I love the plains states, moreso because I’ve visited other places. Sure, there’s beauty in mountains and I do prefer to live in an area where there are a lot of changes in elevation, but the fecundity of the Midwest, from the Ohio River Valley to the Dakotas, from the fishing streams of the UP to the cornfields of Kansas, this is my home, and will always be. I like the fact that you can climb up on the bed of your pickup and see nearly a mile in any direction. I like the hydrocarbon smell of the oil refineries and the steel mills, the smell of fresh plowed dirt and autumn in the sandy shores of the Kankakee.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Galveston and Savannah and Seattle and Bangor, but I wouldn’t want to live there- not long, anyway.

No, no matter where I go I will always return here.

But the winters… man. I mean, we’ve had some mild ones which have spoiled us, but this winter reminds me… well, it reminds me how much more enjoyable Spring is, in the Midwest. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go tunnel through the snow and find my oil pan so I can change the url in the wife’s truck.