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A Kansas Junkyard

MTH — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:11:14 +0000

Just before you reach Rock City in Kansas, there is a small junkyard. As I was driving, I noticed a number of junkyards throughout the state. They all involved the junk sitting in a field of wheat. This was one of the smaller ones.

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Unlike in more populated places, there is so much land in the middle of Kansas that this heap of junk looked tiny. There were a number of them, far off of the interstate in the middle of open fields, that looked like small blips in a big space. I could just barely tell what they were. I wondered, as I drove through this state, what it’s like to live in a place that has so much open land, a visible horizon line and very few people around.

Hauling

MTH — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:46:35 +0000

Americans will haul anything across the continent if they feel like it, vehicles included.

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This one doubles as a second trunk.

Roswell, NM – Alien Central

MTH — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 10:20:45 +0000

The Hoover Dam

MTH — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:31:20 +0000

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Pieces of Home in Far Away Places

MTH — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:33:26 +0000

I didn’t get to see the Liberty Bell made of Wheat, but I stumbled upon this sight all the way out in Gallup, New Mexico, while wandering around a Cracker Barrel:

It was Ryan Howard on the cover of some Topps baseball cards! Why was I so excited? Because it was “home.”

Although I didn’t feel homesick, I did feel very out of place. New Mexico felt like a foreign country to me. I was in the middle of the southwestern desert, a fish out of water, but there was one of the Philadelphia Phillies smiling at me. There was my little piece of home in a far away place.

And driving out of Roswell, I found a Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s the little things.

When you are a long way from home, no matter how much fun you are having, it’s nice to see pieces of your own identity.

Big Western Landscape

MTH — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:17:11 +0000

If you are from the East and have never been out West, here are a few photos to attempt at showing the scale of the landscape out there. You may have seen photos before, but throw in an 18-wheeler or two, and the size becomes a lot more clear. These were taken on Interstate 15 in Arizona.

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The identity forged in this landscape is different from those formed in the Pacific Northwest, the East, the South, the Midwest. American identities are very diverse, and often very landscape based.

Western Colorado Landscape

MTH — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:09:09 +0000

This is west of Grand Junction, CO.

Nevada Rocks

MTH — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:38:41 +0000

Just before the Hoover Dam on the way to Arizona, the landscape is pure rock. And it’s boiling hot in July.

Drivin’

MTH — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:30:02 +0000

Headed down the road with a “friend” in Virginia:

My cousin, who is driving this car, has this frog on her dash. It isn’t glued down so it falls a lot, but that amuses her. When he fell, we’d say “where’d the frog go?” Then we’d find him and put him back in his spot, treat him like he was a real frog. I’m writing this knowing it’s not actually an uncommon kind of thing although it sounds a little funny.

In fact, a lot of people decorate their cars to give them a little more personality.

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I have a hot pink dream catcher hanging from my rearview mirror, here crossing into Colorado:

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An Idaho shaped air freshener with a red bead thingie in New Hampshire:

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Kids shoes in Asheville, North Carolina:

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The classic fuzzy dice on the mirror in St. Louis, Missouri

The Coast of Maine

MTH — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:13:37 +0000

Views from our most northeastern state:

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