I find your videos of run-down and fading small towns simultaneously melancholic and mesmerizing. But what resonates with me the most is the suggestion of innumerable untold stories. Behind every collapsed building, every free-standing facade, every blank storefront and every overgrown home is a multifaceted, generational human tale, and for those of us who did not know them, these mute relics are the sole remaining indicators of their existence. It intrigues me no end. Thank you for sharing these extraordinary sights and experiences with us, Joe! Excellent choice of music by the way. Evocative, perfect.
Hey I am a Brit and have been following you for some time. I spent 3 months roaming the US in 1970 and loved every minute, covered about 9000 miles in 3 months and met many wonderful people. What you are achieving is so special. You are showing the reality of life in the US with no spin. It is an honesty that your politicians, mainstream propagand "news" channels do not honour. Love it, don't stop.
Joe, your knowledge of America and its towns is probably second to none. Who has done what you do? Not only in touring these towns but also looking at the statistics. You and your channel are a living museum. Just think of all the Hollywood producers and game developers who would love to visit or even know about these towns for inspiration for their next movie or game. Who else even knows all these places exist? What an incredible journey.
Hi Guys!!! We have been all over with you. It's been sad in some places, beautiful in other places and enlightening in some locations. I love your platform.❤🎉
The USA is not decaying all over! That is what some political people say but we have high wages, very low unemployment, a kick ass stock market. More people have health insurance. Yes prices have gone up buy they have all over the world. The USA has the best economy and is still the best place to live in the world. These towns could have failed for many reasons but others are just booming and thriving.
@@freddyfriend5462 Possibly an industry (mill/factory etc) has shutdown and the people moved elsewhere for work. I'm from Australia and enjoy these "Smalltown USA" videos.
Great video and the best part is the comments are spot on. Amazing how so many places were thriving at one time and now a sad picture of once was. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.
I think this one is your masterpiece. It's astounding, and that music haunts you throughout. I want to watch this again (at least) once a month (and maybe) for the rest of my life!
I live a few hours from Cairo. Your video makes me really want to drive there to see it myself. Seems like it would be SO surreal (and interesting) to see what used to be such an important city that’s now virtually empty.
It’s so far the worst city I have seen on RUclips. It has lost 90% of its population more than a century Gary Indiana, East St Louis, Highland Park, and Jackson Mississippi
This is why people in the town have to have a grassroots movement to knock down old houses that are already falling apart and to clean the neighborhood of trash. I saw supposedly the smallest city in Mexico and the people there REGULARLY cleaned the town. If you don’t do that people will continue fleeing the city particularly the young people. The old people are the ones that stay behind in spite of the apocalyptic landscape
@@markmitchell457 - I moved to one of these towns in SE Kansas, after a year the realization that it could take 2 hours from the time a 911 medical call was made to reaching a hospital I decided to move. Along with medical there is no public transportation, no Uber, no taxis, no tow trucks, no car rental, dispersed law enforcement, miles to a gas station, and no support if you don’t have relatives of close friends.
Absolutely agree about the soundtrack. Hits the spot with the coverage of these desperate places. It has a Norman Whitfield feel when he produced the Temptations through their psychedelic and awareness period. Especially the guitar work.
I've driven through a few of these decaying towns while meandering in the last couple of years. Your video here hits hard, seeing familiar sights .. caused me to pay even more attention now. The hopes and dreams of the citizens. Wow. Thank you.
You guys have inspired me to take my wife on an overnight trip one weekend a month to a town within our state we've never been. Small or big, the size of the town doesn't matter. Keep the videos coming!! Cheers from Oregon.
Have been traveling with you both since you started your channel and i think this is a brilliant move to start to recollect your journey through the 52 states, major cities and towns. Nothing like boots on the ground which really gives one the real facts of the American experience , regarding it's strengths , weaknesses. it"s beauty and it's decay. As well as glimpses into the role politics and big business plays in the lives of the American people. So enlightening, informative while all the while very entertaining. Thankyou for your work and sharing.
Not more than a minute into the video, I told myself that this is the 2021-2024 version of "The Other America" by Michael Harrington. The video is insanely powerful and reminds us that there is still much to do. The soundtrack is just right as well. It would have been easy to choose a mournful tune, but the sadness here is countered by a hopeful and uplifting tone. I've enjoyed many of your travel vlogs; this is one of the best, if not the best.
I love this! I think the trash accumulation adds to the ugly. I don’t mind old. Unkempt is another story! Enjoyed this ride!!❤. Great music. McNabb Music Co is a cool old building.
What I appreciate about your videos, be they explorations of cities or small towns that the majority of viewers likely wouldn't be familiar with - is that they are done matter of fact, statistics included, and more importantly without political commentary. It shows that both the good and bad are evident pretty much everywhere, without exclusivity.
I live in southwest Missouri and see this first hand. Many towns were thriving until the late 80s. That's when the government decided to buy out the dairy farms and put the farmers out of business. Same with all the small factories in rural communities. Factory work was outsourced overseas where labor is cheap. Both parties are complicit in this rural destruction.
How sad it must be to live in a dying or dead town. Where do you go for groceries or gas and how can you go out anyway just to see the apocalypse . I guess, like us, a town lives a life and some just get old and die as young people leave for hopefully a better life. So many small towns were created around a single entity and once that folded, the town was destined to follow. 😢
The US government literally paid companies to move their factories to China in the 90's, we still subsidies "free shipping" from China. This has devastated our country.
@@floydlooney6837 yep….Clinton signed in the nafta agreement in 93 and it was like factories closed overnight. But so many younger people don’t know their history.
No that is not true. Rich folks bought out companies and closed them to make short term gains and huge profits. There are lots of reasons towns can decay while other areas thrive.
@@daviddesmond2143 nafta is very true…funny how so many companies shut down and moved to Mexico after it was signed within a year. That didn’t have anything to do with rich people buying anything, it had everything to do with moving companies to Mexico and elsewhere to make huge profits, fewer regulations and not taxed to death here. But yes some other reasons towns decay but that was a big one in modern times.
The "sameness" of decay is striking in these widely separate places. Now, like many others, I would like to see a best-of version. Thanks, stay safe and off the interstates.
As James Earl Jones says in the film “Field of Dreams,” “America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.” It’s the small towns of that film that are being erased. Sadly, people will not come. This is not a reflection on this country. It is a story of economics. The United States continues to grow and prosper. In every economy ever, someone wins while someone else loses. These small towns were once essential to the agrarian economy and had small industries bloom around them. Today we have large agribusiness growing our food making farmers nearly obsolete, while giant corporations now make all the products we need to live. These small towns became superfluous and unnecessary.
@Nicksonian actually,I was talking about the Mandela effect.Have you heard of it?,Some people remember" he" and other people remember "they".What do you remember?Lots of videos on the Mandela effect if you don't know about it
@@timhollis3390 Ah, that. I haven't watched the movie in a few years, but early on in the film, I seem to recall that the voice said "he." "He" being his father...or Shoeless Joe Jackson. Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones) clearly says, "they will come" referring to the crowds of people who will gladly hand over $20 to look around.
Kudos to the townsfolks for keeping these town structures preserved in their natural decaying state. Thats the way of preserving and respecting the past , present and future . It all boils down to history when visitors and outsiders can see and reminisce the bygone era of these towns and cities.
I love it when you compilate your videos like this. It gives you added content, a way for newbies to catch up and a more comprehensive view of America and your travels. Withstanding, it gives you and Nicole a break. LOL. Great job Joe! Keep dong what you are doing. We will ride along with you. Peace. 👌
I’ve watched many of your videos , unless I’m mistaken I think this is the first one you ever added music to it. I think you should always do it . I like it , really gives the video flavor and really does make a difference.
There are so many places that are no longer populated and are needing new people to come and start over in..that will bring new life to these areas. My adult children can’t afford to buy where we live and grew up. My grandparents left Nebraska in the 1920s to make a better life for us on the west coast. But our governors have made many bad decisions, causing all the unaffordable housing problems. Closed county poor farms, closed state mental hospitals. Due to great weather, A person can live here on the streets year round without dying..so there many homeless..with that element then come the drugs and the mental health issues. God help us. We need better leaders. 🙏🏻🇺🇸🕊
I have been following you since you started making videos and enjoy watching everyone. So sad but interesting to see what is happening to small town America. I visit the US every year visiting family try and travel as much as I can but restricted due to family plans. Your videos are showing me what I really want to see. Make America great again is in the too hard basket I am sad to say. Keep the videos coming.
This video is beautifully creative and touching while at the same time heartrending. Everytime I watch one of your videos of these dilapitated little ghost-like towns I can't help but wonder what happened to each individual that had to walk away from their home or business to just let it decompose. I keep wondering what happened to each of these people and for those who still live in poverty, how on earth do they manage? So, so sad. Thank you for your excellent work. Hopefully one day you'll consider coming here to Canada to tour our country. There are places here in my own country that I will never have the opportunity to visit and I would love to see those towns through your camera's lense.
From uk and enjoy chilling and relaxing to your videos. Unfortunately never will be able to enter the us due to a missspent youth so watching these gives me a sense of how vibrant these towns must have been in the hey day.keep the videos coming.
On one of those drive-through’s, I thought that was Bigfoot’s offspring the way he was waddling in the intersection anyway on a serious note and I say this was compassion. I think some of these towns could be rebuilt with some manufactured homes and this is where you would send, necessarily the criminal element but a lot of the homeless to restart their journey back to society or just have a different environment than the big urban jungle. I drive through a lot of these places too. I’m a trucker. Some are creepy and some in a weird kind of way are beautiful just the way they are.
Hi Maynard, unfortunately your idea of rebuilding some of these towns would be a waste of taxpayers dollars until the reasons why people moved out, the lack of jobs is why it wouldn't work. Until corporations start back up manufacturing in the U.S. instead of other countries we will see the middle class fade away and we will only have the rich and the poor.
Great music on this one. I found Camp Hill, Al interesting to make the list. I lived in Auburn, Al in the late 80's and there were several big deer hunting lodges in that area then. The town must have really gone down hill in the last 40 years.
Just was watching my other favorite travel channel before I watched this one. Travels With a Wise Guy (who keeps mostly to the Midwest) said he recently interviewed you and that interview will appear on his channel next week. Looking forward to it. Keep up the good work!
The music and this video really gave me got to me especially the dog laying in front of the house that was in ruins. I would have stopped and taken the dog as he looked happy inspire of his situation as how could a person just leave a dog as I know that I can't do it being I would have taken him. You really hit the mark with this video as it is just my opinion. Thanks for the reality check..😊😊😊😊
How devastating to see all this. Thank you for this video not being your very first one because I would never have watched any of your other videos. Have a great day and safe travels.
So sad what our government and politicians have done to our once great country ! With shipping our businesses over seas for cheap labor !! Destroying these once thriving small towns !
Looks like you encountered a zombie around the 12:00 mark. Then that poor sweet dog wagging it's tail in front of the abandoned home just made me 😭 So sad seeing all this. But thank you it was very interesting, Joe!
You say worst but I live in a part of the country where things get bulldozed and replaced every 10 to 20 years. It's nice to see places where things can be old and just decay. Where I live those cool old buildings would have been replaced with Dryvit-coated strip malls full of big box stores
Sadly, a lot of the decay that you see in small, rural towns is the product of rising costs of operation for smaller family farms and the eventual sale of said farms to corporate conglomerates...who use technology to their advantage and have little to no connection to the towns that they now surround.
Great video… look, no country/economy is perfect but it’s particularly disturbing to see the collapse of American infrastructure compared to other countries. It’s actually a complete disgrace, especially considering the government decides to invest in forever wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel etc What a shambles
Oh, wow! A twofer! I went through Leuders, TX in 1988 in pursuit of remaining evidence of a long-abandoned M-K-T branch line from Waco to Rotan. Let's coin a word: ferroequinarchaeology. -Ed.
This is a phenomenon seen in developed countries particularly the western countries, may be except countries like UK, Switzerland etc. The main reason may be urbanisation. People should think of returning to villages (after retirement). I think this one of the solutions for this. Let us ‘Return to villages’.
It just can't happen in the places like England. There just isn't enough spare land for it just to sit their and decay forever. The USA has 98 people per mi² and England has 1124. That's 11.5x. Australia is starting to have similar issues where mining towns are dying off and people are moving to the cities driving up housing costs in places like Sydney and Melbourne.
@@gavjlewisding, ding, ding! Winner winner, chicken dinner!, many people, even Americans don't realize the size of the country and the distances involved. For every small town that's fading away there's a suburb or bedroom community that's growing.
so much decay, so sad...alot of these towns reminds me of the 80's. Not the decay and the huge main streets ( which we don't have in my country) but the vibe these small towns have. Simpler times with a lot less control. Sadly gone forever. Most of these towns in your compilation will be too in the near future.
I find your videos of run-down and fading small towns simultaneously melancholic and mesmerizing. But what resonates with me the most is the suggestion of innumerable untold stories. Behind every collapsed building, every free-standing facade, every blank storefront and every overgrown home is a multifaceted, generational human tale, and for those of us who did not know them, these mute relics are the sole remaining indicators of their existence. It intrigues me no end. Thank you for sharing these extraordinary sights and experiences with us, Joe!
Excellent choice of music by the way. Evocative, perfect.
It's also the people left behind as others move out, pass away. Imagine being born in one of those towns now.
Brilliantly put Markus. Tragic and yet mesmerising. The forefathers would despair. The road ends here.
@@captainwin6333 The leftovers.
Beautifully stated. I feel the same. Throw in some nostalgia for times past and wonderment of what these now abandoned towns looked like in the prime.
Well said!
Hey I am a Brit and have been following you for some time. I spent 3 months roaming the US in 1970 and loved every minute, covered about 9000 miles in 3 months and met many wonderful people. What you are achieving is so special. You are showing the reality of life in the US with no spin. It is an honesty that your politicians, mainstream propagand "news" channels do not honour. Love it, don't stop.
Wow, thanks!!
You sound like another Jack Keroake. He wrote a best selling non-fiction called "On the Road." Late 50's.
I like the style of this video. No words were needed
!!
@patm5594 It's really good but Joe's narration is one of the best things about this channel
Thanks Joey.👍🙃 Love all your different formats. this one is like- Wow, WTF happened there?!
Thank you!!
One of those well done videos that makes you kinda feel guilty hitting the like button
Joe, your knowledge of America and its towns is probably second to none. Who has done what you do? Not only in touring these towns but also looking at the statistics. You and your channel are a living museum. Just think of all the Hollywood producers and game developers who would love to visit or even know about these towns for inspiration for their next movie or game. Who else even knows all these places exist? What an incredible journey.
Thank you.
That was brilliant , no talking . atmospheric music , liked the way it was presented, Thank you
Very chilling video with great musical accompaniment!
Seeing a new video from you makes my day 😊! And I can’t wait for the next one!
Hi Guys!!! We have been all over with you. It's been sad in some places, beautiful in other places and enlightening in some locations. I love your platform.❤🎉
Thanks!!
So sad to see our beautiful country decaying all over. These small towns were once very beautiful.
People have just moved to big cities. Nothing serious, urbanization goes on, as it has always been.
The USA is not decaying all over! That is what some political people say but we have high wages, very low unemployment, a kick ass stock market. More people have health insurance. Yes prices have gone up buy they have all over the world. The USA has the best economy and is still the best place to live in the world. These towns could have failed for many reasons but others are just booming and thriving.
These results are bc America jobs, were sent elsewhere, to make govts. rich, but those "gone" jobs, used to afford Americans, a middle-class life
@@freddyfriend5462 Making Housing in Big Citys More Expensive.
@@freddyfriend5462 Possibly an industry (mill/factory etc) has shutdown and the people moved elsewhere for work. I'm from Australia and enjoy these "Smalltown USA" videos.
Great video and the best part is the comments are spot on. Amazing how so many places were thriving at one time and now a sad picture of once was. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.
I think this one is your masterpiece. It's astounding, and that music haunts you throughout.
I want to watch this again (at least) once a month (and maybe) for the rest of my life!
Thank you for this, Dave.
Tour de force…for sure
Eerie and apoaolyptic vibes on this one with a brilliant soundtrack to boot ! Great stuff ❤ from England 👍
That was exactly my thought. The music on this video was eerily apocalyptic.
Reminiscences of begone era, wonderfully captured by your camera, with your eye and mind behind this, for us. Great videos. Thanks Joe. 🙏
This is so well done! We all need to see this.
Thank you!!!
The stark wretchedness of these lost communities timed with eerie sci fi soundscape is as good as RUclips gets! Watching from Australia🐍🕷️🦈
I live a few hours from Cairo. Your video makes me really want to drive there to see it myself. Seems like it would be SO surreal (and interesting) to see what used to be such an important city that’s now virtually empty.
It just as interesting and surreal to drive through at night!
It is a fascinating place to visit.
It’s so far the worst city I have seen on RUclips. It has lost 90% of its population more than a century Gary Indiana, East St Louis, Highland Park, and Jackson Mississippi
Really enjoyed this format. Exactly what your channel needed.
It must be depressing to live in a town that is falling to pieces around you.
Nearly as bad as living in a house that’s doing likewise.
With no medical support. Your in for a long drive to see a doctor, or hospital.
The question is why? There is absolutely nothing holding anybody there.
This is why people in the town have to have a grassroots movement to knock down old houses that are already falling apart and to clean the neighborhood of trash. I saw supposedly the smallest city in Mexico and the people there REGULARLY cleaned the town. If you don’t do that people will continue fleeing the city particularly the young people. The old people are the ones that stay behind in spite of the apocalyptic landscape
@@markmitchell457 - I moved to one of these towns in SE Kansas, after a year the realization that it could take 2 hours from the time a 911 medical call was made to reaching a hospital I decided to move. Along with medical there is no public transportation, no Uber, no taxis, no tow trucks, no car rental, dispersed law enforcement, miles to a gas station, and no support if you don’t have relatives of close friends.
This gives me a whole new look on the definition of a Fixer Upper.........Thanks for your channel Joe & Nicole
Excellent videos of these dying towns from your collection. Really like the music, too.
You couldn't have pick a better soundtrack to this great, but equally sad video, Joe. Excellent.
Thanks, Ed!!
Wow, another excellent video. Thank you ❤
Yes, you do a very good job. That music was unreal! Thank you for all you do.
Thank you!
The music slaps, good pick!
It reminds me of Pink Floyd, Careful With That Axe Eugene. Took me a while to place it, and it belongs here. Happy Halloween!
Absolutely agree about the soundtrack. Hits the spot with the coverage of these desperate places. It has a Norman Whitfield feel when he produced the Temptations through their psychedelic and awareness period. Especially the guitar work.
Thinking the same thing.
Thanks! It's my favorite song that RUclips provides for free. It's by a band called Unicorn Heads. The song is called "Light Expanse".
My wife says you should do a compilation of cat encounters. I agree that you should, and the soundtrack should be “I’m leaving it all to my cat”
I've driven through a few of these decaying towns while meandering in the last couple of years. Your video here hits hard, seeing familiar sights .. caused me to pay even more attention now. The hopes and dreams of the citizens. Wow. Thank you.
You guys have inspired me to take my wife on an overnight trip one weekend a month to a town within our state we've never been. Small or big, the size of the town doesn't matter. Keep the videos coming!! Cheers from Oregon.
I really like these drive-by vids, with just cool, ruminative music
Excellent job 💯 showing this.
Excellent video and soundtrack.
Thank you for putting this together! It must be sad for you to see all this blight.
An excellent video, as always. Thank you for sharing this with us, Joe and Nic.❤
Thanks CL!
Have been traveling with you both since you started your channel and i think this is a brilliant move to start to recollect your journey through the 52 states, major cities and towns. Nothing like boots on the ground which really gives one the real facts of the American experience , regarding it's strengths , weaknesses. it"s beauty and it's decay. As well as glimpses into the role politics and big business plays in the lives of the American people. So enlightening, informative while all the while very entertaining. Thankyou for your work and sharing.
52 states? Would love to know the names of the extra two!
Thank you for this.
50 states
Bless all these people who live in these towns. So sad. I’m beyond grateful for where I live. 🙏
Not more than a minute into the video, I told myself that this is the 2021-2024 version of "The Other America" by Michael Harrington. The video is insanely powerful and reminds us that there is still much to do. The soundtrack is just right as well. It would have been easy to choose a mournful tune, but the sadness here is countered by a hopeful and uplifting tone. I've enjoyed many of your travel vlogs; this is one of the best, if not the best.
Wow, thank you!!
Thanks!
Loved this video. It was a bit sad but it was exactly what you wanted to share with us. I did, however, miss your soothing narration.😊💞
I love this! I think the trash accumulation adds to the ugly. I don’t mind old. Unkempt is another story! Enjoyed this ride!!❤. Great music. McNabb Music Co is a cool old building.
What I appreciate about your videos, be they explorations of cities or small towns that the majority of viewers likely wouldn't be familiar with - is that they are done matter of fact, statistics included, and more importantly without political commentary. It shows that both the good and bad are evident pretty much everywhere, without exclusivity.
@@robatsea2009 Thank you for the kind words. 😀👍
I live in southwest Missouri and see this first hand. Many towns were thriving until the late 80s. That's when the government decided to buy out the dairy farms and put the farmers out of business. Same with all the small factories in rural communities. Factory work was outsourced overseas where labor is cheap. Both parties are complicit in this rural destruction.
Or is it that north Americans won't work for low wages??? You can see how the car manufacturers struggle because of union wages.
And still yet automation and robot technology will further erode rural towns
How sad it must be to live in a dying or dead town. Where do you go for groceries or gas and how can you go out anyway just to see the apocalypse . I guess, like us, a town lives a life and some just get old and die as young people leave for hopefully a better life. So many small towns were created around a single entity and once that folded, the town was destined to follow. 😢
Enjoyed the video and the music was amazing.That’s what made the ride memorable . 💕💕💕
The US government literally paid companies to move their factories to China in the 90's, we still subsidies "free shipping" from China. This has devastated our country.
@@floydlooney6837 yep….Clinton signed in the nafta agreement in 93 and it was like factories closed overnight. But so many younger people don’t know their history.
No that is not true. Rich folks bought out companies and closed them to make short term gains and huge profits. There are lots of reasons towns can decay while other areas thrive.
@@daviddesmond2143 nafta is very true…funny how so many companies shut down and moved to Mexico after it was signed within a year. That didn’t have anything to do with rich people buying anything, it had everything to do with moving companies to Mexico and elsewhere to make huge profits, fewer regulations and not taxed to death here. But yes some other reasons towns decay but that was a big one in modern times.
Union labor and federal rules and regulations is why a lot of companies left America
Don't forget the insurmountable debts from the bank. They literally choked the locals
Thanks to Walmart, Amazon and everybody else that sells on the internet. No local spending, no jobs, stores close, people leave.
The "sameness" of decay is striking in these widely separate places. Now, like many others, I would like to see a best-of version. Thanks, stay safe and off the interstates.
As James Earl Jones says in the film “Field of Dreams,” “America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.” It’s the small towns of that film that are being erased. Sadly, people will not come. This is not a reflection on this country. It is a story of economics. The United States continues to grow and prosper. In every economy ever, someone wins while someone else loses. These small towns were once essential to the agrarian economy and had small industries bloom around them. Today we have large agribusiness growing our food making farmers nearly obsolete, while giant corporations now make all the products we need to live. These small towns became superfluous and unnecessary.
@Nicksonian "If you build it_____will come" fill in the blank
@@timhollis3390 I said in my comment, "Sadly people will not come." And they aren't. People only leave these small towns.
@Nicksonian actually,I was talking about the Mandela effect.Have you heard of it?,Some people remember" he" and other people remember "they".What do you remember?Lots of videos on the Mandela effect if you don't know about it
@@timhollis3390 Ah, that. I haven't watched the movie in a few years, but early on in the film, I seem to recall that the voice said "he." "He" being his father...or Shoeless Joe Jackson. Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones) clearly says, "they will come" referring to the crowds of people who will gladly hand over $20 to look around.
Kudos to the townsfolks for keeping these town structures preserved in their natural decaying state. Thats the way of preserving and respecting the past , present and future . It all boils down to history when visitors and outsiders can see and reminisce the bygone era of these towns and cities.
I agree.
I love it when you compilate your videos like this. It gives you added content, a way for newbies to catch up and a more comprehensive view of America and your travels. Withstanding, it gives you and Nicole a break. LOL. Great job Joe! Keep dong what you are doing. We will ride along with you. Peace. 👌
wow that's like an 60's pink floyd B-Side - great video!!
What's crazy is I didn't live too far from Camp Hill as a kid. These days it looks like a ghost town being reclaimed by nature.
I’ve watched many of your videos , unless I’m mistaken I think this is the first one you ever added music to it. I think you should always do it . I like it , really gives the video flavor and really does make a difference.
I've done it to quite a few older videos.
There are so many places that are no longer populated and are needing new people to come and start over in..that will bring new life to these areas.
My adult children can’t afford to buy where we live and grew up. My grandparents left Nebraska in the 1920s to make a better life for us on the west coast. But our governors have made many bad decisions, causing all the unaffordable housing problems. Closed county poor farms, closed state mental hospitals. Due to great weather, A person can live here on the streets year round without dying..so there many homeless..with that element then come the drugs and the mental health issues.
God help us. We need better leaders. 🙏🏻🇺🇸🕊
One thing I like about your videos, it makes you appreciate, even with all its faults, the town you live in. Thanks for sharing.
Thos is one of Your best videos. No words are needed plus wonderful music combined with the film content. Regards form Warsaw, Joanna
In the old days a long time ago villagers would set ablaze every thing and move on to start anew.🙂
Thanks for sharing.
It's sad to see the situation in these places!
Hard to believe that Denmark SC is the home of not one but two post-secondary institutions.
I have been following you since you started making videos and enjoy watching everyone. So sad but interesting to see what is happening to small town America. I visit the US every year visiting family try and travel as much as I can but restricted due to family plans. Your videos are showing me what I really want to see. Make America great again is in the too hard basket I am sad to say. Keep the videos coming.
Awesome, thank you!!
Your videos are always amazing 🤩 keep up the great content as always bro 😊
This video is beautifully creative and touching while at the same time heartrending. Everytime I watch one of your videos of these dilapitated little ghost-like towns I can't help but wonder what happened to each individual that had to walk away from their home or business to just let it decompose. I keep wondering what happened to each of these people and for those who still live in poverty, how on earth do they manage? So, so sad. Thank you for your excellent work. Hopefully one day you'll consider coming here to Canada to tour our country. There are places here in my own country that I will never have the opportunity to visit and I would love to see those towns through your camera's lense.
Great comment! Thank you. And, we'll be heading to Canada this spring.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Wow! Wonderful!!!!
From uk and enjoy chilling and relaxing to your videos. Unfortunately never will be able to enter the us due to a missspent youth so watching these gives me a sense of how vibrant these towns must have been in the hey day.keep the videos coming.
Nah, you're good... just walk up through the Mexico border, say "no hablo ingles " and then head to California for free money and services
Are you in prison in the UK?
How sad and depressing, music perfectly collaborate. Great video Joe! 🏡😢
Thanks!!
On one of those drive-through’s, I thought that was Bigfoot’s offspring the way he was waddling in the intersection anyway on a serious note and I say this was compassion. I think some of these towns could be rebuilt with some manufactured homes and this is where you would send, necessarily the criminal element but a lot of the homeless to restart their journey back to society or just have a different environment than the big urban jungle. I drive through a lot of these places too. I’m a trucker. Some are creepy and some in a weird kind of way are beautiful just the way they are.
Hi Maynard, unfortunately your idea of rebuilding some of these towns would be a waste of taxpayers dollars until the reasons why people moved out, the lack of jobs is why it wouldn't work. Until corporations start back up manufacturing in the U.S. instead of other countries we will see the middle class fade away and we will only have the rich and the poor.
@@indianaslim4971 true but we could relocate a lot of lazy people there and just leave them lol
I agree.
Great music on this one. I found Camp Hill, Al interesting to make the list. I lived in Auburn, Al in the late 80's and there were several big deer hunting lodges in that area then. The town must have really gone down hill in the last 40 years.
touching pictures Thanks
Just was watching my other favorite travel channel before I watched this one. Travels With a Wise Guy (who keeps mostly to the Midwest) said he recently interviewed you and that interview will appear on his channel next week. Looking forward to it. Keep up the good work!
That’s right! We had a good talk. 😀👍
Thanks for the video s most of us don't see this stuff
Absolutely!!
I've always kind of wondered how tall weeds could grow. I guess the answer is at 1:55. Keep up the good work bringing us these great videos!
Fascinating video!
Thanks, man!!!
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; the time goes back to the dusk.
The music and this video really gave me got to me especially the dog laying in front of the house that was in ruins. I would have stopped and taken the dog as he looked happy inspire of his situation as how could a person just leave a dog as I know that I can't do it being I would have taken him. You really hit the mark with this video as it is just my opinion. Thanks for the reality check..😊😊😊😊
I really like your vídeos, they're amazing! I'm watching from Brazil.
Awesome! Thank you!
😮😮😮😮 WOW,thank you,always enjoy your videos 😊
How devastating to see all this. Thank you for this video not being your very first one because I would never have watched any of your other videos. Have a great day and safe travels.
A few places like this can be found in nearly every country, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of such in the US.
Man, this gave me flashbacks to my military days in Eastern Europe, especially Bosnia. Some of those crumbling standalone buildings took me back.
So sad what our government and politicians have done to our once great country ! With shipping our businesses over seas for cheap labor !! Destroying these once thriving small towns !
If there's no economy there, why live there. It world be interesting to know the names and reasons they are ghost towns.
Looks like you encountered a zombie around the 12:00 mark. Then that poor sweet dog wagging it's tail in front of the abandoned home just made me 😭 So sad seeing all this. But thank you it was very interesting, Joe!
The sad thing about this in some of those ram shacked houses there are people still in there .
Yes.
I'm sad to see the sites in these videos, but you do excellent work showing us this. Nice music too, sort of fits in perfectly, Thanks, Joe
Fort Sumner, the most important stop on the Goodnight-Loving Trail!
I was anticipating that Hurley made the list, but it's not much consolation to know that Fort Sumner is slightly worse off.
For those curious as to the soundtrack it’s Light Expanse by Unicorn Head.
Thank you. It really went well with the video. As. someone else said like Tangerine Dream
You say worst but I live in a part of the country where things get bulldozed and replaced every 10 to 20 years. It's nice to see places where things can be old and just decay. Where I live those cool old buildings would have been replaced with Dryvit-coated strip malls full of big box stores
A compilation of decay... Some of your best videos document this sad truth.
Even the Cats have moved away. Great music guys!
Sadly, a lot of the decay that you see in small, rural towns is the product of rising costs of operation for smaller family farms and the eventual sale of said farms to corporate conglomerates...who use technology to their advantage and have little to no connection to the towns that they now surround.
Great video… look, no country/economy is perfect but it’s particularly disturbing to see the collapse of American infrastructure compared to other countries. It’s actually a complete disgrace, especially considering the government decides to invest in forever wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel etc
What a shambles
Not all small towns in America look like these.
Thanks for the video, I just got back from dumpster diving, found nothing to film at 3 in the morning 😊
Bombay Beach looks like it got bombed.😄
I said it looks apocalyptic 😊
Makes me glad I live where I do.
I really enjoyed; thank you; music was perfect 🙏🥰🦋❤️🇺🇸
Thank you!!!
Oh, wow! A twofer! I went through Leuders, TX in 1988 in pursuit of remaining evidence of a long-abandoned M-K-T branch line from Waco to Rotan. Let's coin a word: ferroequinarchaeology. -Ed.
This is a phenomenon seen in developed countries particularly the western countries, may be except countries like UK, Switzerland etc. The main reason may be urbanisation. People should think of returning to villages (after retirement). I think this one of the solutions for this. Let us ‘Return to villages’.
It just can't happen in the places like England. There just isn't enough spare land for it just to sit their and decay forever. The USA has 98 people per mi² and England has 1124. That's 11.5x.
Australia is starting to have similar issues where mining towns are dying off and people are moving to the cities driving up housing costs in places like Sydney and Melbourne.
@@gavjlewisding, ding, ding! Winner winner, chicken dinner!, many people, even Americans don't realize the size of the country and the distances involved. For every small town that's fading away there's a suburb or bedroom community that's growing.
I stayed a night in Fort Sumner, NM on a drive from Louisiana to San Diego. Creepy place.
so much decay, so sad...alot of these towns reminds me of the 80's. Not the decay and the huge main streets ( which we don't have in my country) but the vibe these small towns have. Simpler times with a lot less control. Sadly gone forever. Most of these towns in your compilation will be too in the near future.
Great video, how about a compilation video of all the abandoned cars you come across?
Not a bad idea. :)
Wow, wow, WOW, Joe! We love all your vids, but THIS one - wow. I still have goosebumps! 🏆🥇🎖
Such a pro video- however I enjoy your voice so much, I missed it here! Thanks for all your efforts to make quality content!