Media Lies-Travel Truths-Small Town America-Bob Davis Podcast 789

To hear Der Spiegel tell it, Fergus Falls, Minnesota is a very special place these days. The town on Minnesota’s prairie is in a deep forest. A city manager carries a gun. The local high school sports iron doors and metal detectors. Moreover the mouth breathing savages that inhabit this place all voted for Trump. Learn more in Media Lies-Travel Truths-Small Town America-Bob Davis Podcast 789.

All Lies

The most noteworthy thing about this story is the fact that it is a complete fabrication. To Der Spiegel’s credit, the magazine is sending a reporter to Fergus Falls.

This time to apologize.

Dark and Dangerous Rural America

Sadly often media lies tell us more truth about biases than their coverage. Especially relevant are the new storylines about the mysterious and the mystical “rural America”. Land of republicans and Trump supporters. Dark and Dangerous. Well spring of public radio’s murder mystery podcasts. Source of the angry and red faced nationalist republican.

Small Town America

Truth is rural America is just as difficult to report on and explain as any urban center. We’ll talk about it in Media Lies-Travel Truths-Small Town America-Bob Davis Podcast 789.

Travel Is The Antidote

More importantly, travel is the antidote for the half truths and fairy tales of the media. I have traveled back and forth across this country, east to west, west to east and north to south many times. There are places I have missed but in thousands of miles of travel over the past few years, I have learned a great deal.

The New Nomads

Moreover many people have taken to converted school buses, RV’s and even Ambulances in search of their own version of America. Here’s to them.

Have A Cup Of Joe

In small towns across the US dedicated to ranching, farming, and mining people aren’t just going to walk up to you and tell you their life stories. Simple observation won’t tell you their stories either. Travel takes you through but you have to stop. Have a cup of Joe and talk to people. Get to know them over time.

Sometimes Working Together…Sometimes Not…Just Like The Big Cities

Finally what I’ve found in these places are all kinds of people living and working together. In some places things are better than in others. Reasons for decline or improvement are often elusive, even to the locals. Whether it’s a mining town or a farm town.

Politics Doesn’t Make The Man or The Town

In conclusion, I am sick to death of reporters telling us politics determines whether we are red or blue. These things don’t take the measure of the people who live in a town, large or small.

Coast To Coast and Back Again

Join me for Media Lies-Travel Truths-Small Town America-Bob Davis Podcast 789. Hear the sounds of some of the places I have visited over the last few years, from a hound dog in Mendocino, California to the total eclipse in Makanda Illinois, and finally overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the coast highway.

I’ve got a few stories of my own to tell.

Sponsored by Reliafund Payment Processors, John D. Scott Personal Injury Lawyer and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Media Lies-Travel Truths-Small Town America-Bob Davis Podcast 789

Flight Dreams And Inspiration At EAA OSH17-Podcast 651

Where do you draw your inspiration? Where do your dreams come from? What pushes you to keep going. These days, none of us have an easy task. Some days you’re just grinding it out. We’re talking about inspiration in Flight Dreams And Inspiration At EAA OSH17-Podcast 651.

You Don’t Have To Be A Pilot

Let me say it. I am not a pilot. My interest in this amazing event at Osh Kosh’s Wittman field started with Alpha Systems, a client and supporter of the Bob Davis Podcasts. One of my passions is history. History lives everywhere you look here at OSH17.

The Essence Of What Makes A Great American Event

Listeners and subscribers wonder whether they should bring their kids to this event. What’s it like? Think of the AirVenture show like a well run state fair, where everyone is focused on one idea. For me, this is the essence of what makes a great American Event. In Flight Dreams And Inspiration At EAA OSH17-Podcast 651.

A Dream That Inspires

Flying is like a dream. Clearly it’s a dream for the people who fly. It’s also a dream for those who come to these shows. We all wonder, “What’s it like up there?”. For me though, it’s history that inspires. Whether it is homebuilders, ultra-lights, warbirds, and especially the vintage planes that made so much history in the United States in the 1920’s and 1930’s before World War II.

You hear a lot of talk these days about the political process. What ‘they’re’ doing in the state capitol, or Washington DC. Lots of head shaking and concern.

One of the things that inspires me about this event is the evidence of pilots, engineers and dreamers who focused on their passion. People who made huge contributions to the world through flight. In Flight Dreams And Inspiration At EAA OSH17-Podcast 651.

Don’t Let It Bring You Down

Yes things are changing. Fast. You can see each generation’s contributions flying over your head, parked on the field, or in the exhibition hangers. Some are worried about their personal future. Others have concern about the future of the country. When you come here you realize it’s always been that way and yet, inspired people still made great contributions.

My Airstrip In The Desert

Podcasting is my air strip in the desert. Mobile Podcast Command is my old plane. When you do something that is so new it can be difficult to get businesspeople to understand. Sometimes you wonder why you do it at all. Then you come to an event like this. In Flight Dreams And Inspiration At EAA OSH17-Podcast 651.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

Flight Dreams And Inspiration At EAA OSH17-Podcast 651

Podcast 396

Summer Walk and Talk. The rules of the Walk and Talk Podcast are: No prep. No Planning. You walk. You Talk. Slash and Burn, Walk and Talk. At the peak of the summer it still doesn’t feel right to get down and dirty on the political front. There’s still a sense that the topography of the political battlefield will change at some point, and it will be back to the drawing board for the scores of presidential candidates, who are as plentiful as the corn growing in those Iowa fields. Besides, there’s Sturgis, air shows, local summer celebrations, fireworks, kids playing on the lawn, charcoal fires for steak and so…much…summer. Yet, if you look carefully, the sun has changed its angle slightly and in Minnesota at least, we’re just a month away from the State Fair. Every year, at some point during the state fair, the weather changes and we all know what that means. Fall is coming. So if you’re tweeting and face booking about one of the presidential candidates, watching the 24 hour cable channels religiously, hanging on every word of every shouting match, you’re missing real life going on. While people engaged in the business of politics are busy … the average person in the United States couldn’t care less right now about the latest spat between Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush, or Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Big stories of the summer? The Planned Parenthood video is a doozy. The Chinese stock market collapse (which is being called their 1929) could become the black swan story if the perfumed princes in Beijing can’t get control of things. A calamity like this in Asia would have far reaching implications economically in the US and the world, and in terms of foreign policy. Commodity prices seem to be in a long term slump, and yet some media outlets are talking about inflation. Still, all these potential game-changers are just storm clouds in the west, on a warm summer night. A little lightning on the horizon, and maybe some rain and thunder by dawn. The romance of summer supersedes all that political noise, and it’s a good thing. Seriously, who doesn’t prefer the soft hum of summer twilight to some gas bagger on a podium? Sponsored by Baklund R&D