Been driving a lot the last couple of days. Far too much. Started in Minneapolis (was that only yesterday?) and drove down south, through the disappointing SPAM museum and (on a whim) south to Iowa.

Iowa, as anybody can tell you, is corn. I had a vision in my head of endless cornfields, each ear stretching up higher than a man, and you can get lost inside one of these fields.

Reality, I must say, differs only in the details. The fields of corn are, indeed, endless. With a jeep you can leave the main roads (and I did) and drive the small country paths and see a hell of a lot of cornfields.

It’s a bit late in the season to see actual golden seas of corn, I fear. The husks are still standing but the ears have been removed, resulting in a duller yellowish color. Also, it’s been raining non-stop since yesterday so I couldn’t even go outside and run amidst the corn, which is a shame.

All in all, though, Iowa has been exactly what I expected and I can’t wait to get the hell out of here and off to Dakota or Colorado or anywhere else. It’s not that it hasn’t been picturesque, or quaint, or even beautiful – all of these are true. It’s just that I am, at heart, a city boy. I prefer the subway to the silo and the crowd to the cow. Because no matter how much you look at it, and how many Far Side cartoons you quote, or how many subtle nuances of coloration and build you find, a cow is still a cow. A crowd, however, is always different and much more interesting. A crowd of college freshmen in line for concert tickets isn’t the same as a crowd of Latino workers waiting for the train home. And in both cases you can be a part of the crowd by virtue of simply standing there, and even if you’re not really the same you take on some of the attributes of the crowd and feel a part of the place.

A few nights ago I was walking around Chicago at night and felt peckish. The only thing open was a 24hr McDonalds drive through that wouldn’t accept walkers, only drivers. Me and a college kid from Loyola University waited for a car to wheel up to the drive through and had them order our burgers for us, handing them the money. We stood in the cold, talking. I said it felt like I was 16 and asking someone to buy me a beer. It seemed an appropriate comment, even though I didn’t even start drinking until I was 20 or so. He nodded. It only now occurs to me that he was probably under 21 himself, and still asking people to buy him beers.

Right now I’m in Omaha, Nebraska. Famous for (and I quote) the “Agriculture, Insurance and Telecommunication industries”. Whee. I criss-crossed it by car for no real reason. I’ll find a motel outside of town since hostels are practically unheard of in this country (there are 3 – count’em, 3! in all of Chicago). Tomorrow I move out. Maybe to Dakota. Maybe Colorado. I’m getting sick of the scenery. I hope it stops raining.