[drivingmenuts]

One thing that sticks out in my mind is how utterly empty small towns feel late at night. I grew up in a rural area but have lived in larger urban areas since going to college.

Small towns seem like another world after midnight. The lighting is all wrong, there's no sound in your immediate area, there's no life. Unless it has a 24-hour convenience store, it might seem like the place is completely abandoned.

During the day, there's people and life and things happening, but at night, you want to pull your jacket tighter and hunker down a bit, maybe.

[Sorry_Rum_Ham]

Once, while on a road trip, the wife and I ended up walking around Roswell, New Mexico at 2:00AM on a Tuesday. The town was completely lifeless as you described. We didn't see a single person for hours. The dark, empty town coupled with the alien/UFO decor literally everywhere you looked is still one of the more surreal things I've experienced. I have sort of a warm nostalgia for it, though.

[theandrewbailey]

Several times I've driven into the small town where I grew up at 4 AM. Aside from the odd semi or car on the major roads (even near the chain stores), it looks like it's abandoned; or maybe a huge empty basement with most of the lights broken.

[dwe3000]

> Small towns seem like another world after midnight. ... there's no sound in your immediate area, there's no life.

What I loved about growing up in a town with less than 300.