 Complete the following phrase:  Stopping at a diner for directions, Steinbeck realized that Americans are often oblivious to their immediate surroundings and their own culture. He also complained that Americans have put cleanliness first at the expense of taste 141. He lamented that It looks as though the natural contentiousness of people has died 142 and he worried that Americans had grown too comfortable and no longer interested in risk-taking and rebellion, two of the traits that made the country great. Crossing into North Dakota, Steinbeck said that Fargo always fascinated him as a place where the winters were seemingly colder and the summers hotter than anywhere else. He found the real Fargo to be just like any other busy American town, but said the reality of Fargo didnt interfere with his old mental image of Fargo. Driving across North Dakota, Steinbeck decided that the real dividing line between east and west was at the Missouri River. East of the river, odors and scenes were essentially eastern; west of the river was where The West really started. Steinbeck crossed North Dakota into Montana, where he declared, I am in love with Montana. He explained Montana was a place unaffected by television; a place with kind, laid-back individuals. It seemed to me that the frantic bustle of America was not in Montana 158. He went to the 