Gonna hit the road and start looking for the end of that long white line–Sturgill Simpson

The Wednesday Pop Culture Rant has loaded up the calliope to take to the road and head East. All the way to the ocean. We’re going to hone our craft, as those that like to get precious about writing say, at a leafy Ivy League locale that rhymes with snail. The Rant just nods thoughtfully and pretends to hone, all the while preparing to eat stuffies1 and lobster rolls. The entire exercise in many ways is an elaborate scheme to drink copious amounts of Allagash White, the greatest white Belgian ale in all the land, which for some reason cannot seem to find its way west of the Mississippi. Apparently Maine, where Allagash is brewed, remains unaware of the rapid advances in transportation sweeping the land. They’re ambivalent about the horseless carriage and its prospects.

The Rant once had a job that often required a six-hour drive to attend a one hour meeting. Such is life in the wide open spaces. We could take several laps around Rhode Island in the same amount of time. We enjoy the sea as it offers the same vast expanse as the plains, those endless skies and vistas to the horizon. We often dream of a cottage near the shore, but it would be harder to leave than we care to admit. Watching an enormous anvil head form in the clouds as a storm approaches. Outside in the dark with the Tween judging the grandeur of the lightning. Following the slow advance of a fire line when ranchers burn the pasture and prepare for spring grazing.

We always remained dubious of the notion that the land shaped your identity, but when people chide and tease about where you live, they’re questioning how you can feel at home in a place where they can’t get comfortable. Great travelers and great souls learn to accept what the landscape offers without fighting against it. So The Rant is ready to roll, to see what gifts the road has to offer, and to continue figuring out how to make this land our land, no matter where we roam.

  1. A stuffie, dear landlocked readers, is a stuffed clam. The Rant likes quahogs especially. It’s like getting to enjoy Thanksgiving without your racist uncle embarrassing you and your grandfather going on and on about Obamacare.

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