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Sad what's happening to the small towns.


PNWguy
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I went fishing yesterday with my dad and his wife near a little town in the Idaho mountains called Elk River with a year-round population of 125.  Elk River has a reputation of being a rowdy little isolated logging town that has relied on tourists camping and fishing in the summer and snowmobiling in the winter since the timber industry went to **** in the late 80's.

It's only 60 miles from my house, but is a two-hour drive.  I stopped by the general store once in 2009 on a moose hunt, but haven't really visited the area since the 80's.

I wanted to fish on Saturday since it was supposed to be cooler, but my brother, a local Sheriff's Detective, said I didn't want to be in Elk River on the weekends.  He said it attracted all the white trash from the surrounding areas and turned into a giant party involving idiotic behavior on an epic scale.  He said due to it's remoteness and being on the outer edge of two counties, neither sheriff's department wanted to take responsibility for it.  He said there are fights every night with shootings and stabbings every couple of weeks.  Multiple reports of rape, drug overdose, theft, and assault every weekend.

Fine, I'll go on Friday.

Get to the lake and it is beautiful.  Weather is about perfect with it being 88 degrees but enough of a breeze to keep it from getting hot.  We launched our pontoons from a little dock next to one of the many campgrounds in the area.  The campground was nearly empty except for three old, old campers from the 60's evidently restored and painted bright colors with flowers and crap on them.  One creepy guy with a man-bun and three or four ugly hippy chicks and maybe a dozen small kids.  Apparently got his own little mobile cult-thing going on...

The docks have a couple of families with small kids swimming and laughing; all appears normal and wholesome and what you would expect in a rural area.

We fish for about five hours and it is awesome; my dad reported 73 fish on with only 22 reeled in.  He was fly-fishing with barbless hooks and catch and release only.  His wife did about half that, and I was spin casting and drinking beer.  I hooked about a dozen and reeled in four.  But mine were really nice rainbow trout.  

It was a great day fishing...

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Towards the end of our day fishing, the RVs start rolling in.  The families on the docks left and were replaced by scruffy people with lifted diesels, giant coolers, and sleeveless T-shirts.

So we get done fishing and are hungry.  My dad suggests a quaint little log cabin bar with great burgers.  We pull up to the bar and there are three or so UTVs parked out front.  No cars or pickups.  We walk in and there are about 6 patrons.  One woman in her 50's sitting at a table with a man that didn't talk.  She's rambling about something and smoking a cigarette (You can still smoke in bars in Idaho? Yep.)  The rest are all wearing the same outfits; jeans, boots, T-shirt, and a baseball cap with either a truck brand or beer brand on it.  All sitting at the bar watching TV.  Nobody talking.

But what was on TV was what was odd.  Four flat-screen TVs in the bar with the sound cranked.  You'd expect CMT or re-runs of the Dukes of Hazzard, or something similar.  Nope.  They were playing the MTV show Ridiculousness.

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So we had to suffer through painfully annoying videos of stupid people doing stupid things and idiotic commentary by a white rapper, an idiotic blonde girl, and a random black guy.

Just weird.  The people in the bar loved it.

Got done with our meal and said goodbye.  Dad and his wife left and I decided to drive around town and see how it had changed over the years.  

I remember it used to be comprised of mostly modest but well-kept little homes.  Many were A-frame styles and many were log cabins.  Cool little town with a lot of retired loggers.

Today it is sad; nearly every home had trash in the yard with several junk vehicles littered about.  Every house had an ATV or UTV out front.  One house had an 80's Chrysler minivan welded onto a Caterpillar dozer chassis...

I counted three bars and two restaurants.  Every one had a couple of UTVs parked out front.  The one cafe apparently had a problem with sun shining in the large main window so their solution was a bed sheet duct-taped over it.  I kid you not!

I remember when I was a kid, going to the small Idaho mountain towns on weekends was a treat.  There was always some cool little local attraction like a logging equipment display, or giant tree stump, or some other odd thing that I found interesting.  The people all reminded me of my aunts and uncles who were all loggers; outgoing, funny, and hardworking with pride in their homes and vehicles.

Now those towns are filled with poor white trash who have no pride, no work ethic, and live off the state and whatever they can steal from tourists.  Sad.

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40 minutes ago, PNWguy said:

 said I didn't want to be in Elk River on the weekends.  He said it attracted all the white trash from the surrounding areas and turned into a giant party involving idiotic behavior on an epic scale.  He said due to it's remoteness and being on the outer edge of two counties, neither sheriff's department wanted to take responsibility for it.  He said there are fights every night with shootings and stabbings every couple of weeks.  Multiple reports of rape, drug overdose, theft, and assault every weekend.

We need gps coordinates...

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35 minutes ago, PNWguy said:

 

Now those towns are filled with poor white trash who have no pride, no work ethic, and live off the state and whatever they can steal from tourists.  Sad.

Mayberry rfd is dead.   And those that go looking for it are putting themselves in danger.

I'm in the west camping in my RV on BLM land.  I got here early before others arrived.  I was soon surrounded by people in their old vans.  They were drinking and smoking pot and asking for money if they gathered a few people when they played music.  This was their life.  I noticed a few of them had Youtube channels and you could see some recording video.

Please stop bemoaning the loss of the idyllic rural areas.  It now is the stomping ground of those who equate alcohol, drugs and loud music as a life.   

Those preppers who think they will be safe in rural areas when the SHTF will be sorely surprised when they find themselves surrounded by strung out drugies and criminals who want what they have.  And, those are the locals.   

 

 

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In the mid 20th century I lived in a small town of about 400 people.  There were about 5 gas stations with stores attached, 4 churches, 2 train stations with passenger service, 2 bus stations, 1 restaurant, 1 large store and a hotel.  My grandfather was the mayor.  The town was dry (no alcohol).  My grandfather died in 1981 and the family moved away.  The last time I drove through there about 5 years ago, there was one convenience store/gas station, 1 church,  and about a dozen bars.  The town was trashed.  I'd always thought of going back when I retired for good, but not now, no way. 

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Many small towns in Indiana are ghost towns.  Boarded up shop windows, crumbling streets.  But the people for the most part are still good folks.  The kind of people who will hold the door for you when you enter the convenience store-one of the last retail establishments, most owned and run by people obviously not native to the area.  They smoke, buy lottery tickets, are grossly overweight. 

Yes, there are some losers.  But for the most part they are still trying to hang on.  Since the factory closed down. 

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I live in rural Alaska. Lots of people act like it's the Wild West. Transients will camp anywhere in their stolen rv's or travel trailers. Just saw a post yesterday where some friends had to run off some people that thought they could just move in with their beater trailer and make a home on the boat launch next to their house. Got all indignant when told to GTFO. Pretty sure they just found another place that they won't be noticed until the owner spots them.

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pretty lucky here ,  same people have lived here in our hood for lot of years .   got my own paradise  

 

now  at our beach house  some old dude moved in next door   ,  we put up a giant fence because  the dude is a nut ,  , he bitches about everything ,   and  other people hate him too , he is like 80  and just runs his mouth , if i was 80 id stomp his ass

he is the dude no matter what you got  his **** is always better .  local yokel said he has bee married like 7 times.  that baffles me .

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Here in The Heartland, the small towns that once depended on the small farmers and business that supported them are dying.  In the very center of the state lies Des Moines.  And surrounding Des Moines are suburbs or, more commonly, small towns, that have been consumed by the growth of the big city.  

Ankeny, Johnston, and Waukee, all now sharing boundaries with Des Moines have all hit the top 20 in fastest growing cities in the US.  The more rural, secluded parts of the state are being drained at a rate that is astounding.  Small towns are disbanding, school districts are merging to remain viable, and store fronts stare blankly into once busy main streets.

Iowa is a perfect display of social engineering.  What was once a land of small, friendly communities is quickly turning into no mans land as the metro grows exponentially.

Within 10 years, farmers will be conducting harvest, and possibly planting, from the comfort of their living room couch via commands from the iPad on their lap.  Extra help will soon be no longer required, and downtime will be addressed by a team of technicians dispatched from miles away.

20 years ago, lived about 25 miles north of the metro.  Now it's only 15 miles away.  It's just a matter of time......

I've had a good life here, a great place to raise a family.  It's sad to watch it go.

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8 hours ago, jame said:

Here in The Heartland, the small towns that once depended on the small farmers and business that supported them are dying.  In the very center of the state lies Des Moines.  And surrounding Des Moines are suburbs or, more commonly, small towns, that have been consumed by the growth of the big city.  

Ankeny, Johnston, and Waukee, all now sharing boundaries with Des Moines have all hit the top 20 in fastest growing cities in the US.  The more rural, secluded parts of the state are being drained at a rate that is astounding.  Small towns are disbanding, school districts are merging to remain viable, and store fronts stare blankly into once busy main streets.

Iowa is a perfect display of social engineering.  What was once a land of small, friendly communities is quickly turning into no mans land as the metro grows exponentially.

Within 10 years, farmers will be conducting harvest, and possibly planting, from the comfort of their living room couch via commands from the iPad on their lap.  Extra help will soon be no longer required, and downtime will be addressed by a team of technicians dispatched from miles away.

20 years ago, lived about 25 miles north of the metro.  Now it's only 15 miles away.  It's just a matter of time......

I've had a good life here, a great place to raise a family.  It's sad to watch it go.

Indiana is the same way.  Most of the young folks now gravitate to Indianapolis and the surrounding cities.  That's where the jobs are, entertainment etc.  My son, most of my nephews and nieces now all live in the "donut" counties that surround Indianapolis.  I was driving in Indy last week and was astounded by the aggressive driving habits.  This from a guy who traveled all over Indiana-including the Indy metro area-at my job for years.  People seem to be angry and in an incredible hurry to get to the next stop light.  Glad I don't live there. 

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