In town, I never take the keys out of the pickup. Haven’t in years. At the farm, every truck, every piece of equipment – the baler, the sprayer, the old Chevy trap wagon that only starts if you feather the gas just right – they’re all sitting there with the keys in the ignition. It’s not laziness. It’s not forgetfulness. It’s just that no one’s going to take them.

When people talk about rural America, they see the pickups and the politics and assume they know the whole story.