I turned off the Interstate 75 about twenty minutes ago and I haven’t turned the wheel since. It’s the longest, straightest road I’ve ever seen. It puts the Romans to shame. I’m on the look-out for a diner but all I pass are a surprising number of dentists and tanning salons. I guess that’s what they do round here all day: get whiter in one then go next door and get browner.
I know the whole area has suffered badly since the heavy industry was progressively shut down years ago. Places like this have had to reinvent themselves, find something else to sell. The town I’m now driving through on this interminable straight stretch of tarmac is selling patriotism. From every street lamp hangs a banner with a photo of a former resident who died in military service; from the two world wars to the gulf war and all of them in between. Halfway along the high street I spy something I hope might be a café or a restaurant but turns out to be a shop selling American flags in multiple sizes.
I should stop and ask someone where I can get food but the last two attempts have produced varied results, from the quite charming…
“Hey! I  feel like I’ve just stepped into a BBC mini series!”
to the vaguely insulting…
“Shit man…you talk like that all the time?”
After last nights gig in Dayton I found myself standing outside a nightclub talking about America’s healthcare problems with the locals while we all drank coke and munched on hot dogs as though illustrating the very issue under discussion. I crashed on someone’s kindly provided couch and left in the morning while the house was still silent. The cat looked disappointed I was leaving…
Barton H

French version published daily on the ROCK MADE IN FRANCE website

USA Day 11 – Eaton, Ohio : « Je me suis retrouvé dans un nightclub »