Before you arrive in Seattle, relocation check in hand and Amazon job starting next Monday, you’ll already know the civic signifiers mentioned in every human-interest story about this distant burg published in every American newspaper for the last howevermany years: the rain, the coffee, the music, the tech.

If you're ever wondering about America or where you fit in it, then it’s time for a road trip.

I have seen the center of the universe, and it is located inside a dinged-up clothes dryer in Santa Fe, New Mexico.