This is a Great County!

[radioguy]

God Bless the USA!
RadioGal and I have been on an extended winter trip in the travel trailer. We left Florida in mid-March. We headed west to visit her high school friend in St. Johns Arizona. We spent a few weeks in the high desert, then north to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Today we are in Kansas City Missouri. Going for dinner at Joes BBQ tonight. We have seen some amazing sites on this trip. One thing I did not realize is the immense beef farming along US RT50 (New Mexico, Kansas) High plains grasslands, beef cattle all along, not big herds but miles upon miles of grasslands. On the plains of Kansas we saw immense cattle feedlots full of thousands of head of beef. Railway sidings, along grain elevators, fertilizer plants every 10-20 miles. We stayed at Dodge City, all these little burgs are all about beef farming. Tractors, implements, huge pivot irrigation systems. Fields of corn, grain, grass, and grazing cattle. Not a milk cow in sight.

Please take a bit of time and reflect on how great our country is. Beef and fuel prices are high but its a small price to pay for what we have. We are headed into Kansas City for BBQ, then onto St. Louis for more BBQ. Heading east to Ohio.

RG


The Canyon is Grand!!

A few pictures of Dodge City feedlot. These are zoomed in. Huge thousands of head, getting growed out. Processing plant is across the street!!

 

[chilerelleno]

I spent 10 years as a long haul trucker and visited all 48 contiguous states.
All of them are beautiful and have awesome examples of nature and our country's vitality in resources and business.

I often took pains to play the incidental tourist, and thus have enjoyed many of the sights to be seen.
One of the most memorable is Mt. Rushmore, nothing other than standing on the observation deck does it justice, no pics or video can impart it.

I've also skydived in 42 of the 50 states, wish I'd done all 50.

Get out there and see what you can see, it is a great country.

I too have acquaintances in St. John's AZ, the Fish family.
What a nice small town and people.

 

[radioguy]

Thanks for the reply Chile. We both have crossed a bunch of states off our lists. Mt Rushmore and the Badlands are on our list. That part of the country is sort of closed to us camper folks. May 1st is opening day for a lot of state and national parks.

RG

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Wow what a great time and yes even with some hard times this is still a great county.

 

[JLinza]

Great indeed

 

[chef k-dude]

I will likely never have the money to retire and just travel the country to see it all. That was my dad. He and mom (she's gone now) got to do that.

It's sad that people think these are hard times. I dont think those folks have ever really seen real hard times. I dont have the money to travel about like some do, but still realize we are nowhere near hard times today.

We snivel about the cost of stuff, but there were times in this country when "stuff" was hard to come by at all for regular people. Our kids struggle to afford stuff, but my life was no different. I moved out of my parents place at 18 to live with my future wife. We made $6.50 an hour, had a hand-me-down couch propped up on a block because a leg was missing...cardboard boxes for end tables in a crappy apartment with no AC. But it was all I needed, a place of my own, a job and a girl. Expectations are much different these days.

The U.S.A. is an amazing place. Both in various culture (including ancient culture long before anglos stepped ashore) as well as the land. Today we are but a blip in time.

 

[Colin1230]

How blessed we are for sure!
I grew up 90 miles west of Dodge City, near the Colorado line. What a wonderful place to grow up and raise kids. It can be a tough life but you don't have any of the urban issues that young people have to deal with. Everybody knows everybody and genuinely care about each other. And yes, if you are wondering, there is a naked woman behind every tree.

 

[mneeley490]

I will likely never have the money to retire and just travel the country to see it all. That was my dad. He and mom (she's gone now) got to do that.

It's sad that people think these are hard times. I dont think those folks have ever really seen real hard times. I dont have the money to travel about like some do, but still realize we are nowhere near hard times today.

We snivel about the cost of stuff, but there were times in this country when "stuff" was hard to come by at all for regular people. Our kids struggle to afford stuff, but my life was no different. I moved out of my parents place at 18 to live with my future wife. We made $6.50 an hour, had a hand-me-down couch propped up on a block because a leg was missing...cardboard boxes for end tables in a crappy apartment with no AC. But it was all I needed, a place of my own, a job and a girl. Expectations are much different these days.

The U.S.A. is an amazing place. Both in various culture (including ancient culture long before anglos stepped ashore) as well as the land. Today we are but a blip in time.

Mirrors myself, especially moving out at 18 with my girlfriend to a crappy apartment. I had a small habachi-type grill then, and cooked on the concrete stairs outside our door. One time I had the bright idea to raise it up a little by sliding a couple phone books underneath. That was a bad idea. Still, we seemed happier then.

 

[ajbert]

I have but three states to visit as I have been back and forth across the country numerous times, though not in an RV. The three I am missing are N. Dakota, Minnesota and Michigan. I'll take that trip one of these days. And this IS a great country. Those whoclaim otherwise have no idea what how bad so many other countries are.