Discuss - KunstlerCast #96: Road Trip

[Duncan]

KunstlerCast #96: Road Trip
Audio Postcards from the NYS Thruway

Released: Jan. 21, 2010.

James Howard Kunstler and Duncan Crary hit the open road to bring you these audio postcards from the NYS Thruway on their way to Rochester. To pass the time, they discuss the American experience of the road trip, the future of the small forlorn cities they pass along the way, the enterprise of downhill skiing, and how life in upstate New York has colored Kunstler's worldview as an author and commentator.

Direct Download:
KunstlerCast_96.mp3
(39 MB | 40:20 mins.)

Sponsor:



This week's sponsor is Cultivatis, a full service land planning and consulting firm that integrates agriculture and resource conservation into every project. Core services include: agricultural urbanism; sustainable food system consulting, Urban farm and garden design, community engagement and workshop facilitation. http://www.cultivatis.com

[Duncan]

If anyone caught it, I asked Jim on the podcast if he'd ever heard the term Geedunk for junk food.

My father uses that term. Jim asked me if that was some kind of an Albany slang word and I said I guess so.

Turns out it's a term used by the NAVY. My dad and most of his friends were in the NAVY. So that explains that!

[Andrew]

On a related note part of I-490 in Rochester, is built on what was once the Rochester Subway & the old alignment of the Eire Canal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester_Subway

Also this area was the main line 4 track raceway corridor for the New York Central Railroad A.K.A "The Water Level Route".





In transit, Andrew

[Cedar]

Listening to Jim ramble is like listening to a virtuoso improvise.
Zombie drivers… yes. People just drive to drive, even in the small towns, probably more in the small towns. When gas was $4 traffic absolutely died around here. It was surreal, 7 pm in the middle of summer and main street was empty. Everything is back to normal now, the town is unfit for man or beast for the car again rules the street.

[noodles]

Duncan, here comes the offended downhill skier backlash you predicted...

RRRAAAAGGGEEE!!!

Just kidding.  I grew up in the burbs in a well-to-do family.  I was pretty bad at contact sports growing up, but I had a knack for golfing and downhill skiing, especially the latter.  I was on the ski team, I had a season pass to my local hill, I'd hit it up 30 - 40 times a season.  It was a lot of fun and a social activity to just hit the slopes for a few hours after school.  It's what you did in my cake-eating burb.

It takes a ton of skill, strength, grace, agility, and guts.  It's definitely a sport.  An energy intensive one, but a sport none-the-less.

However...as I've become more educated and read up on Peak Oil, and our cheap energy fiesta, the more absurd skiing seems.   

And I've given up golf to...I just can't justify it.  Golf and Skiing ARE sports, but moreover they are affectations of the rich.  As I am no longer rich, and it goes against my beliefs, I've taken to outdoor tennis (all it costs is a racquet and a ball, and living in a community with ample parks), cycling and running.  On a warm day, I can do them all for free, and not burn an ounce of fuel.

[piltdownman]

So Jim, why weren't you taking the train from Brockport back to NYC?  :-)  I know that I did that in the 70s.  It was illustrative.  The rail bed was a mess.  Trains would idle for hours for no apparent reason. Cars were either too hot or too cold.  As college students (and as a former Brockport State alum) we took it in stride, but it was clear that the days of decent train travel were a distant memory...

Yet, it was still better than driving!  My folkie friends and I would break out our guitars and banjos and just play the time away.  Not something you can easily do in a car or in a plane!  And yes, I recall that train station in Utica.  It was "lost in time."    Felt like a mini-Grand Central, with a massive high ceiling and those curvy,  darkly varnished benches.  All the accouterment of a classic NYC (Central) station.  Albany, as you know, was not so lucky...

The Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway was, at the time, sort of amazing.  It got your places fast.  You didn't stop for lights in the middle of Rome or Canajoharie or Cazenovia.  You just went!  I liked your reference to the World's Fair.  Having been to the 64/65 Fair, the Thruway did indeed feel like that. Was it the AT&T exhibit that had those chairs you road on...and little animated dioramas of the "cities of the future?"  The Thruway was the embodiment of that writ large.

RJD

[RonH]

  And yes, I recall that train station in Utica.  It was "lost in time."    Felt like a mini-Grand Central, with a massive high ceiling and those curvy,  darkly varnished benches.  All the accouterment of a classic NYC (Central) station.  Albany, as you know, was not so lucky...

Speaking of train stations, I've just watched the DVD of the recent movie Julie & Julia, including the director's (Nora Ephron) commentary.  She wanted to use a Paris station but it would have cost half a million bucks for a short sequence.  Instead they found a magnificent art deco station in Hoboken. N.J., (of all places!) and used it for scenes supposedly set in Paris and Boston. 

-- Ron

[Andrew]

  And yes, I recall that train station in Utica.  It was "lost in time."    Felt like a mini-Grand Central, with a massive high ceiling and those curvy,  darkly varnished benches.  All the accouterment of a classic NYC (Central) station.  Albany, as you know, was not so lucky...

Speaking of train stations, I've just watched the DVD of the recent movie Julie & Julia, including the director's (Nora Ephron) commentary.  She wanted to use a Paris station but it would have cost half a million bucks for a short sequence.  Instead they found a magnificent art deco station in Hoboken. N.J., (of all places!) and used it for scenes supposedly set in Paris and Boston. 

-- Ron

I'm not surprised.

In transit, Andrew

[thethirdcoast]

A pretty good showing, but JHK seems to have east and west a bit confused.

As a resident of Rochester for the past 8 years I can unequivocally state that the eastern side of the city and the river is the higher-toned side of town.

Nearly all of the locations he mentions in the podcast are on the east side of the river.

Didn't really care for the skiing comments, mainly because golf is a far, far more tragic waste of resources and a perfect way to ruin a lovely walk.

[Duncan]

As a resident of Rochester for the past 8 years I can unequivocally state that the eastern side of the city and the river is the higher-toned side of town.

Jim realized he got east and west mixed up while he was listening to the show. But it was too late for me to make a correction. (I would have had to do a voice over or something anyway.)

It's an extemporaneous show, and we get our words mixed up from time to time. (I know I sure do).

Thanks for listening.

[DeepSouthDesigner]

The Cultivatis logo seems mildly soviet looking. They might want to look into that if they want to appeal to the average Joe.

[Andrew]

A pretty good showing, but JHK seems to have east and west a bit confused.

As a resident of Rochester for the past 8 years I can unequivocally state that the eastern side of the city and the river is the higher-toned side of town.

Nearly all of the locations he mentions in the podcast are on the east side of the river.

Didn't really care for the skiing comments, mainly because golf is a far, far more tragic waste of resources and a perfect way to ruin a lovely walk.

Some of the last large open spaces in some urban areas are golf courses.

A friend of mine is trying to get the city of Montreal to turn the Meadowbrook golf course into a park.

http://www.lesamisdemeadowbrook.org/index.htm

In transit, Andrew

[Duncan]

The Cultivatis logo seems mildly soviet looking. They might want to look into that if they want to appeal to the average Joe.

Well you seem to be promoting yourself as a graphic designer (based on your username and your tagline). So why are you telling us  this? Contact them and pitch your services if you think you can do better.

[RVideo]

Awesome episode Duncan and Jim.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.  Kudos.

[rjw8625]

Duncan,

Would love to hear more of your Rochester adventure for purely selfish reasons.  Any chance you could slide me some unedited stuff from when you were motoring around town the following morning?

For listeners, the stretch of semi-large houses w driveways, but no visible garages and abbreivated front yards would have been Goodman Street between I-490 and Monroe Avenue.  The stretch at the end near the hotel containing mansions, etc is East Avenue.