America Is MOSTLY Rural With Pockets Of Urban Suburbia
(Driving across Great Salt Lake Desert)
Almost four years later, I am re-publishing this original post from APR-2017 because I have been thinking about something… That is, the current ideological/political divide among Americans. From a geographical point of view, it is largely evident between rural and semi-rural America and city or populous regions. In other words, it’s a population density thing (with some crossover/mixing within).
I have lived on both sides of these divides, and in-between. I recall writing the following post upon returning from a cross-country driving trip back then.
Here’s the post:
8,000 Miles
I am about to wrap up a journey of more than 8,000 miles while driving from the far reaches of the northeast all the way to California and back again along a different route.
It has been an amazing and very enjoyable experience. While I have traveled LOTS during my previous career, that travel always involved flying from one location to another and is no comparison to my recent experience. Driving these distances is an entirely (ENTIRELY) different experience.
Why? Here’s why…
Vast Lands between Dots of Very Dense Population
Because driving from coast to coast on the highways and roads in-between reveals the VASTNESS of land between itty bitty dots of VERY DENSE POPULATION. It is really quite remarkable. The “in-between” is HUGE. Most of our country is rural, seemingly barely populated, or not populated at all.
It is true that east of the Mississippi bears lots more population density on average than west. However until you reach the notorious corridors of population (e.g the mid Atlantic up the coast from DC to New York to Boston), lots of the rest is mostly rural or semi-rural except for the city regions and their attached suburban regions.
Impressions
Several key thoughts and observations really strike home while driving across this great country…
1. How the politics, way-of-life, rules, and regulations that emanate from these relatively tiny pockets of heavily populated regions affect (rule over) the vast and immense geographical rural areas in-between where day to day way-of-life is typically quite different – with a different “feel”.
2. How you can be driving for hours and hours with a relatively light or normal amount of vehicle traffic and then suddenly it ramps up to congestion, chaos, close-calls, and crazy aggressive drivers as you traverse a populated region. And then fairly quickly you’re out of it as you drive on and it returns to ‘normal’. Exceptions to this are in the notoriously population dense regions of the country where it’s chaos all of the time (no rural areas in-between)…
3. The various regions of this country are starkly different in their own unique beauty, geography, and climate. For example, the difference and experience between driving all the way across the Mojave Desert to that of driving across I-70 up and over the Rocky Mountains or that of the hills and curves of West Virginia. It’s all astronomically different and unique! Or by driving South for just one day can make a huge difference in the temperature/climate (a nice relief during the late winter / early spring months compared to northern NH ;) )
4. When you are within the population-dense regions, the potential encounters of “close calls”, dangerous situations, or most any human related risks are orders of magnitude higher than otherwise. It is the same regardless of which city region you’re in. The more people, the likelier of encountering issues. Very predictable as to the general increase in risks.
5. The Truckers keep this country stocked with food and supplies. They are always out there, driving the highways and byways of the land… People have no idea…!
[ Read: When The Trucks Stop It’s Over ]
6. There are lots of apparently (visibly) poorer regions in-between the dotted landscape of populated regions (I’ll bet those people living are better able of taking care of themselves though…). But that stands to reason, given that higher paying jobs are in population-dense regions.
7. There is an unbelievable and astounding number of flying bugs out there. Seemingly millions of which have been “eliminated” on my truck’s windshield during the trip. I don’t know how many times I pulled off an exit to use a gas station’s window washer/scrubber to clear the windshield. I have probably extincted at least one species of bug…
8. With that said, there’s no place like home, no matter where that is. We will be glad to return!
[ Read: Road Atlas – Maps For Each State ]
[ Read: Why Are So Many Big Cities In The United States – Liberal? ]
