Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sunday Reading - A Trip North





I had to take a drive North yesterday through what I call big Ag country. Most of the Southern half of Missouri is made up of small fields and woods (Not counting cotton land in the Bootheel) but just North of the River things begin to flatten out and the first thing you notice are the fields begin getting much larger. As you travel even further North you may want to stop gawking at the fields and pay attention to all the horse drawn carriages you begin passing.

It's been several years since I was up in that part of the world and to be honest things seemed pretty much the way I remembered them. Traffic was much lighter than I thought it would be but most of the trip was spent driving through a rain storm so heavy they were announcing road closures and a couple of mini-flash floods over the bridges. Trees were down all over the place.

I did notice that the Amish carriages were now equipped with four lights on the back. Last time I had to deal with em on the road in Missouri and Iowa they only had one light and a reflective triangle. They have also widened the shoulders on the roads considerably which made the entire thing much less dangerous than the last time I was up that way.

I say Amish but in truth I have no clue what they are. I know there are different sects but have never been particularly clear on which can use motor vehicles and which can't. Down in my neck of the woods they are all motor vehicle users so we don't have to dodge horse carriages on the road just large vans full of bonnets and big hats.

Really I thought I was going to see some clues into how the decline was effecting a new part of the country but in that regard the entire trip was a complete waste. I honestly saw nothing that would make me think the area went through either massive new growth or is suffering a decline. It really just looked the same as I remember it.

Sure a few of the roads were larger and wider. I saw some new homes, a few new gas stations and motels. Here and there an old business was closed but by and large no real change. I am sure there are reasons for this if I had the time and contacts to dig it up but all I had this trip were my eyes and memory.

Perhaps knowing there are spots in the country that are relatively immune to the boom and bust cycle is reassuring in and of itself. My guess is that short of nuclear war things would go on pretty much the same as always up there even if the rest of the country turned into a Mad Max zone. I guess the carriage drivers wouldn't notice even an EMP scenario very quickly either.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!


10 comments:

  1. Interesting observations, there. Hmm.

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    1. RP - Of course it was raining and I was driving in it so that kinda puts a limit on the observations I can make.

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  2. PP,

    The Amish are very good about being self reliant and frugal. I don't think we would see issues in decline with them.

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    1. Sandy - Well I guess they are. I will say some of their ways seem a bit hypocritical to me though. For instance one Amish family has several old fashioned type stores in one little town just across the Iowa border. All fine and good but they sure use the roads and accommodate vehicles for their business while denouncing them for their own use and refusing to pay taxes on the roads. Another good example being their use of those roads required the State of Missouri to shell out a large sum to increase the shoulders for horse traffic yet again they buy no fuel so pay no road use taxes. That type of thing.

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  3. Now you know where to get rid of all those horses!
    On the other hand you might want to get a buggy for you and the Mrs. PP.

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    1. Sf - I don't think they would be interested in any of these old nags either. From what little I do know of them the Amish/Mennonites have even less tolerance for something that doesn't pull it's own weight than I do.

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  4. Lord Humongous would make short work of the Amish, Mennonites and other sects of that nature, I'm afraid. God's record on protecting his anointed in times of turmoil is pretty sketchy.

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    1. Harry - Well since the end of the old Testament times I would say you kinda have a point at least directly. Somehow Christianity did seem to come out on top though didn't it? At least when it counted.

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  5. In this economy, perhaps the fact that things were the same is a statement of sorts. Some rural areas have suffered massive declines - the fact that things seemed to have much might mean that things have improved slightly or that with a "lower" standard of living there is not as much impact.

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    1. TB - Well I think the lack of real growth is because the Amish rarely sell off land outside their community therefore it resisted overall growth as the non-Amish mixed in were not sufficient to warrant it. Yes they have lower living standards in some ways but greater real wealth in land value I think. They resist many things while not excelling at others either I guess.

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