Scarily Patriotic Heartland USA
In 2004 October, i was doing cross-country by car from Mountain View, California, to Harrisbug, PA, with a friend. That is a 5-days coast-to-coast trip, about 4000 km or 2500 miles.
He is relocating from Sacramento, CA to Harrisbug, PA. I'm just there for the ride and accompaniment.
I've lived in California, San Francisco Bay Area most of my life. (since 1990). My friend, Paul (a white American), has lived in many US cities as well as in England. He has done car-trekking across US many times, but it is a first time for me.
Once you get outside of California, or leaving coasts and moving inland, you'll notice that the culture changes somewhat. The more inland you move, the more “pure American” you see, and the mixed-race common in California disappears, and you'll notice a lot of mention of Christian God and Jesus in public, in signs and on the radio.
If you do not share their God-believing religion, and do not share their skin color, you better watch your demeanor.
The following are some photos taken around Ohio area.
In rural areas such as Ohio, most cars you see will be American cars, i.e. GM, Ford, and Chrysler, and in particular big bad-ass trucks. Most of these cars will have a patriotic sign or sticker.
In California, you will sometimes see cars with American flag stickers or ribbon (perhaps half of cars in California cities are Japanese brand.). The slogan, if it's there, will usually be “support our troups” or “united we stand”.
In the WASP heartland, you see rather aggresive messages, such as “Our Loss Will Not Be FORGOTTEN”, “There's Only One”, “God Bless American”, “Power of Pride”, ostensibly displayed.
The following photos are taken on 2004-10, in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel restaurant, near St. Clairsville, on highway I70 rest stop, eastern side of Ohio, near the border of West Viginia, USA. [Cracker Barrel]❮http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.06997045707455%2C-80.86253178188451❯ .
