**Written by Doug Powers

The fact that HuffPost is approaching this like they’re intellectual Eloi setting off to observe a bunch of cow-tipping Morlocks speaks volumes, but it’s sure to bring with it some fantastic moments of bewilderment and discovery:

Having made its name as a home for liberals and the blog posts of coastal elites, the recently renamed HuffPost is seeking to reinforce its new, less partisan image with a seven-week bus tour through Middle America to “listen and learn what it means to be American today,” the site will announce on Thursday.

Starting in September, a traveling party of rotating HuffPost staff members led by editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen will visit more than 20 cities, eschewing the coasts for the likes of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Oxford, Mississippi and Odessa, Texas. At each city, the site will host events, roll out planned stories with local media outlets, send out reporters to write about the communities and collect stories from residents “in their own words.”

I can’t wait for the “Darwin explains the Galapagos tortoise”-style field notes from HuffPost — if they survive the trip. In the meantime, HuffPost staffers will spend the next few days watching lots of Dukes of Hazzard while being briefed on things like local customs and how middle Americans use corn dogs, used tires and Skoal as currency. And if the progressive climate change alarmism is correct and the coasts do flood, they’d better pick up on it quick because that’s where they’re going to be living!

HuffPost middle America tour diary entry, day 1: Our tour began with HuffPost management accepting a gift from our strange new friends — a large, leather-bound book. A simple but friendly people, they seem eager to introduce us to their customs and familiarize themselves with ours.

HuffPost middle America tour diary entry, day 27: Things suddenly took an unpleasant turn after Arianna came to a stunning realization:

**Written by Doug Powers

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