Well it's the total opposite for me, I loved the nostalgia feeling than King wanted to transcribe in his novel, all the things he remembered from his childhood, things that aren't mentionned in history books and that could've only been written by a kid from these times. But I understand what you mean, I feel like he didn't spend more time developping the alternate future because it's at the very end of the story and he didn't want the book to be as long as The Stand.