It's one thing to travel. I've been traveling in US for forever being part of Honeywell since '8. So traveling here was not a new thing but living here when you live even for as a resident for two weeks you learn more than probably 25 visits you would have made over many many years.
I think that that's the magic of road trips in real life is how quickly you can get an impression of a place, how many weird things and weird people you encounter if you do take a cross-country road trip.