Racing through the United States

Once again I set off for work and once again around the world in some places I would never have thought I could visit. In the United States again, a good year after my first visit to New York, I come back into contact with American reality......no destination of tourist note, no Los Angeles, San Francisco or Las Vegas but....8 days across some states of the centre-south, through landscapes and isolated places, countryside and country life. When you set off for Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee there is a certain curiosity; the desire to know and observe real American life, their customs and habits and then...along the way something interesting will surely turn up, won't it?

As always on these "business" trips....the time for discovery is always limited to the margins of the day or, as happened this time, observing the edges of roads and motorways, while driving, covering thousands of miles through these places.

Arriving in Dallas on a Sunday early afternoon, half a day free to look around....I get to downtown and.....not a living soul around! But how, wasn't this the city of JR and of the Dallas TV series? Where have they all gone? Suddenly a crowd dressed in blue appears on the street, but what's happening? Dallas Mavericks jerseys, wigs, chants but.......nooooo.....I can't believe it, tonight at the sports arena there's Game 2 of the NBA Finals between Dallas and Miami.....but why didn't I check before from Italy, maybe I could even have found a ticket and....an NBA final doesn't happen every day!!! Day by day a myriad of transfers then began; between domestic flights and rental cars I don't know exactly how much road I covered; every day a visit, every day a new motel, and more and more at ease with American life.

Of Oklahoma I remember little of particular interest; some anonymous little towns gave me the idea of a state a bit more backward than others, groups of kids hanging around causing trouble and lots of broken glass in shopping centre car parks....far too few 24 hours to judge....off we go to Memphis; right from the airport the icon of the city, Elvis, shines almost everywhere. I only brushed past Memphis with my rental car and, thanks to the efficient satellite navigator, I should have driven for a long time. How lovely it was; I soon crossed the legendary Mississippi river...well...quite big.....and then for miles and miles in the middle of the countryside, the motorway, deserted, followed the backs of the hills and driving was a pleasure.

Ranches and farms followed one after another as far as the eye could see, white fences, animals, tractors and houses, of that white wood and with that red roof, it seemed to me I was watching a film. Some little towns or real cities will stay in my mind for a while yet; Florence for example, home of the University of North Alabama; walking around the campus I felt like studying again seeing those green spaces, the silence, the squirrels and the quality of the facilities. Football, American football and baseball pitches, pools and gyms. Or Nashville, which I nicknamed little New York, maybe because the main street is called Broadway Av., maybe because in its modest size it holds everything you imagine an American City to be. It is famous for country music and right on Broadway Av. there are lots of venues, pubs, shops and American tourists.

I didn't pass up a few country accessories and, together with the Texan boots I bought in Dallas, my looks were just right. Arriving on the Saturday I moved to New York; for reasons of air fares I "had" to spend a night in the Big Apple and, in the little time I was allowed, I tried to see as much as possible of what I had already visited a year earlier in 5 days. Among other things it was the Saturday of Italy-USA, Germany '06 World Cup, but on this occasion, given the modest performance, there was little to boast about. I found New York as chaotic, hot, crowded as ever and.....with a metro in Tilt; maybe I prefer it at Christmas time, when there are even more lights but above all the asphalt and the air are not so scorching.

An obligatory visit to Ground Zero to see how the work is progressing but.....I fear it's going a bit slowly; the only certainty is that you breathe the same rather sad and melancholic air and, coming from the chaos of midtown, the silence of this place and the respect of all the people make a certain impression.