- People let each other in on the freeway. They wave and nod to each
other. Very different form NYC traffic behavior (leaning out the window and cursing,
shooting at the guy in the other lane.)
- Dirt roads.
- Neighbor is defined as anyone who lives within 15 miles.
- People camp in tents and then call it a vacation.
- Hearing gun shots doesn’t mean a drive-by shooting. It means
some member of the flora-fauna crowd is "in season."
- The "city" is somewhere where MAYBE 20,000 people live.
When people go there they lay in supplies like they are the Ingalls headed across the
prairie.
- There's this store called Meijer's. It is so HUGE you wouldn't
believe it. You can buy a chain saw and skim milk, get your teeth cleaned and rent a
wedding tuxedo, IN THE SAME PLACE, IN THE SAME TRIP.
- Buying gourmet coffee means Folgers crystals instead of Maxwell
House.
- Whole towns shut down for the county fair.
- A new movie means what's in the new release section at the party
store on the corner.
- Monster trucks. Mud-bogging. These things are real. People do them.
- Gardening isn't just planting gardenias and moss roses in pots. It's
planting every vegetable known to man and SWEATING while you do it.Then, get this, after
you pick the stuff, you CAN it. One thing I must admit, these vegetables taste really
good. I’ve never eaten a whole tomato just by itself before.
- You know how I exaggerate? These people actually UNDER exaggerate!
They are throwing their guts up with the stomach flu? "I just have a little bit of an
upset stomach." Cut your thumb off on the rototiller? "Oh, I hurt my thumb a bit
turning the garden under." Your farm does a million dollars a year? "We’ll
have enough to send Jess away to college and retire in a little while."
- It seems like every kid under the age of 10 has a sandbox, a swing
set and a trampoline. No need for the park.
- You better WATCH it if you're going to drive anywhere in a
Volkswagen, Toyota, or other foreign car. These people all have relatives who work at GM,
Ford or Chrysler. And they will let you KNOW that.
- Not much ruffles these folks. Heavy emoting is giving someone a nice
firm handshake after church.
- Even the Catholics are Lutheran.
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