It’s strange to drive on I-29 and be the only car, going either direction. Period. It’s like a scene from a movie.
Since parts of it are closed due to the flooding, what few stretches remain open, mainly for the locals, are deserted. I’ve driven this highway from Kansas City to Omaha too many times to count and this is the first time I’ve had it all to myself.
This is going to have long-lasting economic effects on these local communities.
The farmers will most likely get SOME compensation for the lost crops and damaged buildings. But the businesses not destroyed by the flood waters will get no reimbursement for lost revenue.
There also won’t be reimbursement for people who can’t cross the river for work. To get to the other side, which used to take minutes, now takes three hours. You either drive south to St. Joseph or north to Something Something, Nebraska. People are having to rent apartments near their jobs just to keep a job.
What we see in the news and what we see in the eyes of people affected by this reality is very different.
Some will quit. Some will start again. Just like in 2011 when it happened.
But what about the next time?
I'm just a guy who finds the world an interesting place and likes to capture certain moments with a camera. They aren't for sale, or anything. I just like them. Well, usually. I've taken a lot of photos I don't like, as well.
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“Liberté” is how Josef described his life to me, distilling it down to a single word. As he said it a second time, he lifted his hands, palms up, toward the sky and faced the sun, smiling, “Liberté.”
I stopped along the back roads I was taking home in a little ghost of a town named Prescott. I let Biggie stretch her legs while I had a cigar and enjoyed the quiet of the neglected baseball Diamond on the edge of town. As we sat there, I watched a young father giving his toddler a ride on his motorcycle. Around the block he went...then again....
A week ago Tuesday started out simply enough...we woke up early and hit the road north to Marceline, MO to tour the Walsworth Publishing plant, then lunch at Tall Paul's in Bucklin, MO with Meghan Viers Jolliffe, Joe Cupp, and Beverly Cupp. From there, Jonathan and I would wander rural Missouri so he could get a glimpse of life out here.
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