US 287: A SPOTLIGHT INTO THE DESTRUCTION OF MIDDLE AMERICA

Recently, my daughter began her professional career by taking a tech job in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington. Moving into the extremely expensive suburb of Kirkland, WA, my partner and I decided to drive her from the suburbs an hour north of Houston, TX to Kirkland, a short 2245 miles away to begin her new life. Taking four days of driving with three nights in hotel with stopovers in Amarillo, TX (Yes, we did not get out of Texas in one day), Moab, UT and Boise, ID,  the journey took us through the heart of Texas, into the Southwest and finally into the Rocky Mountains before moving into the Eastern Oregon and Washington deserts and passing through the beautiful forested mountains east of Seattle before we dumped into that city. This blog is not going to be about that journey. For long periods of it, my partner and I have driven through most of these regions previously on past vacations. The only portion that was a new experience was the drive from Albuquerque, NM (After leaving Amarillo) to Moab, UT and the journey up desolate I-84 from Tremonton, UT where it splits off from I-15 to Twin Falls, ID. But, the focus of this blog will be one section of this drive up US-287 from Wichita Falls, TX to Amarillo, TX.

Two of the first towns are Elektra, TX and Vernon, TX. The downtowns are completely decimated. The next city up is Chillicothe, TX. It does have one functioning industry as a pecan store is the centerpiece of the town along with the high school football field. But eliminating that, the downtown area is gone minus one regional bank. 

Next on US 287 is Quanah, TX. A few businesses hanging around but still a downtown environment filled with mostly closed businesses.

Finally, there is Memphis, TX with its brick downtown street and empty businesses.

Some of these small towns are doing slightly better financially than others. Childress, TX still has some character left and a downtown that is at least not empty and depressed. But as we sit in our living rooms arguing over whether this left-wing or right-wing politician should be leading us into the future, these pictures clearly show that no matter which side you choose, the interior of this country has been completely devastated. There are worse places than this. The Central Valley of California has towns that I have watched become completely decimated in my lifetime. The Midwest is loaded with towns like this in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, etc. The Eastern Rust Belt of West Virginia, Ohio, Western New York and Pennsylvania is loaded with these same empty downtowns surrounded by decaying homes with people addicted to drugs or too poor to move away from their dire, jobless circumstances. These are the forgotten people that technology and time have passed by. These photos above are what the last forty years of elite politics has done to this nation. It has sucked us completely dry from the inside while the coasts have so far remained pristine and benefitted from the policies of this US government. But a body does not live if the internal organs are rotted. Eventually, this is going to spread to the other organs in this nation and before we know it, we will be looking at a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. I am not sure if any of these small towns can ever be restored as capital and demand need to return to make them financially viable meaning that there are thousands of small towns like these ones above that will probably become ghost towns and fade into the annals of history. But if the United States ever has a financial crash that puts an end to our over one-hundred-year empire, remember these photos above. The heart of the United States that helped make this country great in the mid-1900s is dying a tragic death and may never recover to what it once was.

Next week: Part 2 of this blog regarding a present-day Hollywood icon.

P.S.

For the photos of the cities listed above, please go to this link.

https://theexpertofsome.substack.com/p/us-287-a-spotlight-into-the-destruction

My website is having issues posting the photos properly. That link will give you some perspective on how bad these small towns are in the United States.
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