Update 23:

America. The United States. What a juxtaposition of people, of attitudes, of beliefs, of scenery and of food.

I have by now probably been in more than 40 of these states, most likely about 39 more than most Americans. It must be interesting to be less than 100kms from the nearby state and never have been there.

It reminds me of growing up in New Brunswick and having neighbours that had never seen a traffic light. Or when in Saint John the mall got the escalator and people actually drove hours to ride on it. Is that normal?

I have to say that I am in the mid-west, an area of the US of A that is well known as having somewhat of a more conservative belief system. It is a far cry from the hippies in North Cali and Oregon, or from the yuppies in the affluent northeast, or from the local yokel rednecks of the deep south.

America cannot, similarly to Canada, be summarized as one unified or united group, people so different from each other yet only miles apart. It’s a beautiful country, full of regular people, great people, not so great people, a country of diversity, and what I have learnt after living here for only two months, a very unhealthy country.

I was at my heaviest weight when I left Vancouver, bound for the prairies. Two months of eating in diners, in all-you-can eat restaurants, eating the only “food” that can be found in a truck stop in Nebraska, or Kansas, or Oklahoma, yields high cholesterol, high fat content, low nutrition value food. Almost every restaurant in Oklahoma and Kansas was an all-you-can eat, something I (and the majority I have seen down here) mistakenly took as a personal challenge. Needless to say, I haven’t weighed myself since Van and am pretty sure I have another 10-15lbs on my dept. weight.

It’s also rather bizarre how financially strapped the population is here. I remember first noticing this on last years motorbike trip, but it’s really hitting home here. I’ve driven through neighbourhoods that would be envious of some developing countries (I’ve also driven through hoods that give West Van a run for her money). The majority though are surprisingly destitute.

Workwise, I’m coming to the end here. Our manager has some issues that he takes out on us, in a lot of ways my conflict with him stems from certain similarities to me, to the way I used to be, from the way I am today. It’s a huge lesson to be learnt, to see how I have managed in the past, how I have grown since then, how much I still have to grow.