Middle America

We easterner sure do live in a different country -- different from Miami, Ohio (our first stop from Syracuse), which is a privileged small college existence, incredibly pleasant, bucolic, comfortable and a long way from Paris, Brussels, or Washington, DC for that matter -- and very different from southern Illinois and Indiana where I can't imagine talking to anyone about politics, yikes. But even more different from Cairo, Illinois ("CARE-oh" according to Wikipedia). Can that be a part of America? Beaten, abandoned . . . I thought there might have been a nuclear war and no one was left. Wow! No to mention flooded around the edges. Maybe we'll attach a picture of the intended campground (now underwater).

We've discovered that 500 miles a day is not fun, so we are toning down to about 350 for the next couple of days through Oklahoma and Texas. Having done those states before, I think maybe we will decide, what the hell, let's boogie on down the road. But we have a nice series of lakes chosen for potential campsites tomorrow night, so we'll see. We've also (re-?)discovered how nice it is that we have the same temperament -- patient, tolerant of things we can't change, like the unavailability of dry campsites or even hotel rooms. I feel we learned so much today about how different this part of the country is that the travails were worth it. And in the next couple of days we get into the part of the country that really is different -- Oklahoma and Texas.