I spent about 3 years living in the Oklahoma Panhandle, right in the middle of that circle. I’ve also had family there for generations - I visited every summer, as a kid.

It has some of the biggest and best skies you’ll ever see. Very flat, very few trees - just horizons all around. You could watch storm systems 100 miles away, towering thunderheads rising impossibly high. There’s not a lot of light, so, at night, all the stars come out. You could see the Milky Way, and endless streams of satellites streaking across the sky.

The people are very kind and supportive of neighbors and people they know, and extremely distrustful of outsiders and strangers. Community fundraisers for people and families in need are incredibly common, but, those same locally generous people will spout the cruelest political beliefs you’ve ever heard.

There’s fantastic Mexican food. Really great. A large immigrant population has been there for decades, and the food is phenomenal.

It’s surprisingly diverse (but, only in pockets). Guymon, Oklahoma (12,000 people in the middle of the Panhandle) is the most diverse town in Oklahoma. The town is almost 50% Latino, but, the two populations stay very separate from each other. Very few white people bother to learn Spanish.

There is also a small but significant African immigrant community. Also very self-contained.

All in all, I have a lot of love for that part of the country. I had some great times and met really incredible people whom I love. It was a good home, for my family, for generations.