For once in my life, I looked around, surrounded by unfamiliar territory, and though I had the greatest urge to spout that age-old movie reference — “we’re not in Kansas anymore” — the fact of the matter was that, yes, we very much were in Kansas. I mean, in the very heart of America, in that region known as the Great Plains, you have some idea of what you’ll come across, but reading about it or seeing a photo or video is truly not the same as being surrounded by rolling green hills as far as the eye can see.