new york >> new jersey >> pennsylvania >> ohio >> illinois >> iowa...
it appears that heading west is easy. just follow i-80 for-basically-ever and be prepared to pay tolls. lots and lots of tolls (highest being $15, the lowest being $.60). we've made it across a total of 6 states so far and we have about 5 more to go. america is big. america is diverse. and america is full of large marge trucks.
i always knew america was considered a truckin' kinda country. but never have i experienced such massive truck-ness. there are trucks everywhere! more trucks than cars are crossing this huge country of ours and it's really kind of insane. in those trucks are packages we ordered from amazon, chickens we'll buy at the grocer, pesticides we'll spray in our gardens, poptarts we'll feed our children, and cars that will get us to our jobs. seeing the great amount of trucks on the road has only heightened my awareness of the amounts of fuel and gas that is being wasted to transport goods that we most likely don't need or could most likely get from some place other than the other side of the country/world. and being in our small penske truck, driving from state to state, we are part of that culture that's unfortunately american. i wish i didn't have so much stuff. that i could rid myself of the urge to buy. i'm going to seriously work on it.
another note taken from the road in full force is the industrial agricultural industry we eat off. corn, corn and even more corn is the predominately featured crop from the road - with a mix in of wheat here and there. it creates and eerie landscape that's golden hued, man made, and dusty. yet, there's also a contrast. alongside the rows and rows of corn and wheat are patches of lush greenery. greenery that a few happy cows seem to be indulging on and greenery that appears to be diverse. it's amazing really, because i always assumed the midwest was just like the great plains. plain n' dusty (where there are crops, the areas are just that). but it's these tiny strips of green land that show/prove what the untiled land is capable of...the richness of the soil - that is quickly being stripped of its nutrients so we can feed more cows than humans. ohio, illinois, and iowa could very well be as beautiful as pennsylvania. but they aren't because they're full up to their ears in corn. what have we done america?!
between the trucks and corn there's lots and lots of open road that take you from state to state. lots of time to think and wonder...
i wonder if truckers think and wonder. and if they do, if they wonder the same things i do. like where that really wretched stink of some serious poo was coming from during a stretch of iowa that lasted way too long. i wonder. they must wonder.
pictured: me next to some serious truck
(i really wish i knew a trucker, because i am now baffled by this seemingly popular profession/lifestyle)
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