Driving America's Blue Highways & Can't Fix Stupid!

Just completed a 2000 mile trip by car to Detroit (Birmingham, Mi.) and return.

Always love seeing America by taking the backroads. From Chattanooga proceeded up 27to Lexington, Ky. Along the way saw signs of recesssion. Empty factories, shuttered stores and plenty of 'for sale' signs. Also a profusion of Mexican restuarants even in the smallest towns.

In Lexington, to visit daughter of dear friends who just had her first child - a boy. While there drove around Univ. of Ky. Kids just returning, fraternity rush week. School is massive and plenty of new buildings. Students looked pretty sane, unlike those we saw later at Univ. of Michigan who were a bit more far out in their dress. Lexington a thriving town with a mixed down downtown of old and new structures.

If you have never seen horse farms, Lexngton is the place to go because it abounds with some of the most beautiful farms, homes, white fenced areas in the nation. Ocala Florida's horse farms, though nice, do not compare and not anywhere as vast.

From there continued on 27 to Cincinnati. Great fading city. Magnificent Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Well kept, excellent care of animals and plenty of moms wheeling their children etc. A must see. Also drove around urban campus of Univ. of Cinn. Plenty of buildings devoted to health care and bio-medics.

Cincinnati's art museum is also wonderful and houses a fine collection. Saw Grant Wood's "Daughters of The Revolution." Fine display of art in a beautiful setting.
Below the museum is a town which FDR's WPA helped create. Unique row houses, beautifully maintained in a parklike setting.

Cincinnati itself is a mixture of past greatness and current decay. Very sad.

From there we continued on 68 through some of the most beautiful corn fields and farm area. Late in the season but corn stalks about 7 feet high and plenty of fields devoted to soy beans. Produce for sale along the way and we stopped in Toledo for dinner. Restaurant in a magnificent upscale mall and had a delicious Italian meal served by a kid from our own neck of the woods who moved there with his family. His father had just sold his business to ConAgra and he and his girl friend were off to Chicago - he to go for MBA at N'Western. Sam, our waiter, said he wanted to learn more about managing and had paid his way through Univ. of Toledo undergraduate working at the restaurant. With kids like Sam still hope for our nation.

Missed the turn to 275 so went into Detroit instead of going to Birmingham, Mi. We knew we were lost so we turned into a filling station and saw a man standing outside. Asked for directions which he gave us and in a very friendly and polite manner and then he panhandled us. Sad.

While in Michigan we did four main things:

Went to Ann Arbor to see Univ of Mi.'s new Art Museum addition - The Frankel Wing, named after a charitable family who made a fortune in local real estate and home construction. Magnificent addition and a fabulous display of just a sampling of their vast collection - African masks and artifacts were magnificent as was their wonderful collection of paintings and drawings from Picasso to Gottlieb, Frankenthaler, Benton, Albers, Kline etc. and sculpture by Giacometti, Arp, Moore etc. What was even more exciting was the way they artfully and cleverly displayed these various objects.

Ann Arbor is thriving as a bedroom community and college town. Home prices have remained fairly stable as well as their economy. Univ of Mi. is open to kids from all over unlike many state schools which cater to locals. Big Muslim student population.

On the way back we toured the JCC. Our daugher works at the Frankel School and gave us a tour with a co-worker. The headmaster had spoken for me here several weeks prior. The JCC Campus is beyond description and houses the school, the health and athletic facilities, various housing for the aged, additional structures for plays, meetings etc. The Jewish community has shrunk from 100M to about 80M and some of the wealthier families have suffered from the economy and the debacle in the auto industry but here again the Frankel Family's munificence is everywhere to be seen. - $20 million alone to start the school where our daughter works and what a fabulous school it is. The faciities are first class, the teachers dedicated and the student population is so very fortunate. Our granddaughter went there.

We also visited the new addition to the Detroit Museum and 'wow' what an addition it is. Absolutely first class and houses one of the nation's great art and artifact collections. No longer run by the city but a private entity and the donors have been magnificent. The Fords, Fishers, Manoogians and other wealthy families opened their hearts and checkbooks.

Detroit is a contrast - parts of downtown have been refurbished including the opera house, library, symphony hall and a host of new apartments and condos that seem to be thriving. An artsy community is making a go of the area which probably includes some 10 square blocks. After that, forget it. The rest of the city is comprised of vast areas that remind you a third world country interspersed with magnificent yesteryear homes that are in shambles and a few areas that remain elegant - but for how long?.

The third day we spent touring Birmingham. Mi's. main shopping area and what a beautiful community of magnificent homes, elegant shops, parks and varied home styles - Victorian makeovers, contemporary wood and glass and beautifully maintained residential areas surrounding lakes etc. Birmigham, Mi. is an oasis and the town fathers now insist any new commercial structure must devote the top two floors to residential to bring people back into town.

Detroit is symbolic of our nation - a town with a powerful past, dry rot and wealth that has not given up but seems to be fighting a losing battle. Detroit's city administration has been both corrupt and incompetent, unions have controlled everything and it is actually on the cusp of declaring bankruptcy.

On the way back we drove back through Toledo which has a magnificent art museum and art school. The town istelf is a mixture of outstanding churches surrounded by decline. Toldeo has the benefit of being a major port town so that keeps it afloat -no joke intended.

Outside of Toledo on 23, more wonderful farm areas and then Columbus. Being the state's capitol and with another large universitry sited there, Columbus stands in sharp/stark contrast to Detroit.

If a city has education and health as part of its economic base there is hope even though it may have lost some of its manufacturing plants. Michigan is an example of everything that has gone wrong when government and Capitalism fail.

From Huntington, West Va. to Kingsport, Tenn. 23, is named 'The Country Music H'way' and you pass through some of the most magnificent scenery. Mountains on the left, rivers, great roads, interesting cities, Johnson - Story telling Capital of The Nation and plenty of history harking back to some of the earliest settlements, Daniel Boone country etc.

That evening we stayed in a Marriott Conference Center complex with an adjoining golf course.

The next morning we continued on 23, which also had also become 26, into Ashville. We lunched with friends at Biltmore Village and walked around the shopping area and visited the new Bohemian Hotel - the 11th in the chain. Biltmore Village architecure is in the style of Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate. Shops are elegant, tourism is the mainstay and Ashville, itself, is a thriving art and cultural center.

We lucked up and found a place offering massages for $29/hour and got some of the driving kinks rubbed out.

In no particular hurry we decided to go through the mountain resort area of Flat Rock, Brevard, Sapphire Valley, Lake Toxaway, The Highlands, Dillard etc. The weather turned cool, the curving/winding road was enshrouded with low lying clouds and it was very misty. We have been through this area many times before but it was interesting doing so at this time of the day (late afternoon and dusk) and observing the economic impact which was quite evident.

This tip of N Carolina and Ga. is studded with gated communities, golf courses, lakes and unique inn type restaurants. It is a second home escape for residents of Florida who want to avoid the summer heat and Atlantans who want a second mountain get away among others. Some of the most beautiful southern mountain residential areas you will ever see.

Brevard Music Center, was closed but it provides summer classes and concerts for gifted musical talent from the surrounding area.

We had dinner in a very good restaurant in Gainesville and then motored back to Atlanta. Gainesville is the chicken capital of Georgia but also benefits from Lake Lanier, which has now recovered from the long drought.

Throughout our 2000 mile drive we saw a profusion of 'ARA' signs, signifying that the particular project was attributable to "The American Recovery Act" the Obama equivalent of FDR's 'WPA.'

Most of the signs were there but not much activity had begun. Most related to fixing pavement, etc. Outside Chillocothe, Ohio, I believe, there was extensive equipment doing some road work and about 8 people were employed. In the past when state highway departments were doing roadwork they had signs indicating that the particular project was costing taxpayers X millions of dollars. The premise being it made you feel good that your tax dollars were going for improvements.

I suspect the 'ARA' signage was probably a pay off to some campaign contributor(s) and eventually these 'ready' projects will put some people to work but what I found interesting was the absence of anything describing the cost of the project.

Like all good government concepts and work projects no doubt millions have been spent on the signs so look for them because I am sure they will begin to dot the landscape.

My love affair with America continues but my concerns remain real. A trip through the backroads and away from the expressways and urban areas always facinates me because it affords me the opportunity to explore what I still consider to be the area where America's 'real heart' beats.

A few side comments.

I do virtually all the driving because my wife brings newspapers and magazines that are years out of date and catches up on calling everyone she has not spoken with for two days. So she reads and chats and I drive. I always tell her our Blue Highway Trips are like driving a hearse but that is just a sick joke. These wanderings over our landscape also affords me a chance to let my own cynical mind wander, to reflect and free associate. I usually come up with all kind of bizarre thoughts such as:

1) The Town Hall Meetings have caused great angst and debate. They caught liberals and Obama with their pants down.

Whether or not Obamascare actually encompasses life threatening edicts for the aging it caused me to speculate that perhaps we should also 'change' our sentencing terms for heinous crimes like murder. In other words, if there truly is a health premium attributed to the young then sentencing for murder might be the highest say between 1 - 20. Then sentencing starts declining until the government actually pays a bounty to those who kill citizens who are past 80.

That way we could cut down on the medical cost of treatment and have more to spend on the more productive element of society , ie the young.

1-20, Life

21-40, 30 years

41-60, 20 years

61 -80, 10 years

80 and above, government provides the murderer with a contribution to a 401K which reverts back to the government when the murderer turns 80 or is murdered.

Murdering the wealthy might present a special problem because that would abort the opportunity to transfer more of their wealth. Probably by the time the wealthy reach old age the government will have confiscated most of what they had in any event.

I haven't quite figured out what the 'change' policy should be about illegal immigrants. If they become the murdered perhaps we could give them a state funeral in a dedicate section of Arlington Cemetery and if they are the murderer then we might make them legal citizens, give them a stern warning and make them subject to our laws from that time forward. Pretty much like we seem to treat child predators.


2) Why all the flack over Scotland's release of the Lockerbee bomber? Palestinians and assorted Arabs have been killing Israelis and themselves for decades and no one seems as concerned. Maybe we just have it in for men who wear kilts.

3) Obama and Ted Kenndey shared nothing in common but politically speaking were two peas in a pod.

Obama benefitted from his own intellect and cunning, Affirmative Action and speaking attributes. Whereas, had it not been for Kennedy's family power and priveleges Ted's personal life was actually less than laudable.

Both, however, became joined at the hip politically. They shared the view that it was their mission to help the underdog, the downtrodden. To do so, they both sought to expand government believing that America 'The Land of Opportunity' should become 'The Land of Entitlement.' Obama's personal experience as a community organizer and his associations with those who had issues with our nation has given him a somewhat jaundiced view of Capitalism. Kennedy parlayed his efforts on behalf of the 'working stiff' and 'safe seat' into a long Senate career. Neither men ever actually worked in the true sense of holding down a 'real job.'

Kennedy has now passed on and Obama is left to complete their joint mission, ie elevate the bottom at the expense of the top and probably the entire nation.

The concept of providing a rigorous education is probably the best way to elevate the bottom but you can't 'entitle' someone to an education because they have to earn it and that entails work, being dilligent and wanting to improve yourself. As that comedian said: "you can't fix stupid!"

Besides, The Department of Education, unions and the politically correct crowd would not stand idly by if children were made to exert their minds because it might create self-esteem problems for those who cannot cut the mustard. To excel means to exceed and that means rising above someone else - bad for the Karma!

Speaking of education while driving through Yellow Springs, Ohio we took a detour to explore the famous and now boarded liberal arts college of Antioch which sought to engage young college students in a high cost curriculum of various course inanities and eventually had to close after 100 plus years.

4) Back on the subject of health care. When I was growing up dentists were looked down upon in the medical scheme of things and their earning power was far less than physicians etc.

Today dentists are big earners. They charge, you pay and the government does not have much to do with their profession.

But think about this. If you do not have good dental care it can harm your overall physical health and thus, it might only be a matter of time before the government begins to destroy the dental professsion.

Now carry this one step further to veterinarians. At one time they were looked upon, socially, as being below dentists and today most earn more than many physicians.

If the government does not intrude could this mean that before too long animals will continue receiving better care than humans?

5)I have come up with a new and very interesting economic index. It is called the "NO CHANGE INDEX."

Let me explain. I love to find money in the street. During the eight years of GW's term in office I found $12.86, mostly in pennies, some few dimes and even a few dollar bills. Pennies just don't make much noise and we have become so fat that most can't bend over even if we wanted.

During the 9 months of Obama's tenure, I have found only 48 cents. (This latest trip was only a 4 center.) If I extrapolate this into 8 years I will only find only $5.12 or decidedly less than $12.86, during GW's 8 years in office.

This suggests to me one of two things:

All this 'change' Obama is bringing about is causing consumers to hold onto their own change, or consumers don't have as much change as they used to.

However, what is puzzling is that the 'change' Obama is seeking is costing a great deal of money and the Treasury is printing more and more dollar bills so people should actually have more change.

I am going to discuss the implications with some of my economist friends so stay tuned.

Leaving for Orlando in two days to help our fourth daughter and her husband lay down sod and hang pictures. No way to get to Orlando on the Blue Highways so I Might just let my wife drive and I will read and work the phone.

Have a great and safe Labor Day.

Dick