Playing Catchup

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, I spent a good bit of the summer traveling for work. The in-state trips were kind of mundane, but good ways to meet and interact with producers as I continue to develop educational programming. The out of state trips were certainly more fun as they break the monotony of the day to day grind.

The trip to Vicksburg was for the Delta States Farm Management group. As one person who has been to the meeting in the past said, it's more like a fraternity party for professors. A little bit of discussion/work gets done, with a lot of downtime. This meeting was at the Tara Wildlife Center outside of Vicksburg, a real picturesque hunting lodge. Some of the staff was telling those in attendance how difficult it was to get in there for a hunting experience. If you ever get the chance to visit, I certainly recommend it.

The following week it was off to the heartland of Omaha for a farm financial conference. It was definitely a good meeting and gave some good perspective on the problems ag as a whole is facing right now and some similarities to the crises of the early 1980s. I did get a chance to go Warren Buffet's favorite steakhouse, Gorat's (pronounced Garret's). It was pretty reasonable all things considered, you could get a filet, potato, salad, and spaghetti for under $30/person. This was the first steakhouse I'd ever been to that served spaghetti as part of the entree. Definitely worth your time if you are ever in Omaha.

And how could you go to Omaha and not stop by Rosenblatt Stadium? Unfortunately, I missed the College World Series by a week (I was there the first week of June), but the Omaha Royals were in for a homestand. I believe they were playing Round Rock the night I was there. There are very few things like a minor league baseball game where you can sit 3 rows behind home plate for $10. The Royals led most of the game only to blow the lead in the top of the 9th. As one loyal fan said in disgust as they left, "This team finds more ways to lose." And then you wonder why the MLB club is so bad.


I found out while I was there that a new stadium is being built specifically for the CWS downtown Omaha. The Royals were given an opportunity to participate, but chose to move to a stadium being built in the next county south. Supposedly, the Royals said the new stadium would be bigger than their needs despite most of the stands along the foul lines and the entire outfield stands had tarps on them.

I spent most of the following week on the beach, Orange Beach, Alabama. (It's a tough life being a university professor.) Orange Beach is near Mobile and right across the state line from Pensacola. I drove by the USS Alabama (battleship) which permanently moored in Mobile now, I believe (it's hard to get a good picture on a cellphone while driving). It's on my list of places to go visit now. I also got to drive through an underground tunnel as we passed through Mobile which I've never done before. And I certainly ever expect to do that in Mobile of all places. All in all, Orange Beach is a good place to go and relax and may not be as crowded as more popular destinations.