Greetings,
June 1, 2011 – Between Hastings and Fort Kearney, Nebraska -- Not too much to write about today. The roads were straight and Frank and I headed west to Fort Kearney. We met several local residents who talked to us about the history of the area. Our traveling gypsy caravan seems to attract attention wherever we go. People want to stop and talk. When they hear about the starting point and the destination, the talk usually gets more interesting. Today I talked at length with a local farmer who works about 3,000 acres. These farms are big operations.
June 2, 2011 – Between Fort Kearney and near Lexington, Nebraska – Tonight we are camped on the banks of the Platte River. Last night we had another series of wild electric storms. The storms are far more exciting than the minor thunderstorms that we get in Idaho. Throughout the night, the lightning was nearly constant and the wind blew the rain against the trailer. The field where we camped became muddy and a few rigs became stuck. We drove out without difficulty, perhaps because we did not load the horses until we reached pavement.
The roads are still straight. I decided to ride the afternoon section because we will follow some canal banks and have a few more turns. The footing on the canal banks was wonderful and Whiskey appreciated the canal bank roads. It was nice to not be following the section-line grid going west and north.
One thing that is hard to miss is the depth of economic depression in some of these small towns. In one town in Nebraska, we heard that a person could purchase a home in town for one-thousand dollars. Thirty-five hundred dollars recently bought a very nice house in that town. It is difficult for me to imagine a nice Idaho house selling for even ten thousand dollars.
Even with those prices, and several abandoned buildings in the town, the local townspeople still have pride in their community. It seems as if all the lawns are clean and mowed, even the lawns of the abandoned houses. Each resident must mow several lawns, even though their neighbors are gone. The sense of community in these small farming towns must be very strong.
There was a memorable town in Kansas where most of the store fronts were boarded up and shuttered. There was only one prospering business in that town – a bank. It seems as the bank was very affluent and constructed a new brick building in period architecture. The money for the bank construction came out of the pockets of the people in that town and that county. I work for a heavily regulated business that manages to make a positive return for its shareholders and provide reliable electric service at sensible prices. Idaho Power does not have the money or the culture to construct palatial buildings and extravagant facilities in depressed communities. It certainly seems to me that the banks in the US could use considerably more regulatory oversight -- especially with the paltry returns that the banks are presently paying on customer accounts. It appears as if some bankers are becoming far too wealthy in some very desperate communities. Sensing the stark differences in these communities between those that have and those who are just hanging on to any sort of livelihood, I can understand and sympathize with the populist heritage of the farm country. Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck would have a lot to write about today in the farm country of Nebraska.
Best Regards,
Tom N
June 1, 2011 – Between Hastings and Fort Kearney, Nebraska -- Not too much to write about today. The roads were straight and Frank and I headed west to Fort Kearney. We met several local residents who talked to us about the history of the area. Our traveling gypsy caravan seems to attract attention wherever we go. People want to stop and talk. When they hear about the starting point and the destination, the talk usually gets more interesting. Today I talked at length with a local farmer who works about 3,000 acres. These farms are big operations.
June 2, 2011 – Between Fort Kearney and near Lexington, Nebraska – Tonight we are camped on the banks of the Platte River. Last night we had another series of wild electric storms. The storms are far more exciting than the minor thunderstorms that we get in Idaho. Throughout the night, the lightning was nearly constant and the wind blew the rain against the trailer. The field where we camped became muddy and a few rigs became stuck. We drove out without difficulty, perhaps because we did not load the horses until we reached pavement.
The roads are still straight. I decided to ride the afternoon section because we will follow some canal banks and have a few more turns. The footing on the canal banks was wonderful and Whiskey appreciated the canal bank roads. It was nice to not be following the section-line grid going west and north.
One thing that is hard to miss is the depth of economic depression in some of these small towns. In one town in Nebraska, we heard that a person could purchase a home in town for one-thousand dollars. Thirty-five hundred dollars recently bought a very nice house in that town. It is difficult for me to imagine a nice Idaho house selling for even ten thousand dollars.
Even with those prices, and several abandoned buildings in the town, the local townspeople still have pride in their community. It seems as if all the lawns are clean and mowed, even the lawns of the abandoned houses. Each resident must mow several lawns, even though their neighbors are gone. The sense of community in these small farming towns must be very strong.
There was a memorable town in Kansas where most of the store fronts were boarded up and shuttered. There was only one prospering business in that town – a bank. It seems as the bank was very affluent and constructed a new brick building in period architecture. The money for the bank construction came out of the pockets of the people in that town and that county. I work for a heavily regulated business that manages to make a positive return for its shareholders and provide reliable electric service at sensible prices. Idaho Power does not have the money or the culture to construct palatial buildings and extravagant facilities in depressed communities. It certainly seems to me that the banks in the US could use considerably more regulatory oversight -- especially with the paltry returns that the banks are presently paying on customer accounts. It appears as if some bankers are becoming far too wealthy in some very desperate communities. Sensing the stark differences in these communities between those that have and those who are just hanging on to any sort of livelihood, I can understand and sympathize with the populist heritage of the farm country. Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck would have a lot to write about today in the farm country of Nebraska.
Best Regards,
Tom N
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