May 30, 2019 Thursday -Saturday Day 12
My son is working the swing shift so he did not have to leave for work at the AF base until about 2:45. We went out for lunch at Chipolte. I could not eat an entire serving when I used to be able to gobble it all up.There were many service members there. We then drove around Bellveue and down to the swollen Missouri River. The fields and parks on both sides of the river were flooded and showed no prospect of drying out soon. If this is representative there will be many Midwest farmers who will not be able to plant on time and probably will suffer serious financial harm.
About 2:45 pm we set out for Des Monies, along I-80 about a 2 hour trip. After we passed Council Bluffs, IA. on the east side of the river the land began to flatten out and was more agricultural. Very few trees, but lots of very large windmills. Before reaching Des Monies our only stop was for gasoline. We arrived in Des Monies about 4:45 and without any problem found our Airbnb, Forestdale Guest House, on the west side of town. I picked this place in part due to its proximity to the memorial services we would be attending tomorrow. It is a guest house attached to the rear of the main house with a large screened porch. It is in a very nice wooded residential neighborhood. Our host left an extension cord that I immediately used to begin to recharge the car's battery.
After changing we drove out to Newton, former home of Maytag, for a barbecue. It was about a 45 minute drive east, so Newton is really not a bedroom suburb. The barbecue was at the home of our friend's brother, whose mother recently died. Nice residential neighborhood with well maintained medium to larger sized homes and well tended yards. The part of Newton which we drove through did not seem to be economically depressed.
Maytag was founded in Newton and had not only its corporate offices there, but also its primary production facility which had 3000 manufacturing jobs. In speaking with people at the barbecue, they felt that the last CEO of Maytag was brought in by the family owners to sell the business. He did that and it was sold to Whirlpool, which promised to retain the Maytag operations in Newton. That promise was not kept and when the entire operation was moved and all the Maytag facilities closed, these people felt that it had a devastating impact on the town. Some people left, others got retrained for mostly non-existent jobs, many went on welfare. The consensus of these people was that Newton had not fully recovered. I wonder if this is Trump country?
We met a retired couple (they did not look that old) at the barbecue who lived in Florida during the cold months and traveled around the west in an RV the rest of the year. They park the RV in various western cities when not using it, it is currently in Portland, and are convinced that is the best way to travel.
We drove back in the fading light of late evening, the daylight is getting much longer, and got back to our residence about 10:30.
My son is working the swing shift so he did not have to leave for work at the AF base until about 2:45. We went out for lunch at Chipolte. I could not eat an entire serving when I used to be able to gobble it all up.There were many service members there. We then drove around Bellveue and down to the swollen Missouri River. The fields and parks on both sides of the river were flooded and showed no prospect of drying out soon. If this is representative there will be many Midwest farmers who will not be able to plant on time and probably will suffer serious financial harm.
 |
Flooded Missouri River
|
About 2:45 pm we set out for Des Monies, along I-80 about a 2 hour trip. After we passed Council Bluffs, IA. on the east side of the river the land began to flatten out and was more agricultural. Very few trees, but lots of very large windmills. Before reaching Des Monies our only stop was for gasoline. We arrived in Des Monies about 4:45 and without any problem found our Airbnb, Forestdale Guest House, on the west side of town. I picked this place in part due to its proximity to the memorial services we would be attending tomorrow. It is a guest house attached to the rear of the main house with a large screened porch. It is in a very nice wooded residential neighborhood. Our host left an extension cord that I immediately used to begin to recharge the car's battery.
 |
| Des Monies Airbnb |
After changing we drove out to Newton, former home of Maytag, for a barbecue. It was about a 45 minute drive east, so Newton is really not a bedroom suburb. The barbecue was at the home of our friend's brother, whose mother recently died. Nice residential neighborhood with well maintained medium to larger sized homes and well tended yards. The part of Newton which we drove through did not seem to be economically depressed.
Maytag was founded in Newton and had not only its corporate offices there, but also its primary production facility which had 3000 manufacturing jobs. In speaking with people at the barbecue, they felt that the last CEO of Maytag was brought in by the family owners to sell the business. He did that and it was sold to Whirlpool, which promised to retain the Maytag operations in Newton. That promise was not kept and when the entire operation was moved and all the Maytag facilities closed, these people felt that it had a devastating impact on the town. Some people left, others got retrained for mostly non-existent jobs, many went on welfare. The consensus of these people was that Newton had not fully recovered. I wonder if this is Trump country?
We met a retired couple (they did not look that old) at the barbecue who lived in Florida during the cold months and traveled around the west in an RV the rest of the year. They park the RV in various western cities when not using it, it is currently in Portland, and are convinced that is the best way to travel.
We drove back in the fading light of late evening, the daylight is getting much longer, and got back to our residence about 10:30.
Hannah often split entrees when we aren't that hungry! The restaurant will always be happy to serve more if you want ;)
ReplyDelete