dandan.

Corn fields stretch along the highway from Minneapolis to Rocheseter to there. Driving out on a paved line after more than a year without a car and making my daily trek from Capitol Hill to downtown by foot or bus was, well, kind of old school. Reading an atlas. Figuring stuff out. Wasn't this how we passed our North Carolina travel days?

Except for the wider roads, which can accommodate angled parking and SUVs, Lanesboro felt like Skibbereen, West Cork. A cute town with colorful rows of houses and little shops. People who take their time making guacamole wraps. An Irish flag, even, though on a museum instead of a pub.

This was our own little throwback to Main Street, like being in front of Field’s (is it still Fields?, or has the grocery been overtaken by that German supermarket chain LIDL? There was talk. Oh yes, in 2003, there was definitely talk.)

For most of our trip, we listened to Laser 101.7, this classic rock station that seems fixated on Ozzy Osbourne. Akira later told me he saw a “Laser” billboard, and got excited when we randomly tuned in. This is the kid who spent his allowance at recording studios playing drums. Classic.

I don’t know. It’s been less than a week and feels a little strange to be back in this intense “blue dot” that is Seattle.

As in, “So it’s not just my town in North Carolina that’s quiet and rural. It’s not just home where people drive around everywhere, work on farms, listen to the 'Hot Nine at Nine' and put spray in their hair. It’s everywhere. A wide swath of 'American culture' that starts on Seattle’s Eastside and stretches clear across to the other coast.”

As in, "Wrap your head around that."

Roll a new life over
In the middle of the night, there’s an old man threading his toes through a bucket of rain
Hey mister you don’t wanna walk on water, cause you’re only going to walk all over me
Omaha, somewhere in middle America...

— From "Omaha" by The Counting Crows