Tag Archives: infrastructure

The Road to Diamond, Day 161: The Long Repair Job

0
Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

May 8, 2025, Williamsport, PA- From the time I got onto I-80, in Mishawaka to the time I left the road, at the junction with U.S. 15, fifteen miles south of this headquarters city for Little League Baseball, there was virtually nonstop road construction. It resulted in closed lanes, almost every 15-20 miles or so, for a length of 2-3 miles for each segment.

I am told this is one of the major projects that is being funded by Build Back Better, the program that some say is a “left-wing, Green New Deal” boondoggle. Note that this work is focused on shoring up the concrete median, between eastbound and westbound lanes of the Interstate Highway, and fixing guardrails. While it was initiated by Progressives, a better roadway system is in the best interests of anyone who drives, both commercial and recreational. Stopping the work now, or even soon, would not save much, if anything, and would leave remaining fixes undone. While it is inconvenient for those of us driving now, it is best to get the work done before schools let out and families hit the road.

Most of the day was highway-bound. I came upon Ridgeway Inn, just south of downtown Williamsport, around 8 :30 pm. This lovely little motel is managed remotely, but apparently by someone who is close enough that major issues could be addressed readily. Williamsport itself is a clean and, in places, somewhat upscale community, with a strong tourist base that derives from its association with Little League Baseball. Several years ago, one of my nephews was on Saugus, MA’s Little League championship team, which faced against a team from Japan, in the Little League World Series. The Japanese boys won, but Saugus has named a public athletic field as World Series Field. It’s right across a lea from my boyhood home.

For this, and the general ambiance of the city, Willliamsport is another Pennsylvania city that has a place in my heart-along with Bedford, Wilkes-Barre, Exton, Oley and Clarion, to say nothing of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and York.

Journey 3 Gets Moving

2
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving, Travel

August 31, 2023, Cortez- The Super Blue Moon is playing peek-a-boo, thanks to the intermittent cloud cover in the eastern sky. I am here in Colorado’s anchor to the Four Corners region, having just enjoyed a dinner in my favourite restaurant in town: Farm Bistro.

Setting out from Home Base, after running someone to a doctor’s appointment, I encountered no obstacles or diversions, on what is now a familiar route. The greatest part of the journey goes through the Navajo Nation. Like many areas of the country, Dinetah is gradually seeing an uplift in its infrastructure, while other segments of that framework remain challenging. Communities that were once food deserts, like Dennehotso, Shonto and Teec Nos Pos (“teese naws poss”) are seeing a resurgence in dry farming techniques and have clean, modern convenience markets. The highways are in fairly good shape, but highways need constant repair and attention, anywhere in the world. Running water, electricity and wireless fidelity have a ways to go, before becoming universal. I am always at home, in either the Navajo Nation or Ute Mountain Tribe, and always show respect for the privacy and dignity of the people, as should be done anywhere.

Cortez, is as ever, a welcoming, full-service community. Farm Bistro, where I have dined several times, has a bustling and friendly staff-working extra hard to serve the unexpectedly early Labor Day crowd. Looks like a four-day weekend is afoot.

NEXT: Across southern Colorado and up to C-Springs

Pressure, Real and Imagined

8
Posted by on in collaborating, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 25, 2021- As I hau

As I hauled my laundry basket to the car, this afternoon, I spoke a few minutes with landlord, learning that there are a variety of infrastructure issues piling up, on and around the quad. This will most likely mean a rent increase, next year. I will face that issue, at that time. For now, there is no pressure on us tenants, but he will be pressed to come up with a game plan.

Whilst engaged in said laundry, I received another IM from someone whose basic message is that he needs help raising money. There was a time when I felt a welling up of pressure, with a measure of guilt at my relative level of comfort. I have since become more at ease with the situation, and my mantra is that people in a given country/community need to band together and make change happen-rather than keep the refrain that people in developed countries had better kick into the kitty , or at least make a loan to the poor souls. (Personal loans, even in this country, rarely are paid back, even in part. I have paid mine, but that’s a whole other matter.)

There is also pressure, both real and imagined, regarding one’s use of time. I have discussed the matter of proliferating Zoom calls, in an earlier post. Usually, there are at least two Zoom sessions, both of which are ABSOLUTELY URGENT, occurring simultaneously. I have learned to excuse myself, with a smile, from the less urgent of the two-or however many are scheduled at the same time.

It is a blessing to finally know how to distinguish true urgency from the urgency that exists only in the mind of the hearer.