Ashland, Ohio, seems like a regular town somewhere South of Cleveland. This is where Myers Water Pump Co. was founded and irrigated vast fields of corn and wheat. Faultless made casters for your grocery carts and National Latex manufactured baloons and other toys you have purchased for your kids' birthday. Ashland was hit bad by NAFTA trade agreement and long before the current recession, the town lost or relocated its major industries.
Last year W-Mart moved in along with Home Depot trying to finish whatever else left in terms of local business.
Ashland University is the biggest employer as of now but it does import its faculty, so it is no great help to locals.
I have been coming to Ashland for last 8-9 years and even as an outsider I saw the town slowly losing its color and spirit or simply changing like any other American small town, adopting to new realities brought by globalization.
We have inherited a Cadillac Seville, from my beloved inlaw Patricia Gill. It has a license plate "PADDY G" with a little gold trim here and there and hopefully it will take us back to Los Angeles in 4-5 days.
I will be blogging the trip as the time and technology permits. 2300 miles plus, minus.
This is not my first cross country drive but there has been thirty years in between. It will be great way to take a note about the changes taken a place in the country and on the people.
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