Reporter Harry Bruinius found a crossroads of America in the middle of Will County, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. Not far from the legendary Route 66, Harry saw waving grasslands and bison-dotted vistas alongside a jumble of railroad tracks and cities of shipping containers. It is a place, he reports in this week’s magazine, of contrasts and transformation; progress and disruption; of debates about what it is to be American and what is worth protecting, changing, or expanding. The story of Will County, and of what it is experiencing as an army of trucks moves an ever-expanding supply of goods across the country, is fascinating. And it is exactly the sort of piece we had hoped Harry would find as he set out to travel the entirety of Route 66, which turns 100 years old this year. Why We Wrote This A guiding principle for putting the Monitor’s mission into practice is to investigate ideals and endeavors, not just events.…