I could be anywhere...

I am sitting in a Panera, which has free WI-FI. I'm looking out on the corner of Burkhardt and Rt 66 (also known as the Lloyd Expressway). I can see a Staples, a McDonalds, a CVS, a Wal-Mart, and a Home Depot. If HH were writing his narrative today, what sorts of observations might he make about the generic quality of small cities such as Evansville, IN? This could be a corner almost anywhere in the US. What makes it unique? Nothing that I can see from my pov.

HH's "itinerary" has a Whitmanesque catalog-like quality to it that I love (although HH is no Whitman in his love for the US). Were he writing his narrative today, I think he'd talk about "thousands of McDonalds" rather than "thousands of Bear Creeks, Soda Springs, Painted Canyons" (157). There's something here that I want to write more about.