Emptied Minds

[Trakternut]

Any of you who read the National Geographic may have happened upon an article written about the state that gave me birth, and has given me a home lo these almost-forty-seven years.

While there are areas that do appear to be rather desolate, let me assure you that the land is far from abandoned. Some of what you see is pasture to beef and dairy cattle. Still other acreage is dedicated to raising crops for your table. We once boasted the top of the nation for durum wheat production. This is the grain that you enjoy in your pasta.

Our air is clean. In some areas, folks can't even find the keys for their homes.......they never lock up when they leave!

Find yourself stranded with car troubles out there?? Sit tight, some local will happen by and give you a lift, or possibly, fix your car and not accept a dime for his troubles.

Small towns are withering and dying, to be sure. Things change. The highway system makes it easy to drive to a larger town to shop and do other business. These same highways become clogged with tractors or combines, depending on the time of year.

Take another look. That tall grass is teeming with deer, pheasants, grouse, and other wildlife. Hunting abounds. Just don't mistake a cow for a deer. Farmers are pretty protective of their livestock.

The core of this state is its people. Take a drive down a lonely two-lane road. Your arm will get tired of waving back to the other drivers. I kid you not!

So, while the bright lights and hustle of the bigger cities has its allure, the quiet of the prairies has something else, the ability to calm troubled minds, soothe tattered nerves, and the essence of meditation.

Stop in and visit, when you get through here. Let us show you what the Geographic missed.

OK, I'm done!

 

[fogtender]

Well for what it is worth, Fox News pulled a boner yesterday.

They had some guy in the Port of Anchorage taking about a "Pork barrel, Boat to Nowhere".
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...sult&cd=1&q=Point+Mackenzie+anchorage&spell=1
The premiss is that he was standing there with Point MacKenzie behind him talking about that was where the "Bridge to nowhere" was suppose to go, so now the boat was suppose to replace it... Well the ice breaking ferry boat would be accessed by a lot of people, he had no clue to what he was talking about, just because there was nothing currently there. The MatSu Valley has about 80,000 people there, Anchorage has about 450,000 or so.

Well duh... The "Bridge to Nowhere" was in Southeast Alaska, almost 800 miles to the South. The Bridge that they want to build in Anchorage, would cut off about 25 miles of a four lane highway that currently has to go around the Knik Arm, the Bridge would be may be accessed by about 10,000 to 20,000 people daily. The boat would be a ferry for crossing to fill in until a bridge is built.

Pretty much an example of the news people not getting the story right, and looking like idiots doing it.

 

[Bobcat]

Youse guys got off easy...

Battle Mountain, NV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Mountain

"The name itself may strike the ignorant as being a place with a mischievous past, yet the land has never once seen the pain brought from warfare. The land that this town rests on has only seen the pain brought from isolation and infertility."-Chava of the Temoke Family. Battle Mountain is perhaps best known as having been designated with the dubious distinction of "armpit of America" in a 2001 Washington Post Magazine article. [1] Battle Mountain has capitalized on this notoriety by staging an annual "Old Spice Armpit Festival", starting in 2002 which has since been done away with.

 

[California]

Youse guys got off easy...

Battle Mountain, NV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Mountain

I've never heard that term applied to Battle Mountain.

How did you guys wrest that honor away from Bakersfield?

 

[Bobcat]

This billboard was on eastbound I-80 just before Battle Mountain a year or two ago. At one point I believe it said 'Make us your pit stop' instead of 'We didn't know you were looking'. Not sure if it's still there. Bakersfield probably deserves it more, as does El Paso.

 

[California]

While there are areas that do appear to be rather desolate, let me assure you that the land is far from abandoned. Some of what you see is pasture to beef and dairy cattle. Still other acreage is dedicated to raising crops for your table. We once boasted the top of the nation for durum wheat production.

Our air is clean....

I don't understand how city folk can visit a low-population-density region and come to the conclusion that there's a problem, that things don't seem quite right to them. They don't understand that the land is fascinating whether or not there is someone in the next mile. And in your state all that land isn't abandoned, it all belongs to someone, you just might have to drive a while to meet him.

I live near too many people. I've always loved to go up to the Nevada desert where there really is nothing - until you stop and look around. Soon you appreciate it's at least as beautiful as home, its just different.

Before kids we used to go up every Memorial Day to Pyramid Lake or Black Rock desert (both north of Reno) but now there are people even there. Since the Burning Man festivals began we haven't returned. Camping deep in the Sierras is similar but you will nearly always see someone during a weekend.

You have something rare and valuable. Enjoy it, ignore people who don't appreciate it.

 

[Spiffy1]

NOOOOOO!!!! Don't tell people all the good things, or everyone will come and ruin it for us.

And worse, after you chase off all the scumballs, they might decide to try SD on the way out!

 

[Tractors4u]

In the area I was born and raised in and still live in is not a tiny town, but it isn't large at all. A lot of farm land and country roads. Adjacent to our county is a larger city, Huntsville Alabama. It is a high tech town, home to Redstone Arsenal, Marshall Space Flight Center and dozens of other high tech firms. The people moving here to take jobs show up in our county, love the "country life" and the lower property prices. The problem is, the want the country life with a Domino's Pizza and a bank on the corner. The developers are buying up the farm land and putting in subdivisions as quick as they can. They aren't the most attractive ones either. Some are just cheap houses, some are nice houses but the development is just a horse shoe shaped street through a 10 acre field. One developer bought a wooded area up the road from our place, took a dozer and cleared ever tree on the place and named it "The Woodlands". When I was a kid my brother, the neighborhood kids and I would disappear for the day on our bikes and ride. I wouldn't let my kids ride 200 yards to my parents house now the traffic is so bad.

 

[bczoom]

NOOOOOO!!!! Don't tell people all the good things, or everyone will come and ruin it for us.

And worse, after you chase off all the scumballs, they might decide to try SD on the way out!

Don't worry... Just let anyone that's thinking of staying know what your winters are like.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Any of you who read the National Geographic may have happened upon an article written about the state that gave me birth, and has given me a home lo these almost-forty-seven years.

While there are areas that do appear to be rather desolate, let me assure you that the land is far from abandoned. Some of what you see is pasture to beef and dairy cattle. Still other acreage is dedicated to raising crops for your table. We once boasted the top of the nation for durum wheat production. This is the grain that you enjoy in your pasta.

Our air is clean. In some areas, folks can't even find the keys for their homes.......they never lock up when they leave!

Find yourself stranded with car troubles out there?? Sit tight, some local will happen by and give you a lift, or possibly, fix your car and not accept a dime for his troubles.

Small towns are withering and dying, to be sure. Things change. The highway system makes it easy to drive to a larger town to shop and do other business. These same highways become clogged with tractors or combines, depending on the time of year.

Take another look. That tall grass is teeming with deer, pheasants, grouse, and other wildlife. Hunting abounds. Just don't mistake a cow for a deer. Farmers are pretty protective of their livestock.

The core of this state is its people. Take a drive down a lonely two-lane road. Your arm will get tired of waving back to the other drivers. I kid you not!

So, while the bright lights and hustle of the bigger cities has its allure, the quiet of the prairies has something else, the ability to calm troubled minds, soothe tattered nerves, and the essence of meditation.

Stop in and visit, when you get through here. Let us show you what the Geographic missed.

OK, I'm done!

The place is getting over run by people, crime is up, pollution is up, cost of living is up, taxes are up. There was a gentlemen stabbed while changing his tire yesterday, this happened across the river from us. Stay away, the place is going to *ell in a hand basket.

 

[Trakternut]

Don't worry... Just let anyone that's thinking of staying know what your winters are like.

I don't know what you're talking about. The temp hit +10 yesterday. What's so bad about that??

Yeah, RedDog, I hear ya. Things aren't as innocent as they were, but still a h*lluva lot better than a lot of other places.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Yeah, RedDog, I hear ya. Things aren't as innocent as they were, but still a h*lluva lot better than a lot of other places.

Play down the good things, stress the bad and people will stay away and we can keep the good life.

 

[Trakternut]

There ya go, REDDOG!
Ok, it's a terrible place to live. Nothin' here but jackrabbits packing lunches, blizzards, and nasty Germans with sharp knives and loaded guns.
That better??

 

[mtntopper]

Play down the good things, stress the bad and people will stay away and we can keep the good life.

I only know of only one good thing coming out on North Dakota and that is I-94 to Montana.

Just trying to help you guys to keep it the way it should be.............

 

[ghautz]

That article was probably a blessing in disguise. About 15 years ago, a major magazine ran an article naming Prescott, Arizona, as the best place in the country for retirement. It was a quiet, little town, with a reasonable cost of housing and little traffic. All that has changed. The growth has been phenomenal.

 

[Cityboy]

Play down the good things, stress the bad and people will stay away and we can keep the good life.

Ya'll ain't gotta do that. A Marine Corp buddy of mine from ND said ND's state motto is "-40º Below Keeps the Rif Raf out."

'Nuff said for most folks.

 

[Trakternut]

When Eisenhower sent I-94 through ND, we wanted only one lane in the inbound side and three on the outbound. He didn't go for it.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Ya'll ain't gotta do that. A Marine Corp buddy of mine from ND said ND's state motto is "-40º Below Keeps the Rif Raf out."

'Nuff said for most folks.

It used to, but in the last ten years that has all changed, here in the capitol city, the last two years have changed dramatically as we now have all of the big box stores.

 

[Spiffy1]

There ya go, REDDOG!
Ok, it's a terrible place to live. Nothin' here but jackrabbits packing lunches, blizzards, and nasty Germans with sharp knives and loaded guns.
That better??

Perfect! Add that to the 40below quote and we may be set for a while yet!

 

[Spiffy1]

It used to, but in the last ten years that has all changed, here in the capitol city, the last two years have changed dramatically as we now have all of the big box stores.

Not sure I can capture any series of years, but SF has definitely picked up more of those, McMansions, and condo developments, than my tastes would like.

 

[Spiffy1]

I only know of only one good thing coming out on North Dakota and that is I-94 to Montana.

Just trying to help you guys to keep it the way it should be.............

Calling all RiffRaff.....I-94 leads to the good life; I-29 just gives more of a different terrible place to to live.....

edit: just noticed the sub-forum, hope I'm not out of line....then again except pointing them West instead of South, I am serious!

 

[California]

I sure wish somebody had turned off the spigot here. California had a population of 8 million when I was a little kid. Now it's 38 million.

And every single one of the people who came here were dissatisfied with the place they left. Makes for an interesting bunch. If California seems loony at times, its because all the loonies that didn't fit elsewhere thought they could do better here.

I think you guys who have a little elbow room owe us a big thanks.