After yesterday's unpleasantness, I was glad to have my confidence in Southern manners and friendliness restored today. There is an AAA office across the street from the hotel in Paducah, and the gentleman who assisted me was what I expected from the typical Southern gentleman.
He also talked rather slowly, which reminded me of other Southerners like Wendell Berry. When I remarked that I was able to get the state map from the office in California, but not the local maps, "for obvious reasons," he replied, "Oh yes. That's putting it rather kindly." He added, "But you'd be surprised by how many Californians move here." Having a farm in Kentucky wouldn't be bad--so much of the land sitting next to the highways reminds me of similar stretches of highway in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. The same could be said of the towns in rural areas--who could really survive without a car? (Besides the local Amish.) How much longer before what goodness remains of the old South disappears?

Alas, I didn't get a chance to see downtown or uptown Paducah (or the Ohio River) this trip...