Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for July 14, 2012

Best way to see America- one exit at a time.

There’s only two important places in this country, the east coast and the west coast, home to the insufferable filthy rich. That land in between is populated by the unwashed masses who only get any attention when it’s voting time.

They must be in Iowa.

@rpmurray: What about Salt Lake City and Chicago and the mighty Mississippi and Grand Canyon? (both places I’ve never been to). Salt Lake City has it’s Family History Archives, a place where that really fascinated me, plus a Navajo Indian food stand called in Navajo, “The Yatahey.” I wonder if it’s still there?

This is why big cities folks, are interested in small towns. It’s charming to cities folks, that in a small town that everyone knows the others business, where in a large city you really don’t know the people, in the next apartment!

Never ask the locals. Instead, use Kerouac’s “On the Road” as a tourist guide.

The next exit is pretty quiet, but the one after that has a Stuckey’s. Time for Leo to sample a Pecan Log Roll. It’ll make the trip across country worth while.

On the contrary – it is an entirely new relationship! Even in the same relationship, as long as the partners are alive there is lots to explore.

From the inference that I get from your comment – that you think relationships must be boring after an initial exploration – I feel sorry for anybody who might be your partner.

Some places don’t want to attract tourists.

Grew up in Chicago, lived 9 years in Iowa, now 27 years in N.C. I still miss Iowa, although N.C. now has a hold on me.

From ‘Field of Dreams’;

“Is this heaven?”“No. It’s Iowa.”

Still chokes me up to hear it.

Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike They’ve all come to look for America.

“America”, Simon and Garfunkel

Hello Neighbors,It’s amusing to see two of Trudeau’s most tech savvy characters not even thinking of pulling out their smart phones the way my wife does when we’re in a new area. I still use a…dumb phone?…so I have to wait till my laptop can get a signal before I do the research. Once you do, however, its rare to not find something going on within an hour’s drive of you even if it’s only the two headed calf or the annual boll weevil festival. (calf was in colorado, the boll weevil festival was in Alabama or Georgia- didn’t stop for the calf, but enjoyed the music at the festival.) Guess GT is showing his age by not showing these young peoples’ resourcefulness…or maybe the diner they are in is too far from a celltower….nahhhhh.peace,C.

don’t miss the exit for the Ralph Lauren Outlet Mall of Zion. the neon, the Mickey D’s, the billboard ads, the two-story high white crosses in cornfields being chopped up for feed because the drought is so severe that in climate change heat the corn won’t propagate, (what’s Monsanto to do? after all that genetic engineering?) the people, the trucks driving their long-distance rigs, the long freighttrains threading through the ounttry, the comraderie of strangers in diners, the single room that allows pets after the 10 hours of driving, the fields of wind-energy windmills, the changing radio stations, the land itself! the forestfires, the hitchhikers on the road beside the “near state prison do not pick up hitchhikers” signs.ah yes, America, the despoiled and the beautiful…the rock formations of Utah, the glitter of desert cities and both coasts, the boardwalk on Staten Island and the 3-abreast weekend walkers at Santa Monica. my country ’twas of thee……

and the sign on the refurbished schoolbus-road home that says “It doesn’t matter when you get there if you don’t know where you’re going”. Tolkein was right : “not all who wander are lost”.

The best way to see America is to live in America. Insert yourself in with the locals and become part of their community. Unless you just came for the ice cream.

just stay away from the redneck south. lol. unless you like ignorance, bigotry and hatred. but i do forget that is an Ameican/Christian value you find in the fly over states, not just on the “Rich Coasts.”

the Rich are everywhere running things, not just the filthy coasts. lol

gosh the Empire is crumbling when i hear such class comments.

hey, some of us are already dead – the grateful dead – and there’s no inserting into It, we ain’t in it and we sure are not of it.

Must of forgotten the hashish.

We all live on this ball of dirt that we call “Earth.” It was truly a beautiful planet – a jewel in the sky – until we began to despoil it. IMHO, all the troubles started when we started the overpopulation escalation. But since I am here, I am part of the problem. None of us chose to be here, but we can have some control over how many we produce. But only on an individual basis. We certainly can’t control how many everyone else produces. I can’t see us winning this battle.

Who in their right mind travels the interstate looking for excitement? @ Beleck3,,,,,,, You find “Rednecks” everyplace and they are not all as you describe.

Lived in small towns all my life. There’s usually not much to see, but, once you get to know the place, there’s always plenty to hear…

I have, throughout my lifetime, been fortunate enough to have traveled around the globe. I have been in every state in the U.S.( including Alaska and Hawaii),Canada and Mexico as well as many countries throughout Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia.It has been my experience that in villages,hamlet,towns or cities people are all the same. They respond to a smile, politeness,and an interest in local custom. A please and thank-you, in any language, goes a long way to enhancing your travel experience. We live in a wonderful country with wonderful people everywhere, North,South, East and West. They are there. It’s up to us to find them and be receptive and respectful. If we do, we’ll have a wonderful time in life.

I live in the town where I was born. Family has been here ove r 100 years. I need to make a move.

@Linguist“We live in a wonderful country with wonderful people everywhere, North,South, East and West. They are there. It’s up to us to find them and be receptive and respectful. If we do, we’ll have a wonderful time in life.”Hear ye, hear ye!

My country tis’ of thee…I was here before a lot of the stucco and dreck, and it’s still quite a place…

@waitingman … thank you.

Detroit has Hitsville USA, the Motown Museum.

The glory of old Route 66 was that you saw, smelled (no A/C), felt, and heard the country as you traveled and it spoke to you. No “next exit and ignore what’s in between” back then. Same for the northern route. We’ve turned cars into rolling intellectual, and sensory, coffins. It also shows on the change in visitors to our National Parks and other areas, where the ten minute “photo op”, has replaced any appreciation of the real world, especially, if you can now see it on your smart phone, and not even bother with the real world.

Virtual reality, has become ignorance, and disdain. Hmm , just maybe it’s what’s affecting our culture, and civility?

As far as “What to do in a small Midwestern town” goes, if you go beyond the city limits there’s a dirty book store and a strip club. You can see them from the Interstate!

On my last trip to Australia, I spent a few days in Melbourne, a few days in Adelaide, and a week in Broken Hill, NSW. Population 4 (or thereabouts). Nothing much to do, but it was a great place to do nothing much.

Try a book by William Least Heat-Moon, called Blue Lane Highways. A story of his wander through the states in an old van on the highways that only show up as a blue line on maps. I have wandered all over the US, Canada, and part of Alaska on the lesser roads, it is always interesting and fascinating. Back in the early 80’s my wife and I found a state ferry across a river in KY powered by an outboard motor, guided by a cable that held only 2 vehicles. And I have lost track of local museums, sometimes run/owned by an individual, that have things that are unusual. Two lane highways are the best way to see the US.

Anybody else remember the days of the camping trailer in the ’60’s, going cross-country, seeing what this country of ours was? My family did; there was another family from Massachusetts (we were from Maryland) doing the same trek, running into us again and again at national parks (Carlsbad Caverns!) and various campsites—hey, I recognize you! Good times.

I repeat — This Land Is Your Land, This Land iIs My Land — Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday today. Thanx Woody for writing some of the best songs!!!!

“Hon, if you go four hours off the main road, you could see the world’s second largest ball of twine…”(Apologies to Clark Griswold)

I’m from Fresno. It’s best to leave that off your itinerary on your way to the northern coast.