Now that I've arrived in New York City after a slow car trip from the Phoenix desert in late summer across the country the most reliably fulfilling aspect of eastward travel is exposure to hot, humid forests and plants peculiar to the regions. Other than Arizona and New Mexico, the vegetation has appeared similar, stitched together into a big whole, since a common beginning in eastern Oklahoma. The United States is divided in 2 regions with a line drawn from west Texas to North Dakota separating east and west. The East is much more similar than the West, more consistent throughout. The West has radically varied terrains and climates, all more or less distinct from the similar one all over the east.
This is not turning out to be an indoor trip. Perhaps i got that satisfied during 20 years living in New York City. First, its the plants, and second the older buildings in a chronological succession of mainly English-American confected styles, that are the biggest attraction for me. And of course the different flavors and cultural accents of people peculiar to different areas.
The old buildings and eastern urban or village infrastructures are what I would add to the West to improve it. Subtracting 60 million people would correspondingly improve the East. Overcrowding begins around Oklahoma City and intensifies to near bursting in the Northeast.
California and the West more awesome and dramatic but the East more beautiful in intricate feathers, subtle designs and heartening details.
