Feasting on Asphalt, as long as it's east of the Rockies

I have to say I'm a little disgruntled with Alton Brown's show Feasting on Asphalt. (Regular readers -- both of you -- will recall that I'm a little bit obsessed with AB, so this complaint will perhaps come as a surprise.) In four one-hour episodes, AB and his crew sought out road food across America, dining at little diners, hot dog stands, taco joints, and whatever other eateries they came across, as long as it wasn't a national chain establishment. I love the idea, and overall, I loved the show. (It only fueled my desire for a motorcycle, despite the scene in which AB wipes out on gravel and breaks his collarbone.)

However, I think AB seriously neglected the western half of the US. By the time he finished the first episode, theoretically 1/4 of the way through American road food, he hadn't gotten any further east than North Carolina! And at one point while dining in western Colorado, he says to the camera, "Yes, we're still in Colorado." What's that supposed to mean? Is it offensive to you, Mr. Brown, that Colorado, like many western states, is quite a bit wider than your average east-of-the-Mississippi state?

I've found, since moving from Colorado to Chicago eight years ago, that people born and raised east of the Mississippi have no idea just how much land there is in the western US. Midwesterners are a little shocked (and offended, I think) when you tell them that the Midwest is more accurately described as the Mideast, geographically speaking.

Some time ago, Airan and I were thinking wistfully about moving to San Francisco. I was discussing a possibility with a friend of mine who's lived all her life in Chicago, and she said, "Well, then you'd be closer to your parents" (who still live in Colorado). When I told her I'd still be about the same distance away, just in the other direction, she was amazed.

The West is BIG, people. Look at a map.

I wish Mr. Brown had divided his time a little more equitably and given a bit more attention to the great big states of the western US. Maybe if he does a Feasting on Asphalt 2, he can rectfy his neglect.

My other complaint is that AB didn't visit Hot Doug's, the finest hot doggery in Chicago, but I guess a hot dog stand in the heart of northwestern Chicago doesn't really count as road food.