Betty Jo Gigot, Editor and Publisher

Getting away from it all, whether at a industry convention, an evening with friends or just, in my case, traveling around the country, brings a new perspective for those of us who spend our days watching the board change, keeping up on the latest industry squabble or trying to figure out how to deal with the latest frothy bloat.

Four weeks and over 4,000 miles with husband Dean (we call him Happy The Bus Driver), Samantha and Pedro (two white Birman cats) and Sunshine (a red miniature dachshund), brought a number of reflections about important and less important things. Here are a few.

THE WATER DILEMMA
Raised in New Mexico where, if we were lucky, we had water to drink, the southern part of the U.S. was a real revelation for me. We drove several thousand miles looking at water in the barrow ditch, complete with lily pads and the occasional alligator. A little known fact is that 396,000 acres of southeastern Georgia is under three feet of water and, as far as we could tell, nobody cared. Speaking of Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp, as a veteran traveler with parents who insisted on seeing every national park – twice – swamps are a different deal all together. They are not like Mount Rushmore or the Arch in St. Louis that you can see from a distance and explore at your leisure. You have to be in the swamp to see it, and if you go, don’t plan on a long day. About four minutes and it all starts looking the same, except for the position and size of the alligators. Most amazing were the families with small children, renting small motorboats or canoes with poles, getting instructions on how to navigate the swamp and run the boat. Wonder if they just count the boats at the end of the day and take them off the inventory.

A look at the map of Florida tells you that half of that state is under water, too, which makes you realize that what we need in the West is a very large ditch and a redistribution program to take care of our water woes.
Many of those miles of water in the ditch are backed by cultivated pine forests in various stages of growth – just planted, half grown and ready-for-harvest. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of trees, making one wonder about the entire Arbor Day deal.

SIGHTSEEING TRIPS

Pancake houses seem to be a staple in The South. Gatlinburg, Tenn., had dozens, where they serve gigantic meals featuring locally grown ham and locally named t-shirts. The national museum for salt and peppershakers is there.

Pidgin Forge is right down the road from Gatlinburg. Dolly was born there and Dollywood was certainly an experience. Six dollars to park and $80 for the two of us to get in didn’t take away from a fun experience for us and the other 2,000 people there on a Tuesday afternoon.

The coast south of Mobile, Ala., was a shock. It took a few minutes to realize that, six months later, they are still living in an area that looks like a war zone from last year’s hurricanes. We drove for miles looking at four- and five-floor condos and apartment buildings with windows blown out and roofs missing. Here in Kansas we understand what a tornado can do, but the damage that a hurricane can do is obviously something else.

The Great Smoky Mountains are a wonder. The Cherokee Indians described them as shaconage, meaning “blue, like smoke.” They are outstanding. Sparking rivers, more tree species than northern Europe, 1,500 flowering plants, dozens of native fish and more than 200 species of birds and 60 species of mammals make it an exceptional place. As you can see from the cover photo, cattle graze in the open areas. It is easy to understand why settlers in the 1790s found it a perfect place to farm and ranch.

From the 1700s to the Kennedy Space Center is quite a leap, but NASA is awesome. How, number one, the scientists were able to build those rockets and, number two, find someone willing to be launched into orbit in them is amazing. They were moving the next shuttle out the week after we were there and it was tempting to just wait to see it go one mile per hour down the gravel path to the launch site. I never will watch another launch without remembering the day we were there.

ON CATTLE RAISING IN THE SOUTH
In my lifetime in the industry, I have seen a major change in the type and quality of the cattle from The South, but it was still amazing to drive the central Florida plains, and the hills and mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee – all across The South – and see herd after herd of high quality cattle. As you will note in my story on Kentucky in this issue, stockmen in The South understand western feedyards’ needs and are filling those needs. The producers are proud of their accomplishments and are moving quickly to add value any way they can, from the small to the large operations. Auction barns are part of the equation, as well as order buyers who send cattle north for finishing.

Four weeks on the road and the only minor crisis occurred the last day. The good news was that we did not have to clean the windshield when we got home. The bad news was that we didn’t get to eat the turkey that tried to fly through it. As of now, the Gypsy Wagon is ready to go again. Maybe we will see you down the road.