So, I just got back last night from a two-day road trip to a red state. The first day was spent in a large, sprawling city and the second day was spent in a rural, but somewhat touristy area.

In the city, I was on a mission to visit four used bookstores (in the same chain) that were scattered around the city. Surprisingly, there were two different sets of store policies regarding COVID, despite being the same chain. Two stores said they were following the CDC policies and recommended mask wearing and the other two stores were mandating mask wearing, saying you couldn't go in without wearing one . You could actually feel the fear in the air there, which was strange to me, as the area where I live has a "live and let live" attitude towards the mask -- mask-wearing is a personal choice and no one cares what you do or don't do. I've heard about people double-masking, but in this city I saw multiple people double-masked...outside even! I felt very ill-at-ease in this city -- like I was in the middle of a zombie movie. I was really glad to get out of there.

Went to the rural area, which was around two hours away from the city, and it was the complete and total opposite. No one (except the occasional dumb tourist) was wearing a mask -- not the staff at the hotel, not the cashiers or store clerks, not the people working in restaurants, and not even the vast majority of the people that were there to enjoy the area. It was business as usual, like the pandemic had never existed. The contrast could not have been more stark.

I don't know why there was such a contrast. My guess is that the city has more liberals and the rural areas have more based conservatives. Either that, or the country folk are just too busy working for a living to have any time to be brainwashed by the MSM.