A week in the Mid-West

I realized that I spent an inordinate amount of my time on this blog speaking of the places in visit in Japan. I visit more places in the US than I do in Japan, yet I never write about them. I’ll try to start incorporating more tidbits from domestic places that I visit. (Quite honestly, I find most of my travel in the US to be mind numbing, so I don't have that much to write about!)

This week I was visiting Missouri. I had some work to take care of near St. Louis and a bit of work in Rolla.

St. Louis: St. Louis is a strange town to me. I’ve driven through areas that look like they were firebombed. I’ve driven through areas that look quite quaint. Overall, I think the city is suffering a serious decline in the general population over the past several decades. This leaves the city with too many houses and not enough residents to fill them. Enter decline. I missed my exit on the freeway while talking with a colleague and ended up near the arch one afternoon.


Rolla: The folks are friendly, but I wouldn’t want to live there. It’s just a little too small town for me. It’s a college town with a plethora of fast food joints. While driving to Rolla I had to chuckle a little bit. It seems like the mid-west can be all about the extremes.


Jesus or Porn! I had high hopes to find a single billboard with two signs, one for Jesus and the other for porn, but I haven’t found it yet. I’ll keep looking.

Since I spend a lot (LOT) of my time traveling on the West Coast, it’s always a bit odd to run into these kids of billboards in the middle of the US.



I suppose I could count the billboards to see which side has a higher tally!