Pork and Hardship

I confess to first going to the Roadfood book...just in case there is something I don't want to miss... which would be firstly on the route - a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich found in Iowa. 

 But then going thru American Heritage articles , and reading about sod houses and the barren Plains landscapes in the 1880's, and looking at the photos - I marvel at the Victorian get-ups clung to by takers of these hard-scrapple lives - they could be wandering the streets of urbanized Europe.  And the lack of "stuff"...making mattresses, making talon, peeling potatoes and peeling potatoes.    And they seem cheerful!