Is This Heaven? Its Iowa.

Being from Iowa is such an important subculture that I am a part of. My family used to live their, but because of my dad's job, we moved here in august of '98. All of our extended family still lives out there so we make the drive five or six times a year. It feels like once we cross the Mississippi river, everything changes. If you look around, about 30% of people are wearing hunting camouflage. Around here, that would be odd if someone was walking around walmart in camouflage overalls, but in Iowa, its normal and even encouraged. There are places and restaurants that people recognize like, "Casey's General Stores", "Carlos 'O Kelly's". and "Papa Murphy's." Cities like "Waterloo," "Boone," and "Dyersville" are part of the common language as well.  Even in the suburban areas, many people have a slight country accent. When we stay for two long I start to notice in on my family and on myself. When driving around town it is a more that you wave to someone in the other car if you cross at an intersection. Around here people would be put off and wonder "Why are you waving at me?," but out in the country, no one thinks about it. Going to church in a more as well; my grandparents live in a town that is smaller than our student population, but there is still a church on every corner in the middle of town and even multiple of the same denomination. Around here, everything is so fast-paced, that when I'm in Iowa, everything seems so extremely calm. I've tried to explain what life is like out there, but it truly indescribable. Iowa's uniqueness has caused such a strong subculture, that if we meet someone around here that is from Iowa, it is an instant conversation starter and we automatically bond over experiences we've had.