Loving America. Still. Probably always. On road trips and beyond.

Is this (“loving”) an overly simplistic and romantic way to describe my relationship with the country? Perhaps. These days especially you are likely to draw criticism when you’re expressing attraction to something as vast and complex as an entire country.

But such is my sentiment. I felt a surge of love and my fascination with America as I drove 2,600 miles from Southern California to North Carolina. It was a slow trip — four days. I was with my parents and we were driving a truck with a car carrier. My lower back was in pain from all the sitting behind the wheel but my heart and soul were filled with a profound kind of appreciation for the country — its different states and landscapes and even its very different 2024 election signs in the windows and front yards.

I wrote about the first and second days of our trip but then I skipped the final stretch. There was too much driving and I was too tired when arrived at the motel on the third day of the trip and finally our final destination on Tuesday afternoon.

But, boy, it felt so epic, so monumental, and so cinematic.
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and finally North Carolina.

The interesting thing is that, even though I was like a tourist on an ultimately fleeting journey, I had meaningful connections with several of these states.