Oh, The Places You'll Go

As you know, I left the crazy, mixed-up, mad-capped world of junior high administration to try my hand at selling stuff to schools. 

As with all outside sales jobs, there's a territory to cover.  My territory is quite large.  I go about an hour and a half south of my home, almost 7 hours north of my home and about 3 hours east of my home.  All my travel is provided by The Beast.  She and I have been together now for seven glorious years and I'm hoping we have another 100,000 miles or more together.

I travel to some interesting places.  The word "interesting" is a relative term.  I get to see some beautiful scenery.  I get to see some incredible sights (Go here to read about one.)  I also get to see some ugliness.

Yes, that's a tire standing upright in a hole.  That "hole" is actually a manhole for sewer access.  That tire is the only thing between drivers and wiping out.

I know what you're thinking after seeing that picture.   Why doesn't my city do this?  Imagine the cost savings!

Hold on there Captain Underpants.  Before you go getting all head up about this idea, let's consider the thought that maybe that tire in the road isn't your standard multi-ply radial that will allow you to run over it and just keep on going.  Maybe that's a single-ply tire with no reinforcement and that bad boy will cave in and there you'll be either stuck in that hole or traveling a few feet past it without your entire front-end.  Now, it's not such a good idea...is it!

I did a little inquiry about this.  It turns out that a friend of mine is an attorney who lives near this area.  He told me that people have stolen the manhole covers and sold them for scrap metal.  The tires are the city's solution to this problem.  There isn't enough money in the city coffers to buy replacement manhole covers. 

I wonder what the quality of life is like here.  I wonder how much hope these folks have.  I wonder how good of an education their kids get.

A shot of some of the area as I enter this town.

Surely there's more to this place than this bit of mayhem.

Urban blight, anyone?  Seriously, I'm not even sure I'm in the same country.

What about a community garden or something like that?  Don't they have that?

Here's your garden variety squalor.  I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be a garden. 

Where do these people live?  Why, look below and you'll see.

Here's one of the nicer homes I drove by.  Seriously.

What, besides stealing manhole covers, do these people do for fun or entertainment?  Surely their lives can't be that bad...

I assume this is The Club...where folks go to hang out, party and, possibly, get killed.

The front of The Club. Either I'm parked on an incline or that joint was built crooked!

Just in case you missed it, here's a closer shot of The Club.

 There you have it.  A look at one of the less glamourous places I call on each week as I peddle my wares. 

After I got home from this place, I stopped in the driveway of my home and took a moment to thank God for all the blessings I have.  I also asked Him to help those people who live in that town to find a way out of their situation.  Join me if you are so inclined.