How can people live in rural places??

I went to Modesto over the weekend to visit my grandma and on the way there I saw acres of farm land and trees. It smelled like poop at one point of the trip and there were houses meshed in with the crops. When we finally arrive in Modesto, it's a totally different vibe than San Jose and it seems dead there. There isn't that much stuff you can do there either, I'm an urban kid and I could never imagine living in a rural place like Modesto.