2023 Holiday Trek - America The Machine
By David Stenhouse
In some social circles, it seems fashionable to bash America.
I have listened to it in office settings, seen it on social media, and witness it woven into entertainment—America is presented as a self-absorbed bastion of simple minds that have a love for money, fuel, and ammunition. America could learn from the rest of the world…
That is not the country I see and have experienced.
Druber’s Donuts in Newton, Kansas is an old-style bakery, representing the center of the country well. Photo by David Stenhouse.
Shay and I hopped back into the Suburban Thanksgiving Day, rolling across the U.S., spending the holiday season in Florida. 9,000 total miles, corner to corner, adding routes to see places we hadn’t seen before and spending most of our time driving in flyover country.
Until I was 27 years old, my world view was centered around Puget Sound and Lake Chelan in Washington state. A very narrow and beautiful view, indeed. Excluding trips to Disneyland and Hawaii before 7th grade, my travel had been exclusively tied to the Pacific Northwest. At a young age, I learned what was “out there” by reading the newspaper my dad brought home from work each afternoon.
A change in career opened up a new world for me, now having visited 43 of the states with additional travel abroad. These cross-country drives give Shay and I time to see the country together, placing our business aside and experiencing America and the people who run it.
Oil pumpjacks tirelessly working in the early morning east of Mulhall, Oklahoma. Photo by David Stenhouse.
I see the U.S. as a powerful machine constantly churning out product. People going to work, building stuff, and providing services. The photos don’t lie. The number of semi trucks on the freeways and trains traversing the land hauling our purchases coast to coast is astounding. We spot ranchers working cattle, farmers caring for their crops, mechanics working on cars, and forklifts loading trucks. From producer to consumer, we’re all tied together through roads, rail, and air, depending on each other for products and services.
It doesn’t take but a few minutes at any Pilot or Love’s truck stop to notice the population of truckers and travelers passing through filling up on fuel and coffee. We as a country are constantly in motion and we do this to care for ourselves, our families, and friends. We fight like any family and can be heartless to one another, but in the end we all live under the same roof.
Loading a Peterbilt truck with empty pallets in Immokalee, Florida. Photo by David Stenhouse.
I find the American spirit continues to display pieces of rugged individualism. For those that think that is gone, I can assure you it isn’t. Spark up a short conversation with anyone working in a restaurant, servicing your vehicle, or driving an Uber, and you’ll mostly find people wanting to be left alone to build their life. They will have a story uniquely their own but it will be similar to others across the U.S.—for the most part, they just want the opportunity to create their own outcome. Stay out of their way and quit meddling in their lives.
I spend most of my days behind a keyboard in Sammamish, Washington. Living in the Pacific Northwest is a blessing, yet my choice of careers keeps me yearning for positivity. Law enforcement and computer forensics have not provided me an uplifting view of society, so I seek it elsewhere. This requires me to leave the Sammamish bubble and see what others are doing daily across this beautiful country (That’s right. I don’t believe that Sammamish is reality…).
What my lens captures is in stark contrast to what I see presented through media channels. My view of America is a bright shining light full of innovative and hard-working individuals. These road trips ensure I have a dose of realism and keep a connection with it all.
Carrying around a camera since childhood, David Stenhouse has a love for capturing people, machines, and America. He is now so blessed to spend each day running a business with his best friend, high school sweetheart, and wife, Shay.