If you are going thru the Badlands I can recommend the Alex Johnson Hotel in Rapid City. Even if you don't stay there the lobby is worth a visit, as is the Native AMerican shop in the hotel lobby. If you do stay there and the weather is nice the rooftop bar is a good place to look at the Black Hills and the lights of Rapid City at night while grabbing an adult beverage. Talley's Silver Spoon across the street is a great breakfast and lunch spot too.
Jeff, I have enjoyed much of your writing and comments on the how life's banalities along the journey are really what matters. Not the destination - you learn nothing from that. The journey.
Take heart in knowing that much of American is rejecting Marxism. Even the youngsters. They remember how life was under Trump and how it radically changed under Biden-Harris (having an abbreviated administration label is always risky yet they went there figuring the fix was it. It's not!)
Here in Socialist Southern Kalifornia I have seen NO Harris-Walz paraphernalia but plenty of Trump 2024 flags, stickers, yard signs, and the ultimate passive-aggressive sign of grassroots conservatism: The American Flag. Yes, this is a runaway election which is why Trump is targeted for death. He cannot be stopped by legitimate means and his support exceeds the ability of the steal. Harris is not a plausible candidate for victory and the built-in fraud isn't enough to push her over the line.
We'll see a few more attempts on Trumps's life, unfortunately, which will not be covered by our legacy media except in passing. A black swan event? Middle East nuke exchange? Ukraine escalation (again)? Cancellation of our elections? Expect one or all of them. I don't think anything is beyond the pale by the Chicago Marxist clique running our country.
Roughly where are you in SoCal? I share my time between the San Jose area and South Orange County. I see way more Trump signs in Orange County. I'm wondering if LA County is moving more Republican. The sad thing is that until about 1992 California was a Red state. Ah, the good old days.
If you're not aware of it (and truth be told, why should you be?), NE MN was pretty solidly blue long before the Cities took that mantle. This is especially true around and because of the mines and the people recruited to work them. Lots and lots of socialists and various other forms of leftism are still strong there. It's not so much a principle thing as much as mom and dad were, their parents were and so on and so forth. It wasn't until recently (the last few elections) that Republicans in the area at large have seen success but this is often times because the areas outside of the mines are growing faster.
Minnesota has a strange Democrat party that derived from a union between the Democrats and the Farmer-Labor party. The latter was pretty left-wing anyway so that union just gave the DFL a head start in their trip leftward.
In the 1960's the refrain was that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the D's and the R's. To a large extent that was correct. You had D Senators like Scoop Jackson from Washington and R Governors like Nelson Rockefeller. Both parties were very hesitant on civll rights and favored a gradual (ie don't really do anything) approach. Big mistake. I think the big change was the Kennedy assassination, and then the rest, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X and so on. Then the Civil Rights marches became Civil Riot Marches, and Johnson's War on Poverty. ,Poverty won. Johnson's war in Vietnam. We didn't win that one either. Have no idea if it's fixable or not.
I usually close my emails with: People who know all the answers don't know all the questions.. We have a lot of people who know all the answers to Climate Change, Energy, whatever ails you. Their experts know the answers. And if that doesn't work the next one will. maybe. Don't think they even bother with the questions anymore.
I'll have to check out Apple Market. Though I do have some friends in Oklahoma who might question your statement on lack of good beef west of the Mississippi.
Well, Iowa is west of the Mississippi, and has some of the best beef in the Country.
I have had great steak when I worked in Los Angeles. Taylor's in Los Angeles is one of the best steakhouses I have ever been to. Still have Dan Tana's in LA on my bucket list. Have heard it is great. Then again, pretty sure Taylor's was corn-fed beef, probably from Iowa or Illinois. Grass fed can be good, but much harder to get a great grass fed steak.
He's from Chicago so a bit prejudiced. Have to take that into account. Like someone from Maine and someone from Canada arguing about who has the best lobster or someone from the West coast arguing with someone from the East coast about Salomon.
Oh, I am from downstate Illinois, and we have a family cattle farm, so I am way spoiled by our good beef. But pretty sure you can get a good steak pretty much all over the USA, maybe not so much at a market, but there are some great steak restaurants all over the country.
A lot of times it's the cook. I hunted buffalo once and took home about 500 lbs of meat. Learned very quickly it's all in the cooking. Slow and keep it moist.
Also cooked bear meat. That's different. It's in what the bear was eating at the time. Corn, berries, good. Fish, maybe. Garbage dump foraging, dead animals. Pass on that. But also in the cooking. Slow with a good but not expensive red wine. And don't tell your guests what they are eating. Maybe a week or so later. It's iffy.
Think this is the first time you posted your Twitter handle. Never went on Twitter much before Elon bought it, now it is a fascinating place! Just followed you.
I really think the government will be gunning for him, and I mean that literally. His threat of streamlining the government, or even potentially having Congress put in rules that make that even possible down the road, will make some people behave like a cornered animal. And the animal will strike.
I hope you have a safe and uneventful trip back to Las Vegas. Enjoy the Badlands - it should be a great time to visit. On one of our trips back and forth, you should spend time in Utah (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, etc.) if you have not already done so. The weather should be good and not as crowded.
Been to Zion and Bryce. This trip won't do any Utah. I like to fly fish in the Provo river. Last year we fly fished in Flaming Gorge and it was beautiful.
Safe travels, Jeff! I've enjoyed your dispatches from the woods this summer.
But seriously, Crown Burger? Hires Big H is the place to go for a burger in SLC. ;-) The 7th East / 4th South location is a classic, but a bit far from the highway. I expect the Midvale location is just as good.
I'm spoiled here on the east coast... great pastrami (and even better, Reuben's!) to be had here.
I don't recall ever having one at Crown Burger. All I remember is the fries were sub-par. But, it was many years ago and I wasn't a fan of pastrami back then.
p.s. So... I went looking into SLC pastrami burgers, and up pops Yanni's Greek Express. Wow. I loved Yanni's! Completely forgot about them.
I can try that, thanks for the rec. Hires Big H.... Only went to Crown once when I was going through there and it was pretty good. I lived in SLC my 3rd grade year. My father was getting his PhD at Utah. Good memories. If I enjoyed snow, I would have thought about moving there instead of Vegas. Though, the liquor laws are tough.
Thanks. I really appreciate the community here in your comments, also! You set a good tone and are a good example of how I like Substack best -- some common interests, a variety of experiences, bedrock civility while allowing for disagreement, and pretty much always something I didn't know or hadn't thought about that way, either in your posts or in the responses. Cheers for the road home!
A very nice piece. Thanks for the excerpt from ‘Credentialist Cretins,’ which as you say speaks volumes about the psychology of our current Dem/‘progressive’/socialist opponents. I went over and read the piece, which was well worth it.
I wonder how many Dems realize (or will admit) that their presidential ticket is comprised of Marxists?
Democrat Demonization Strategy, mislabelled as TDS after BDS.
Democrats lie, so as to Delude voters into fearing and hating the target Demon. Trump, Bush, soon Vance, also Kavanaugh, Palin, Reagan. Lie so as to Demonize.
If you are going thru the Badlands I can recommend the Alex Johnson Hotel in Rapid City. Even if you don't stay there the lobby is worth a visit, as is the Native AMerican shop in the hotel lobby. If you do stay there and the weather is nice the rooftop bar is a good place to look at the Black Hills and the lights of Rapid City at night while grabbing an adult beverage. Talley's Silver Spoon across the street is a great breakfast and lunch spot too.
Cool! Will check that out. Thanks!
Jeff, I have enjoyed much of your writing and comments on the how life's banalities along the journey are really what matters. Not the destination - you learn nothing from that. The journey.
Take heart in knowing that much of American is rejecting Marxism. Even the youngsters. They remember how life was under Trump and how it radically changed under Biden-Harris (having an abbreviated administration label is always risky yet they went there figuring the fix was it. It's not!)
Here in Socialist Southern Kalifornia I have seen NO Harris-Walz paraphernalia but plenty of Trump 2024 flags, stickers, yard signs, and the ultimate passive-aggressive sign of grassroots conservatism: The American Flag. Yes, this is a runaway election which is why Trump is targeted for death. He cannot be stopped by legitimate means and his support exceeds the ability of the steal. Harris is not a plausible candidate for victory and the built-in fraud isn't enough to push her over the line.
We'll see a few more attempts on Trumps's life, unfortunately, which will not be covered by our legacy media except in passing. A black swan event? Middle East nuke exchange? Ukraine escalation (again)? Cancellation of our elections? Expect one or all of them. I don't think anything is beyond the pale by the Chicago Marxist clique running our country.
Keith,
Roughly where are you in SoCal? I share my time between the San Jose area and South Orange County. I see way more Trump signs in Orange County. I'm wondering if LA County is moving more Republican. The sad thing is that until about 1992 California was a Red state. Ah, the good old days.
If you're not aware of it (and truth be told, why should you be?), NE MN was pretty solidly blue long before the Cities took that mantle. This is especially true around and because of the mines and the people recruited to work them. Lots and lots of socialists and various other forms of leftism are still strong there. It's not so much a principle thing as much as mom and dad were, their parents were and so on and so forth. It wasn't until recently (the last few elections) that Republicans in the area at large have seen success but this is often times because the areas outside of the mines are growing faster.
Minnesota has a strange Democrat party that derived from a union between the Democrats and the Farmer-Labor party. The latter was pretty left-wing anyway so that union just gave the DFL a head start in their trip leftward.
Have a good safe trip.
My district has a Republican congressperson (Stauber). Hope he wins again. It really bugs a lot of the people here and I like that.
Heh. I understand. Stauber was the guy I had in mind. Before him, 2010?, a Tea-party Republican, Kravak?, broke the DFL hold on that seat (from 1947).
In the 1960's the refrain was that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the D's and the R's. To a large extent that was correct. You had D Senators like Scoop Jackson from Washington and R Governors like Nelson Rockefeller. Both parties were very hesitant on civll rights and favored a gradual (ie don't really do anything) approach. Big mistake. I think the big change was the Kennedy assassination, and then the rest, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X and so on. Then the Civil Rights marches became Civil Riot Marches, and Johnson's War on Poverty. ,Poverty won. Johnson's war in Vietnam. We didn't win that one either. Have no idea if it's fixable or not.
I usually close my emails with: People who know all the answers don't know all the questions.. We have a lot of people who know all the answers to Climate Change, Energy, whatever ails you. Their experts know the answers. And if that doesn't work the next one will. maybe. Don't think they even bother with the questions anymore.
I'll have to check out Apple Market. Though I do have some friends in Oklahoma who might question your statement on lack of good beef west of the Mississippi.
Well, Iowa is west of the Mississippi, and has some of the best beef in the Country.
I have had great steak when I worked in Los Angeles. Taylor's in Los Angeles is one of the best steakhouses I have ever been to. Still have Dan Tana's in LA on my bucket list. Have heard it is great. Then again, pretty sure Taylor's was corn-fed beef, probably from Iowa or Illinois. Grass fed can be good, but much harder to get a great grass fed steak.
He's from Chicago so a bit prejudiced. Have to take that into account. Like someone from Maine and someone from Canada arguing about who has the best lobster or someone from the West coast arguing with someone from the East coast about Salomon.
Oh, I am from downstate Illinois, and we have a family cattle farm, so I am way spoiled by our good beef. But pretty sure you can get a good steak pretty much all over the USA, maybe not so much at a market, but there are some great steak restaurants all over the country.
Ok now I'm jealous.
A lot of times it's the cook. I hunted buffalo once and took home about 500 lbs of meat. Learned very quickly it's all in the cooking. Slow and keep it moist.
Also cooked bear meat. That's different. It's in what the bear was eating at the time. Corn, berries, good. Fish, maybe. Garbage dump foraging, dead animals. Pass on that. But also in the cooking. Slow with a good but not expensive red wine. And don't tell your guests what they are eating. Maybe a week or so later. It's iffy.
Think this is the first time you posted your Twitter handle. Never went on Twitter much before Elon bought it, now it is a fascinating place! Just followed you.
I really think the government will be gunning for him, and I mean that literally. His threat of streamlining the government, or even potentially having Congress put in rules that make that even possible down the road, will make some people behave like a cornered animal. And the animal will strike.
Hi Jeff,
I hope you have a safe and uneventful trip back to Las Vegas. Enjoy the Badlands - it should be a great time to visit. On one of our trips back and forth, you should spend time in Utah (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, etc.) if you have not already done so. The weather should be good and not as crowded.
Keep up the great writing, both here and on X!
Been to Zion and Bryce. This trip won't do any Utah. I like to fly fish in the Provo river. Last year we fly fished in Flaming Gorge and it was beautiful.
Flaming gorge is like the Grand Canyon if it was filled with water. Incredible place.
Safe travels, Jeff! I've enjoyed your dispatches from the woods this summer.
But seriously, Crown Burger? Hires Big H is the place to go for a burger in SLC. ;-) The 7th East / 4th South location is a classic, but a bit far from the highway. I expect the Midvale location is just as good.
Come on, ya gotta have a pastrami burger in SLC!
I'm spoiled here on the east coast... great pastrami (and even better, Reuben's!) to be had here.
I don't recall ever having one at Crown Burger. All I remember is the fries were sub-par. But, it was many years ago and I wasn't a fan of pastrami back then.
p.s. So... I went looking into SLC pastrami burgers, and up pops Yanni's Greek Express. Wow. I loved Yanni's! Completely forgot about them.
I can try that, thanks for the rec. Hires Big H.... Only went to Crown once when I was going through there and it was pretty good. I lived in SLC my 3rd grade year. My father was getting his PhD at Utah. Good memories. If I enjoyed snow, I would have thought about moving there instead of Vegas. Though, the liquor laws are tough.
Safe Travels To You and Your Family
Thanks back at you. Hope yours is doing well, along with the extended family
Have a safe journey Mr Carter! Love your posts and your insight!
Thanks. I really appreciate the community here in your comments, also! You set a good tone and are a good example of how I like Substack best -- some common interests, a variety of experiences, bedrock civility while allowing for disagreement, and pretty much always something I didn't know or hadn't thought about that way, either in your posts or in the responses. Cheers for the road home!
A very nice piece. Thanks for the excerpt from ‘Credentialist Cretins,’ which as you say speaks volumes about the psychology of our current Dem/‘progressive’/socialist opponents. I went over and read the piece, which was well worth it.
I wonder how many Dems realize (or will admit) that their presidential ticket is comprised of Marxists?
Anyway, thanks for the piece, and safe travels.
Safe travels!
You should call it the
Democrat Demonization Strategy, mislabelled as TDS after BDS.
Democrats lie, so as to Delude voters into fearing and hating the target Demon. Trump, Bush, soon Vance, also Kavanaugh, Palin, Reagan. Lie so as to Demonize.
Good that you had a good summer.
As I like to remind everyone in north Idaho, winter’s just around the corner! What happens in NE MN, stays in NE MN, amirite?!?!😂. Drive safe.
Sorry for your loss.
MAGA! Love your line about hating Marxism
More than hating Trump!
Great post, Jeff! Safe travels. Also, thank you for linking that terrific piece by Matthew Garda and introducing me to CafeAmericainmag.com.