"
miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles"
Poetic and appealing, especially for me as a probably non typical Dutch guy (OK, that is a guess).
Over here 'civilization' (read buildings / infrastructure/ cultivation), is never more that a few hundred yards away whatever the direction.
In our entire country (which is very small compared to many others) all is organized / cultivated / planned, No surprises whatsoever...
The one time I was in the USA (Denver, 4 day conference for work), I was amazed by the rapid transition of the town into (for me as a Dutch guy) 'wilderness' (all is relative) .
I Loved it, over here everything is flat and boring (If you've seen it all your life) and so organized....
Tritium: sorry to hear you see this is disappearing in your surroundings as well.
What I notice here is that along our few highways and with the limited space between cities, space starts to clutter with ugly business parks, melting all cities together
Even now the economy does not ask for expansion (business wise), project developers do not stop to build on and claim precious space for more new and ugly business parks (that no-one actually uses).
Apart from the building there's extra space claimed for billboards advertising these new 'heavens of business'.
Oops, Sorry for the rant, but glad to get it off my chest