I occasionally have mixed emotions as I drive the highways and byways of the USA. No matter where you go, there may be a Walmart, or Home Depot, or Sears, Target, or J.C. Penney. There are Borders Books and Staples; "Mall West" here and "Mall East" there. There are, of course, McDonalds and Burger Kings, Wendy's, Cracker Barrels, and several Pizza Huts, even right here on the "country roads, West Virginia...." On the one hand, it's comforting. This is America. Even though we travels hundreds of miles from our home state, we are in the same land. Whether it's New Jersey or Missouri, we can count on the same products, the brand names we trust and purchase back home. While there are the occasional regional choices - Bass Pro Shops (for hunting/fishing/camping enthusiasts) as opposed to L.L. Bean; some restaurants differ slightly in their menus - there's no pulled pork like that of Memphis; you can't get biscuits and sausage gravy in too many places up north. But most of the time, if you drive just a little farther, you can find the store just like "back home".
On the other hand, it's also a little like listening to rap in Ireland. What has happened to our regional identities? Is there no more "South" or "West"? Just America? And is that a bad thing?
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