I picked this book because of a
few reasons –
·
Have never read a travelogue. (Got to know about
certain legendary one’s courtesy this – Mark Twain’s, John Steinbeck’s and Lewis & Clark)
·
I am interested to visit all the 50
states, and learn and experience how USA is like. I thought while that may take sometime I might as
well read about a few small towns and places (not just the touristy ones)
·
Tom Hanks endorsement
I have to admit this book was
enjoyable. I liked the concept of husband-wife travelling across the US in a
small single-engine propeller airplane (Cirrus SR 22). They had chronicled
their journey spread across 3 years in The Atlantic posting regular updates and
have compiled it all in this book. I also enjoyed the tidbits of flying/aviation
interspersed throughout the book. Deb Fallows talks about how it is like to be a
passenger in the cockpit and I like it.
Their travel is a 100,000-mile journey
as the subtitle suggests but I do wish that the authors had visited more states
– they visit only 29 towns in 19 states.
However, all these towns except
for Columbus, Ohio are not heavily populated or can be called big cities – but they
all have a common theme of resurrecting the fortunes of a town battered by 2008
crisis, technological disruption and bad perception. I noticed that there is a
certain pattern how cities revive themselves –
·
Change the outlook of visitors by revamping the
downtown
·
Create new scenic public places often by a
waterfront or a river
·
Setup atleast few well-functioning innovative schools
·
Use the nearby research university/college to
entice startups
· Do not let the vicious national politics disrupt
collaboration at the local level
Although the authors add one more
intriguing parameter – the more craft breweries a town has, the more ambitious
a city is. It is the most reliable sign of civic energy as per them.
If you were to ask me which towns
I am tempted to visit after reading about them in this book – I would say Greenville,
South Carolina and Burlington, Vermont.
If you do not have time to read
the whole book - here are my brief impressions/remarkable things I found about
each of the town listed in the book. Some towns were very interesting while for
some I struggled to note even a single thing.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
è Morrell
Company – acquired by Chinese firm
è Balloon-tech
industry
è Large
immigrant population
è Has
the only large mall which people visit from nearby towns
Rapid City, South Dakota
è Pathways
Spiritual Sanctuary – a meditation place started by a local
Holland, Michigan
è Sidewalks
and streets have the snowmelt system inbuilt thus making it walkable in the winters
too.
è A
(Padnos family) recycling company backbone of the local economy
Burlington, Vermont
è Whitest
state (95%) – authors spent some time talking about it
è Large
immigrant population
è Good
school
è Bernie
Sanders’ involvement – “what is good
about the city should be enjoyed by all”
Eastport, Maine
è Very
low cost of living, poor population
è $100,000
buys you a 3 bedroom – 2 storyhouse
è Lots
of sea-food
è Fish
pens for farming fish! They grow salmon.
è Got
to know of Equal Rights Amendment - a proposed amendment to the United States
Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens
regardless of gender. It is still a proposal and yet to be enacted.
Greenville, South Carolina
è Most
walkable downtown. Model for urban planners
è Good
School focusing on STEAM i.e STEM + Arts
è Michelin,
BMW plants
è Bridge
for pedestrians overlooking the waterfront
St. Mary’s, Georgia
è Noticeable
Dialect difference – Y’all v/s You guys.
è Gilman
Paper company
è U.S
Navy Base drives economic activity
Columbus, Mississippi
è Well
below national per capita income
è Good
school
è Golden
Triangle Region – Columbus, Starkville, West Point
è Indian
origin person helped
è TVA
megasite
è Yokohama
plant
Caddo Lake, Texas
è Beautiful
lake threatened by invasive plant species
è Singer
helped restore it via his fame
è Caddo
Lake Research Institute
Columbus, Ohio
è 15th
largest city
è Financial
district – with lots of financial companies located
è “Collaboration”
is a buzz word in the local development
è Good
school -industry collaboration
è Iconic
public library saved by the public – passing of a tax bill
è Waypoint
for Jerrie Mock – Jeanna Smith race (race between two female pilots to become the
first to circumnavigate the world.) Waypoint means an intersection in the sky
Louisville, Kentucky
è Business
model of “smaller scale – higher value – closer to customer – advanced manufacturing”
è GE’s
incubator thrived here (led by Indian origin guy who later joined Starbucks)
Allentown, Pennsylvania
è Acquired
a negative image through Billy Joel’s 1982 song “Allentown”
Well we’re living
here in Allentown…
And they’re
closing all the factories down.
è Mayor
revived the town but was caught in a corruption scandal. Convicted in 2018
è Local
newspaper The Morning Call pursued it. Shining example of local journalism
è Example
of public subsidy for private investment (NIZ – Neighborhood Improvement Zone)
è Huge
Minor League baseball stadium
è Amazon’s
distribution center
è Parkette
Gymnastics – where USA’s Olympic gymnasts train
Duluth, Minnesota
è Part
of the Rust Belt (realized US is divided into different types of belts – Rust Belt,
Corn Belt, Bible Belt, Sun Belt, Frost Belt, Snow Belt)
è Klapmeiers
Brothers - aircraft industry
è Infamous
1920 lynching incident took place here
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
è City
of Asylum – home to lots of people who sought asylum
Charleston, West Virginia
è Hillbilly
Guymon, Oklahoma
è Dustbowl
region
Ajo, Arizona
è Organ
Pipe Cactus National Monument
è Mining
town
è Home
of now defunct Gilpin Airlines
è Isabella
Greenway – a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt – was the most notable person
è She
also started the Arizona Inn
San Bernardino, California
è Probably
the only town that generates least optimism reading about it.
è Odd
civic structure (Section 186) through which salaries are set by a formula which
puts burden on the budget (70%) and elected officials cannot cut it down. In a
town with median income of $35k – salaries in ~$62k being paid to responders who
don’t even live in the town
è Local
economy was built around Norton Air Base which closed in 1994
Riverside, California
è Home
of California navel oranges
Redlands, California
è Esri
– a big Geographic Information Systems (GIS) company HQ
è Probably
visited this cause it’s the hometown of one of the authors
Fresno, California
è California
High Speed rail construction starting here. Future tied with that project
è Came
across as slightly better than San Bernardino (not a compliment!)
Winters, California
è Strategically
located – hour to the south of wine country and 90mins west from San Fran
è Almonds
è Likeable town
Bend, Oregon
è Abundant
natural beauty - Deschutes National Forest
è Local
Timber and logger industry suffered from environmental regulations changes from
the Clinton era
è Challenge
of not having any research university nearby
Redmond and Prineville, Oregon
è Suffering
from collapse of Big Timber industry
è Redmond
is home to an aircraft company which builds light personal jet
è Prineville:
Facebook and Apple have datacenters here because of low cost of electricity and
property tax exemptions
è FB
atleast donates to local community, arranges tours but Apple works behind a
wall of secrecy
Chester, Montana
è Again
surrounded by forests and natural beauty
American Prairie Reserve, Montana
è Buying
land from private owners and taking it out of ranching is the strategy
è Migration
paths of animals re-enabled to support diverse population of species, large and
small
è Some
locals perceive it as a “federal land grab”
Dodge City, Kansas
è Beef
town
è Large
diverse immigration population even though it is in one of the Reddest states.
Garden City and Spearville,
Kansas
è Lots
of Wind turbines as wind produced electricity doubled in the last 5 years
Erie, Pennsylvania
è Lake
Erie
è Sizable
portion of immigration population
è Presque
Isle Bay
