Mama's Roadtrip

Yesterday I spent 8 hours in my car alone driving from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois. After all that solitary time on the road, I have several observations.

• In rural Illinois, the only music on the radio stations is oldies, Christian rock and Glen Beck's radio show.
• In really rural areas, it's just you and Mr. Beck.
• I was sure that listening to Mr. Beck would be better than letting my thoughts run amok for 3 hours.
• Turns out, I was wrong. There really is something worse than my own unstill mind: Glen Beck.
• From my tiny slice of Illinois-Americana, I noted that there was not one single fit person in Springfield out on the streets yesterday. Do rural dwellers not believe in the power (and compulsion) of physical exercise?
• Ironically, the third largest building I saw in Springfield was a gargantuan Gold's Gym.
• If you listen to enough Christian radio (I listened to a segment about how "green" activitists are defying the word of God by proclaiming that population control or protecting the Earth is a good idea, since God himself said Man shall have dominion over the earth), when you finally do get back into the City, you will feel grateful to be back where you belong. Even if you spend about 45 minutes on the parking lot known as 90/94.

God Bless America.