talking on cell phones. No eyes on the road. The massive honeycomb houses looked to be constructed almost haphazardly and in many cases were only half constructed with lots of mud, building supplies and squalor and unattended children. Yet as I walked on the public street with a camera and a digital tape recorder, a police officer did take the time to ask me if I was lost. Lost? There is nowhere to go. There is nothing to do. How does one get lost in a town with nothing in it?

I am thinking of going out tomorrow to Colorado City, home of the FLDS church, to explore. The last time I was there I was accosted by some men in an SUV who claimed to be local police. It was unnerving. But I am not at all worried about going back there now.

The press are currently swarming around Colorado City, whereas last time I was on my own. I also think there is a state trooper stationed there now, in part because the local police are frequently accused of working for the FLDS church of which they are all members.

Anyway, the FLDS has more to worry about now than my visit. My guess is that none of the folks in Colorado City are going to talk to me or anyone else from the press. Last time I was there, despite the tension in the community and the fear of outsiders, a number of people there actually did chat with me briefly. Near the market at the center of town I wandered into an office and had a long conversation with an older woman who insisted that her life in what she called a "plural marriage" was a happy one. It was the nicest encounter I had there.

I feel bad for the people of Colorado City. They were raised in this isolated community. And the turmoil of their crumbling world is going to be acutely painful and unsettling to thousands of people who are about to have an unexpected encounter with contemporary America (without having any of the skills to survive in it). I hope the authorities are concerned and looking out for these people. A lot of people in Colorado City are going to need help in this transition.

By the way, it stinks to think how horrible it will be for them to get introduced to modern times by starring in a media circus. I write "media circus" but to watch it is truly embarrassing for anyone in the profession. For example, the Review-Journal's Norm Clarke reports today that one television crew dressed up in "Little House on the Prairie" garb and tried to infiltrate the population of Colorado City. The small, largely interrelated and paranoid FLDS members were not fooled. But another television crew got taken in and tried to interview the costumed reporters. Anyway, outside of sights like this, I will be curious how much Colorado City has changed since I was last there in 2004.