towns like this and kids like us

Lompoc. Wikipedia that to learn its pronounciation.

I've asked a few people what there is to do around here, and all of them laughed. A very nice lady described this place as a one horse town with half a horse. There's an airforce base and a prison nearby. Apparently there's also a very well restored mission on the outer edge of town. Otherwise it's a town like so many others -- in the middle of nowhere, a sequence of strip malls and stoplights.

You always wonder what people's lives are like when you're traveling to new places. NJ doesn't have towns like these -- NJ is one big town, really. There's always something somewhere really nearby, not to mention, oh, New York. I'm pretty sure this is atypical. When I started roadtripping on the east coast, I started to understand -- but especially out here and especially when I consider how much more isolated other parts of the country are (hello rural southwestern states) -- I get why kids get drunk and do donuts in farmers' fields, why crystal meth labs are blowing up somewhere every week. Boys and Girls in America, I guess.

This hotel gives out, among other things, pudding and chocolate milk and bottled starbucks frappucinos at the front desk. I always wanted to request chocolate milk where I used to work. Someone still there should ask for pudding.