Howdy Jane. Another comment: You mention spending most of your life in the two coastal regions before later travelling inland to see interior America. It reminds me of my own case, the opposite, ie living & working mostly in interior regions (Ontario, Manitoba, & Alberta in Canada) before later visiting coastal regions. Once in the ’70s or ’80s on vacation while driving in Wyoming, U.S.A., in my 1966 (Ford) Mercury pick-up truck with a radio/cassette unit I had added, there was a huge blue sky, high plains & distant mountains, pristine environment & air quality, teeming with wildlife (deer, antelope, rabbits, birds, eagles), very little traffic (I could stop, stand in the middle of the road taking photos, for minutes at a time): – as if on queue, a local radio station played Ghost Riders In The Sky, the best, new at the time, instrumental version by the Ramrods: – I was ecstatic, and thought to myself “Is Heaven like this?”. Even now, decades later, I still get an emotional boost just thinking back to it.
Happy Travelling,
Brian V.