I got a glimpse of spring on my recent trip. I visited Kansas which is lost in the midwest of the US. But also pretty much in the south. The crab apple trees were already blooming.
The red buds on the maple trees were adding color.
Daffodils were up and blooming. I grew up mostly in Kansas and always thought I was from the midwest but Kansas is a southern state in many ways.
I suppose most importantly Kansas entered the Union in the lead up to the Civil War as a free state. So it is not thought of as the South.
But the food, the culture, the drawl are all pretty southern.
Someone from Kansas is going to sound a lot more like a Texan than like someone from Ohio. And you can get some good barbeque with cornbread and fried okra you won't find in Indiana. I lost my southern accent years ago but I did have some fried okra last weekend 🙂