From my hotel room I can see multiple 100-yard tall gas and Denny's signs [so as to see them from the highway]. Yes, semi-rural Kentucky has depressingly few charms. I am oddly unnerved by the near ubiquitous white-ness here, though I did afford myself of the opportunity to eat frog legs at a Chinese restaurant. Fun. I often wonder who buys Nickelback albums or who makes up Bush's approval rating. I may have found the answer. Think True Stores, or that one country scene from Vacation but less endearing.
Now, I don't mean to slur fat ladies at Wal-Mart. It is a certain lifestyle [the rural sprawl lifestyle, that is, of which fat, female and Wal-Mart-patronizing is merely a subset], and that's fine. However, I've realized that, akin to Woody Allen's character in Manhattan, I can't function if I'm not within a twenty-mile radius of a reliable source of prosciutto [for instance]. Grape Rd at ND felt similar in that it is a desiccated hull of the human experience; chain restaurants interspersed with a Chili's, Barnes & Noble, and Target. [None of these ever so slightly less soul-sucking institutions, however, did I notice in Hardin County.]
So, I'm not trying to be hateful, and from a day to day living standpoint, I get along with sprawl ok - I'm from Northern Virginia and I like it. If these places have to exist, I need some balance in the form of the awesome south Indian place next to the K-Mart or pseudo-intellectual chatter down the hall from my dorm room. In short, I'm thankful to be able to think about things, learn about stuff, and eat weird food. Like, um, kinda-sorta Chinese frog legs.
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