In my teens I read Of Mice and Men, which led me to Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row. It was in Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, though, that the seed of my interest in America took root. Some thirty years later that compulsion has matured. Now, I intend to venture onto the American byways crossing Nebraska, into its communities and into conversational engagement with its people, my statewide neighbors.

You can see from my route that one of the towns I look forward to visiting is Loomis. As noted on this county website, BusinessWeek Magazine picked this town of 382 people in 2006 as “one of the top 25 places in the country to raise a child.” With some friends here in Omaha that hail from Phelps county, I eagerly anticipate a delightful and intriguing time in this “undiscovered gem.”

Why am I doing this? I’ve been asked this a lot over the last few weeks. It is a great question with many answers, but let me share just a few. Conversation sustains vibrant communities. My work with Habitat for Humanity and Justice for our Neighbors has shown me that community is not an experience that is felt from the outside, but must arise and be sensed from within. Even to begin to talk of Nebraskan communities requires listening and sharing in amongst those physical spaces and with their people. As well as exploring communities, this project adventures into Nebraskan culture. The cultural anthropologist, Edward T. Hall, asserted that, “Culture hides more than it reveals,” and, moreover, “It hides most effectively from its own participants.” As an outsider – a British expat and new American citizen – to learn about the stories that shape our sense of who we are necessitates being with Nebraskans in their towns. “… purely vagabond.” The question inherently includes consideration of why drive an RV on this long, meandering route? …