Day 26: West Yellowstone

Distance: 73 avg: 11.6

On the way in to yellowstone I saw a herd of wild buffalo! It was amazing, I had never seen them before. I think Paola will be jealous. 🙂

Today was a tough day. Perhaps because it’s time to rest my legs, or because the entire day was uphill. Regardless I made it to the west entrance to Yellowstone. Camping here is rather expensive (and cold), and so I opted to get a cabin. I really chose a good place, too! Moose Creek Cabins is the name. I might actually stay two nights, partially because Yellowstone seems like an impressive place.

I got a late start, waking up at 9:30. I didn’t get on the road until noon. I went grocery shopping and picked up a couple worms and lures from a fishing shop.

I had a thought today which is still half-baked. I’ve always wondered about the philosophical divide between conservative and liberal America. What I find confusing is that rural America is predominantly conservative. But never having spent a lot of time in rural America I’ve never really understood why. But I think understanding this divide is crucial because it has the potential to divide America.

I usually subdivide conservative types into two groups: fiscal and social. I sometimes agree with fiscal conservatives. I rarely agree with social conservatives.

So as I go through these towns I can see that there is some kind of divide between big and small city life. But I don’t see that ultimately leading to any specific ideology just yet. Like I said, it’s half-baked. It’s also hard to generalize any population and yield meaningful results. It is more useful to generalize your argument using vague terms in order to win you audiences sympathies. But I’m not interested in that.

I’m going to try to build upon this idea. Specifically the following questions:

Why is small town America so into shooting/hunting things?

Is there a discernible difference between alcoholism in rural America and big city America?

I haven’t seen much direct evidence of churches leading the philosophy of rural America. I’d assumed this would play a larger role than I’ve seen.

What factors create an us vs. them divide between rural America and big city America? So far I think: crime, gun control, abortion, religion, traffic, and ‘social graph’ size.

It seems as though women are especially subservient in rural America. Women’s rights are still far behind it seems.

Rural America is white. Whiter than white, it’s crazy. I think the last Hispanic dude I saw was in Oregon. How is race viewed in a society that is mainly white?

So in my big city brain if I throw all these items together, it’s possible to come to some flawed conclusions such as: because the big city people are godless they have more crime. Or: we don’t understand those Muslim darkies but they must be bad because of 9/11 so let’s invade Iraq.

I don’t think these ideas come under much focus in rural america tho. Are these ideas then driven by community leaders and adopted virally? In a smaller social graph it seems likely.

But why these ideas? Why isn’t rural America pro-choice and city life pro-life?

Anyway this is long and contentious. Signing off for now.