Coping: Halfway Across America

(Tacoma, WA) I accomplished yet another lifetime goal on Thursday as we arrived in Tacoma – having traveled about 1,800 miles from East Texas for a couple of weeks of work up here including lots of project time with Survivalwoman (Gaye) of www.backdoorsurvival.com – we’ve been friends since 1973. And before that, we’re spending time with my lifelong friend who’s a retired major up here in the Gig Harbor area. We’ve only been friends for 59-years now we figured yesterday.

The trip up here has been a real adventure – won’t regale you with the details, but there have been a few, how shall we say? – interesting moments.

More than anything, though, the eye treats have been amazing and inspiring. This view of the Cascades Thursday morning over the eastern approach to Snoqualmie Pass looking north:

More than anything, what I’ve gotten out of the trip is an appreciation how damn big America is. Just as a for instance: The area of Germany is 137,842 square miles. Remember now, this is a country which has been in two world wars and is even today shaping the future of Europe since they have been wise enough keep at least some gold around.

Now compare Germany with just the state of Montana (147,165 square miles) and things start to come into focus: We may sometimes think real estate is scarce here in the good ‘ol USA, but as Steve Quayle mentioned at dinner the other night, there are less than a million people in the whole state.

Germany, on the other hand is supporting 81.777 million people, so almost 82-times as many people on a similar patch of dirt. Seems to make a good bit of difference, and perhaps population pressures do play a major role in how aggressive a country is.

Americans don’t hear much about these kinds of size comparisons, but it’s the kind of thing that your mind wanders to, as the countryside goes by.

In a sense the trip has been very grounding (a poor pun, perhaps): Kinda puts things back into perspective and renews my appreciation for the kind of future we might all have ahead if hard work and cooperation between people can continue. Or, if things don’t work out, there is still plenty of square footage at small river junctions, low-lying farmland (north of 40) that hasn’t been developed heavily – yet.

Russia, admittedly, is larger than the US by 1.7 times roughly, Siberia where most of the undeveloped land is located, and Russia’s population. While Russia could be considered a strategic problem, they are still a smaller country than the US – a bit less than half our size, but 1 3/4′s times larger.

Odd thing to be waking up thinking about, but there you have it: A renewed appreciation for all the hard work that’s gone before us, and the reassurance than we could have 82-times more people here and we’d still be at a population density similar to Europe’s.

Near as I can figure it, there ought to be a closer correlation between the number of laws in a country and the population density. But, seems to me that since we’ve become a very efficient country in some regards (like farming and resources) we’ve made a business out of government but perhaps not so much as Europe.

The density of the EU countries is about 187 people per square mile, while we’re down at 84, so we could more than double our population and still be a lot less crowded than Europe.

—

On a totally different topic, to keep costs down we’re staying with relatives and friends – and it has given me a whole new way of looking at people: You can learn a lot from noticing what kind of reading material is available.

In ours back home, there is an eclectic assortment of Countryside magazine, flying, and ham radio magazine. At our first stay with relatives, there was nothing to read, while at my life-long friend’s place, there are several volumes of quotable quotes and assorted “bathroom readers.”

I’ve never given it much thought, but I searched Amazon and discovered to my horror that there are more than 5,500 items returned on a simple search for “bathroom reader.”

Some of the top items were Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts: And Bizarre Information (Bathroom Readers) and the ever-popular The Great American Bathroom Book, Volume 1: Single-Sitting Summaries of All Time Great Books.

My point? I think it says a lot about the personal efficiency style of people (whether they have reading time, or simply focus on the subject of the moment) and the other point (and this is the key learning from this trip) is that I remain absolutely convinced that what makes America is an amazing place is….

Everything is a business model – including (and I have proof) the trip to the throne room. I doubt any other country in the world has done such a good job of monetizing the morning dump. In fact, how many people in third world countries have Kindles for reading in the throne and a phone in there, too? Not to mention personal pressure washers, and so on?

—

Oh, and if you’re in medicine, has there ever been a study made of length of time in the throne room to disease rates of aging cohorts? Occurs to me this is another one of those gaping holes in human knowledge begging to be filled.

Peoplenomics tomorrow at the regular time – and more here on Monday. Have a great weekend….

Write when you break even…

George Ure (email comments to george@ure.net)