The Southern Plains stretch from Missouri into Colorado, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Guadalupe Mountains in the west. They are broad and flat in places, rolling and hilly in others, and they rise into interesting rock formations and tablelands called mesas in others.

The Southern Plains experience serious extremes of temperature over the course of the year: cold in the winter and blazing hot in the summer. They are subject to some of the worst hailstorms and tornadoes in recorded history. These states have amazing mineral wealth, including oil, natural gas, and coal. They have rich farmland, and a couple of them (Louisiana and Texas) have huge and interesting populations.

The Southern Plains are also a rich mix of different cultures. Originally settled in places by the French and Spanish (and the Mexicans), and occupied continuously in others by a variety of Native American cultures, these states are a fascinating mosaic of the diversity the United States is capable of, even while the skyline seems unrelentingly the same throughout the region.