Here is a brief summary of observations, soon to be followed with some pieces taken from experiences and world events.
- There was a palpable sense of paranoia in Montana, which felt strange considering the expansiveness and generosity of the landscape. A future piece will address this.
- In South Dakota, there was a notable change in traffic dynamics on the Interstate. A great proportion of the drivers would pull over into the slow lane, even if they were moving fast. A perpetual repetition of polite behaviors en masse had established an unspoken code, which had generated impolite outcomes of its own, such as the phenomenon of a speeding vehicle bearing down on you in the slow lane.
- Downtown Detroit was coming back, but the city felt empty, even on the weekend. So it goes: some natural disaster, violence cycle, or slow motion deindustrialization process leaves the locals to languish. Radicals move in seeking low prices and political flexibility. Hipsters follow shortly, and money comes in. Gentrification continues.
- Truckers were more aggressive than usual in Kentucky. Scenes of speeding gasoline tankers passing sports cars in the fast lane.
- There were buildings in Mississippi that were so long that they appeared as lakes from the highway. Completely opaque and closed, exhaust fans on the sides. Possibly an industrial farming operation.
- Business is doing alright in the Downtown area and the French Quarter of New Orleans. The weather stained houses with stripped roofs sit quietly in the distance.
- On the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana homes sit poised on stilts. The wealthy can afford beautiful homes suspended a good 7 to 10 feet off of the ground. Supposedly this is good for storage and parking. However the poor live in trailers, basically raised on cement blocks. Is it enough?
- The character of a region cannot be ascertained from the Interstate. One has to go deeper into the countryside. Where there is a great flow of volume, there is homogenization. Within the mainline, one sees strip malls, gas stations, posh downtowns, concrete and asphalt, etc. A great city may display a character, but with the waning vitality of a creative culture, one sees only a monotonous business layer set over aging curiosities. Why? Plenty to account for. And is there value in a creative expansion that destroys everything around it, before turning on itself?
- Lead worries persist throughout the land, especially on the East coast, and there is good reason for that. A piece to follow on this.
- Towering thunderstorms and huge downpours in Texas. It is an old story now: it grows hotter and the storms grow larger.
- A preponderance of toll roads in Texas. Behold the glories of private enterprise.
- Also a preponderance of comic irony in Texas. A curious state. On the southeast side, one is greeted by a billboard (and behind it rises the towers of oil refineries) that reads, "Drive Friendly, It's the Texas Way." The Texas way? Some of the most aggressive drivers I've seen.
- In the South, proud displays of the Confederate flag, and in Texas, proud displays of the Lone Star flag. One wonders how the successionist movements are faring post Brexit.
More travels to come, and more pieces to follow.
