The Lost Continent

So I was, as I say, desolate to discover that the Twins were a thousand miles away on the East Coast and that I couldn't go to a game. My gaze drifted idly over the box scores from the previous day's games and I realized with a kind of dull shock that I didn't recognize a single name. It occurred to me that all these players had been in junior high school when I left America. How could I go to a baseball game not knowing any of the players? The essence of baseball is knowing what's going on, knowing who's likely to do what in any given situation. Who did I think I was fooling? I was a foreigner now.

The waitress came over and put a paper mat and cutlery in front of me. "Hi!" she said in a voice that was more shout than salutation. "And how are you doin' today?" She sounded as if she really cared.

I expect she did. Boy, are Midwestern people wonderful. She wore butterfly glasses and had a beehive hairdo. "I'm very well, thank you," I said. "How are you?"

The waitress gave me a sideways look that was suspicious and yet friendly. "Say, you don't come from around here, do ya?" she said.

I didn't know how to answer that. "No, I'm afraid I don't," I replied, just a trifle wistfully. "But, you know, it's so nice I sometimes kind of wish I did."

Well, that was my trip, more or less. I visited all but ten of the lower forty-eight states and drove 13,978 miles. I saw pretty much everything I wanted to see and a good deal that I didn't. I had much to be grateful for. I didn't get shot or mugged. The car didn't break down. I wasn't once approached by a Jehovah's Witness. I still had sixty-eight dollars and a clean pair of underpants. Trips don't come much better than that.

I drove on into Des Moines and it looked very large and handsome in the afternoon sunshine. The golden dome of the state capitol building gleamed. Every yard was dark with trees. People were out cutting the grass or riding bikes. I could see why strangers came in off the interstate looking for hamburgers and gasoline and stayed forever. There was just something about it that looked friendly and decent and nice. I could live here, I thought, and turned the car for home. It was the strangest thing, but for the first time in a long time I almost felt serene.

Document Outline

Titles

Part One East

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Part II West

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28