I wrote the following essay more than 25 years ago, and it's just as true today as it was then:

The man on the street looked out the window of his 12th-story condominium and saw air that wasn't fit to breathe, gridlocked streets and homeless people warming themselves on steam that belched from below. The city dweller assumed that's what the whole world looked like.

The urbanite saw no birds or fish and thought the entire animal kingdom was endangered. The only animals visible were pets and they were locked up – but not so the criminals that stalked the city streets.

This civilized resident of New York City commuted to Washington, D.C., on business and vacationed in Atlantic City. From these extensive travels he assumed that people were the same the world over. America was like a golden triangle – there was New York, L.A. and Houston, with nothing of any consequence in the middle. You could get lost out there in the heartland.

But something is changing in his world. Something profound. America is moving. The U-Hauls are headed home, beyond the sprawl. For the first time in California's history more people are moving out than moving in. Moving van companies report that seven out of 10 families leaving the big cities are moving to less urbanized areas.

It's not just the people getting back to the basics; business are boomeranging back to the country, also. Most of our great American corporations started out in small towns and then moved to the Big City. Just like the country kids, you couldn't keep them down on the farm.

But guess who is coming home to the hinterlands? Texaco, JCPenney, even Exxon left New York for Irving, Texas. Every corporation that can do its business someplace cheaper is migrating. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, is located in Bentonville, Ark., and Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, Okla.

With computers, faxes and overnight delivery it is no longer necessary to live in New York to be in touch with the real world. Boise is just as good, or North Platte, or Grand Junction. Besides, New York never knew much about the real world anyway.

Even blow-dried 1980s-type money mongers, the ones who escaped jail sentences, are moving to the country. And not just for the fishing. States with big populations are barely able to pay their bills, so they are raising all sorts of new taxes.

In an effort to keep some of their own money people are moving out. Realtors call it "moving down." Those who have tried it say it is moving up.

Americans are getting cabin fever. Big-city dwellers are trying to unload their row houses, condos and their $1,000 a-month payments ($1,500 if you want a window). They are tired of schools and panhandlers that promise to work but don't. They are tired of muggers and corrupt politicians both after the same thing: Their money!

Along with this change of address comes a new attitude. The last yuppie died in 1991. They were bores anyway. They could no longer afford the latest hip haircut because theirs was a false economy.

So now, they are trading in their gold cards for library cards. They had to give up their country club membership. Instead, they moved to the real country where you can actually get a tee time and don't have to get a home equity loan to join "the club.”

As America moves back home we will be seeing fewer Japanese cars and more American-made trucks; fewer Gucci loafers and more Justin Ropers. Americans who have been eating tofu and sundried tomatoes and drinking expensive coconut water will finally taste it and say, "This stuff tastes awful."

As Americans come home they will rediscover homemade cooking, free parking, fresh air, the great outdoors and their own children. The shopping mall and video arcade were never proper places to raise children, anyway.

Americans are rediscovering what you have known all along: You can't send down roots in soil paved over in concrete.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers may log on to www.LeePittsbooks.com to order any of Lee Pitts’ books. Those with questions or comments for Lee may write to him in care of this publication.