Cairo, IL to Padukah, KY
The next town up river from Cairo is Mound City. It features a nearby military cemetery and is itself an impressive town. Utterly ruined, I mean in approxmately the same proportion as Cairo itself. Just astonishing that these places have been left to rot. But that is the true American Way: once something ceases to be economically viable, it can be neglected then discarded und dann verecken lassen.
All those ghost towns I used to visit in California alone in the Sierra Nevada? I loved it. Had a great time visiting Bodie, now a state monument. And all the little towns like Jackson and Sonora – oh, are there some untold stories there. Stories that probably won't ever be told without the veneer of fiction.
These towns like Jamestown and San Andreas are holding on, or at least they were 15 years ago. But the true ghost towns, across the West in particular, while quite scenic now, have a different import. What they have to tell us is this: they were just another interchangeable place that capitalism fucked and forgot.
I should also mention that most of these get revised pretty quickly to kill off the excessive Sturm und Drang. If it gets weird, stop reading it. It will disappear soon enough anyway.
It's strange what people are drawn to. Germans are infamous for gravitating towards darkness and forests. I like nature fine and do revel in it occasionally. But show me a ruined town, anywhere in the world – the ruined Greek-Turkish city of Greecity of Levissi / Kayakoy comes to mind. I don't think there's anything that perverse in it, more just an aesthetic preference. Sort of like preferring the appearance of Romania to Germany.
So, I've got shitloads of shit to accomplish today. And since this is a half-day rerun whose evening (Padukah) has already been recounted, time to dispense with this habit for a few days of R & R. Pennsylvania style.
Some photos below recount the rest of the day leading up to the carousing with the homeless Delta Force guy in Kentucky. I'm obliged to think of the sailors on the Abraham Lincoln who are feigning suicide to jump the line to see the one psychiatrist on board. Fuck this government.
