How is Nebraska different from Virginia? How does Jim feel?

Jim travels all day through the huge expanse of Nebraska, and in the middle of the night they finally get off the train. There Jim catches his first glimpse of the immigrant family. Soon Otto Fuchs, a hired man, comes to pick them up. He looks like a cowboy desperado, and Jim is impressed. He has never seen a man like him in Virginia. They get into a wagon, and Jim stares into the night, seeing nothing but land and darkness. He feels like he has entered into a completely different, empty world and that everything he has known before has been left behind.