This past summer, I spent my time living in what I like to call Farmland, USA – aka the Midwest. I stayed in a township of 1,200 people, which is roughly a third of the population on my campus. The closest city with actual, "civilization" was over 20 minutes away. To go anywhere you had to pass corn field after corn field.
Once outside of the little township, the only roads that I could take were back roads. I haven't taken back roads in forever because I was so used to jumping on the highway to get to everywhere I needed. I had to readjust to learning new ways of getting around and turning at streets that don't have many landmarks to identify them. I became so used to taking back roads and enjoying the fields of green. I loved taking the curves around rivers and farms. I would be able to drive at safe, high speeds and finding new ways to get around. For about a month I never went the same way twice to a location. I ended in a few bad neighborhoods, would sometimes get lost, and sometimes I had to turn around in the middle of the road because I couldn't see when the next driveway was.
I have learned to love it there, even if it took over 20 minutes to get to the closest Starbucks, the go to place to grab pizza was the convenient store, and I had to pass a fair share of tractors on the road to get to the grocery store in the next town over. I learned that I loved taking the longer way to and from because in the most cliché way, it’s about the journey rather than the destination. Sure it’s a lot faster to take the highways and get off at right at the Barnes and Noble exit, but it was nicer to take the back way and pass through miles of fields and landscaping.
Passing stretches of wide open land became a form of comfort. I watched the fields go from lifeless plowed brown fields to acres of corn stalks about eight feet tall. I didn’t have to worry about passing other people on the road very often. I always found that taking drives through the curvy back roads was the best way to clear my mind as well as find inspiration for writers block. The open air and rolling hills always made drives feel like a folk song, and my favorite would be passing the nuclear power plant at a slower speed to hear what sounded like water running in the units.
As more of a city person, I have to say that I am a little excited to head back home. Where it doesn't take half an hour to get to the closest shopping area and I don't have a constant fear of a deer randomly running out in front of me. However, I have learned that it's sometimes nice to take the longer road because it's often the better way to get to where you are going.
