Over the past two weeks, I've traveled thousands of miles by land and air, in and between some of the largest cities in the country that aren't named New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. (Although technically, I was in Chicago during an airport layover.) Here are some observations made over the course of going from Des Moines to Philadelphia to Houston to San Antonio and back with a bunch of stops in between.
* You can't see very much in suburban Philadelphia from the roadways. It seems most of them, including expressways, are cut through trees and hills from 200 years ago. Regardless of how or when, it limits viewing, not to mention makes them seem narrow. That said, some of them will end up taking you by cool, historic (or at least historic-looking) buildings or villages.
* Philadelphia and Houston are among the largest U.S. cities, roughly equivalent in population, but in classic eastern vs. western city fashion, Philadelphia feels so much more crowded. Houston is so much more spread out, and unencumbered by a river border.
* People will scoff, but I love driving through the Flint Hills of the Kansas turnpike. Nothing but bucolic pastures as far as the eye can see, many spotted with grazing cattle. It's very calming.
* I found people in Houston to be very friendly, much more so than I expected. Maybe I set the bar too low, assuming people in such a large city would be rude. Still, most of my interaction with the locals there was pleasant, and that included not being honked at or flipped off when driving - even when I deserved it.
* I've felt for years that, pound for pound, Kansas City and Dallas have more architecturally interesting downtown buildings than any cities to which I've ever been. This trip once again confirmed this to be true, although I'll add that the size and number of Houston's downtown skyscrapers are impressive, even better than Chicago's.
* I'll agree with anyone who says the interstate drive through Iowa is boring. However, it's no more boring than the drive on I-35 through Oklahoma.
* San Antonio is genius in the way it has people enter and exit expressways. It's hard to describe, but you're basically on a frontage road well before you actually need to get on/off. At least I think it's genius, maybe it's actually stupid.
* On I-35 from Minnesota to the Texas-Oklahoma border, you can't drive 100 miles without going by a casino. Does anyone but me notice or care about that?
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