‘Top of The Rock’

I ran across an interesting graphic yesterday morning, one of those who-woulda-thunk-it images. It’s a map of the United States, with each county shaded in either red or gray. The point of the graphic is that the combined population of the red counties is equal to the population of the rest of the country (in gray).

It paints a picture that’s both intriguing and disturbing, the latter because it unmasks anti-American urban elites. And it most definitely shows where Flyover Country is.

I looked at the map in the context of our journey, however, specifically the places that Deb and I traveled between August 1st and last week. It highlights what we like to call, “where they ain’t.”

We touched seven states over those 73 days. Five — Arkansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana — have exactly zero red-shaded counties.

Missouri has two, Nebraska one.

We passed through Jackson County, Missouri (Kansas City) both on our way out and on our way back. Only on the outbound leg did we see Douglas County, Nebraska (Omaha).

The rest of the time, all 70 days and 5,400 miles of it, was spent entirely in gray-shaded counties. In fact, from August 3rd through October 9th we didn’t even come close to The Red Urban Stain.

That was intentional. We love our Flyover Country. It’s where we’ve found The Real America.

We went back to “Top of the Rock” yesterday, the incomparable Missouri resort and fun park created by Johnny Morris of Bass Pro. With our Texas friends riding along, we visited the Bass Pro Shooting Academy, dropped in on Outlaw Joe’s Handcrafted Thangs (he remembered us from our visit in May), piloted a four-up golf cart on the “Lost Canyon Cave & Nature Trail” and dined at Arnie’s Barn.

Out here on the road we’ve had a lot of perfect days. This was yet another. Pictures tell only part of the story, but pictures will have to do.