![]() When you live abroad, you always worry that you might start to feel a bit disconnected from your home country. America is something you have to stay in practice for, and I don’t want to lose my touch. Arriving in my native California just in time for the recent election, I was — like nearly everyone else — blindsided by the results. On TV and the Internet, pundits keep describing the US as hopelessly divided, with people on either side existing in realities so separate, we barely share a common language. “Say it ain’t so!” I muttered to Rich after one such broadcast. Then I thought a minute. “What do you say we go check it out for ourselves? Take a road trip. Talk to people. Listen to people. See if the old e pluribus unum spirit lives on.” “I’m in! How about the Central Valley?” This is a swath of agricultural land roughly the size of Denmark that runs the length of California’s interior. “Perfect! I could write a piece about roadside attractions. They always have tons of them along those rural highways — you know, the world’s biggest ball of string, diners shaped like hot dogs, stuff like that. It will give us an excuse to meet people and find out how they’re doing, what they’re thinking.” So on Monday of this week, Rich and I threw our suitcases in the back of our red VW and headed southeast. A Spanish friend wrote to wish us luck, adding, “Be real nice and carry an assault rifle.” But I am delighted to report that far from needing any weapons, we could not have been welcomed more warmly. We talked with dairymen, firefighters, farmers, artists, photographers, college students, grandparents, a private detective, museum docents, waitresses, a car wash guy, and many bartenders. In funky bars and old-style diners, where women with starched hairdos poured free coffee refills and called me “hon,” we sat at the counter, read the paper, and struck up conversations. One night in the Kewl Cats karaoke bar, we joined the weekly trivia contest, and the other players could not have been friendlier — or more compassionate about our pathetic scores. Everyone urged us to come back the following week; I wish we could. And the roadside attractions? Classics! We saw the ill-fated totem pole that was treated with disrespect so the artist, a member of the Ojibwa tribe, cursed the town sewers; the world’s longest-burning lightbulb (1 million+ hours); diner stools that once held the backsides of President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush. We visited the building shaped like a giant bulldozer, the haunted military plane “Hell Raz'r,” and the small town that once elected a dog as mayor; his slogan — "A bone in every dish, a cat in every tree, and a fire hydrant on every corner" — kept him in office 13 years. On Pearl Harbor Day, we went to the Merced Assembly Center where our friend Nobie and thousands of other Japanese Americans awaited their assignments to internment camps. We found the name of one of Nobie’s relatives on the wall, below a picture of Ronald Reagan, signing a formal apology, and the words, “Never Again … May We, As A Democratic Society, Never Forget the Injustice.” Visiting Central Valley diners, dive bars, and roadside attractions, we learned a lot. Here firefighters commute three hours between their job and affordable housing. Merced, home of the Kewl Cats trivia contest, suffered a 62% collapse in median home prices during the recession, the worst drop in the entire country. In town after town, we passed block after block of empty stores. Agriculture, the region’s mainstay, is now mostly in the hands of corporations. “It costs $100,000 for a dairy permit,” a dairyman told us. “Who can afford that?” Six years of drought aren’t helping. “The water table on my land dropped from five feet to thirty,” a melon farmer said. These are hungry, thirsty times, and the wealth flooding through Silicon Valley just hours away barely trickles to the outermost edges of Central Valley. I didn’t ask anyone who they voted for, and rarely got a hint either way; Rich thinks it’s likely a 50-50 split. I can tell you this: these are good people weathering bad times. Despite living in circumstances that have become increasingly unsustainable for years, they never expressed a word of anger (well, maybe a little grousing at the government, as we all do) and certainly no self-pity. I didn’t see any swastikas or malicious bumper stickers. Mostly I saw men and women with true grit and considerable concern about the future. I suspect many voted for Trump as a Hail Mary move, a desperate attempt to disrupt a system that no longer serves them or their community. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath about what’s going to happen when our new president takes the reins. So did I find the America I was looking for? Yeah, I did. I wanted to restore my sense of belonging to this vast, diverse, contradictory population of ours. I needed to know we could still exchange opinions freely over bottomless cups of coffee, and reach out to the person on the next bar stool, across that divide the media is always talking about. Yes, we can still get to common ground. I realize one road trip isn’t going to have much effect on a population of 319 million people, but it’s made a world of difference to me.
19 Comments
Milton Strauss
12/10/2016 05:01:49 pm
Thanks for the uplift. Can certainly use it!
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Karen McCann
12/10/2016 07:42:09 pm
This trip did a lot to boost my spirits, Milt. And I wanted to share that with people. So glad you liked the post!
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Duane Roggow
12/10/2016 05:07:53 pm
You are absolutely correct! I've lived in 15 states, North, South and both coasts. Traveled to over 40 countries and yes America still is full of spectacular people! It is broken inside the beltway, but everywhere else is fine. Those Bozos in WDC are just full of hot air.
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Karen McCann
12/10/2016 07:45:10 pm
So true, Duane! It seems like the politicians and the media have lost touch with what really makes this a great country: the people. Sure, we have our share of wackos, but as Anne Frank put it, "Despite everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." That certainly goes for the people I met on this road trip.
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Karen McCann
12/10/2016 07:53:31 pm
Thanks so much, Steve. This road trip was a healing journey for me. Many of us are gathering at the holidays with people who are on the other side of this alleged divide, and I'm hoping we can prove the pundits wrong (yet again) by reaching out to one another and finding common ground.
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Honey Ward
12/10/2016 08:04:38 pm
So what was the question to which you answered Santa Fe?
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Karen McCann
12/11/2016 04:44:07 pm
The question was: "In the name BNSF Railway, what does the SF stand for?" We answered San Fernando, but in fact it the company is Burlington Northern Santa Fe. After the scoring I changed my board and was joking about a recount when this photo was taken.
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Marilyn Christenson
12/10/2016 08:47:10 pm
A lovely gift. Blessed be.
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Karen McCann
12/11/2016 04:45:28 pm
So glad you liked this one, Marilyn! It came from the heart.
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Marilyn Christenson
12/16/2016 05:50:29 pm
I am very happy to read all of your writing Karen. As I travel less it fills that gap.
Karen McCann
12/11/2016 04:47:05 pm
It was a spiritual quest for me, Alberto, and I'm so gratified you and others have enjoyed taking the journey with me.
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Brian Bermingham
12/11/2016 12:31:42 am
I am as perplexed as you about the election. I am, as you say, on tenterhooks waiting to see what will happen. A friend from Norway, a very astute observer, has this take:
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Karen McCann
12/11/2016 04:50:14 pm
Brian, it was so great meeting you and getting your insights into Merced and American life. The new UC campus is going to bring lots of energy into the town and boost the economy, so you're right, it's very much a bright side. Rich and I will let you know next time we're in town and we can all continue the conversation in the Cinema Cafe, over those bottomless cups of great coffee.
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Mike Rose
12/11/2016 12:56:51 pm
I love your writing and your books. I'm not sure however what this was about? You didn't discuss politics or voting behaviour it seems? And, to be honest, you and your husband are white. Of course you met people whose attitudes were good to you. If you had challenged them, criticised the outcome of your election, been a same sex or non white couple you might have seen (only some of them) support the new stereotype. This is very complicated and nice people can also be bad people. Keep up the inspiring travel writing
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Karen McCann
12/11/2016 05:19:10 pm
Mike, you're so right this would have been a very different trip if we had been less mainstream or more challenging. Yes, people are complicated, and everyone has hot buttons. But I wasn't there to provoke the people I met. The media has done a lot of that, running polarizing interviews and telling us we don't share common ground or even a common language any more. I didn't find that to be true. In fact, I found it reassuring that so many people wanted to tell me their story. As a travel writer, I spend a lot of time going into unfamiliar territory and asking people about their lives. I found it was particularly illuminating in this case.
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12/12/2016 08:16:18 pm
I travel through the central valley often, and am always struck by how much I have in common with people who seem at the surface so politically different. Great post, keep them coming!
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Karen McCann
12/13/2016 06:22:03 pm
Thanks, Maxime. I'm so glad your first-hand observations are similar to mine. We do have a lot in common, and that becomes clear when we are face to face in ordinary circumstances.
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Winner of the 2023 Firebird Book Award for Travel
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This blog is a promotion-free zone. As my regular readers know, I never get free or discounted goods or services for mentioning anything on this blog (or anywhere else). I only write about things that interest me and that I believe might prove useful for you all to know about. Whew! I wanted to clear that up before we went any further. Thanks for listening. TO I'm an American travel writer based in Seville, Spain.
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