One of the main reasons to drive across the US, so we've come to learn, is to be able to buy fireworks in states where they're legal. So says Henry Reed in Henry Reed's Journey. (And I must admit it played heavily on my pre-pubescent mind the first time I did this trip back when I was 11 or 12.) There are big garish billboards advertising fireworks in the states where they are legal, and the stores are these big huge places, selling all kinds of fireworks, and nothing but. This one in Wisconsin was big, new, and empty of people, but full of fireworks. No, we didn't buy any -- what's the point? We live in an apartment building in one of the most densely populated areas of the most densely populated state. Plus, they're illegal there!