Day 101 – 579 miles
This week is day 101 of the total Lowndes walk, and day 22 of the Valdosta portion.
I completed walking the eight Industrial Parks of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Development Authority. Most of the industries contained therein occupy gargantuan steel buildings that are impresive in scope and scale. It made me feel like a Lilliputian sized Gulliver traveling through Brobdingnag (the land of the giants). The parks are well laid out, spacious, well appointed for road and rail access, and landscaped well enough to make the cover of any upscale residential realty brochure.
A cursory review of Valdosta’s industrial ranking revealed that immediately prior to the pandemic onset, Valdosta had been ranked by -Site Selection- magazine as number five of the top 10 metro areas in the nation (among American metros under 200k), with the most industrial projects (15) under way! With COVID on the wane, Valdosta metro has since been ranked in the top 10 for job recovery by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, I saw a ton of construction under way. I recalled that in an earlier picture post I’d commented on the paucity of industry in the Miller Industrial Park and now realize that in order to keep up with that kind of growth, at that pace, space has to be ready available. Hats off to the Development Authority, Council and Commission for making that availability a reality.
Of all the cow towns in all the counties in all the world, those kind of statistics are nothing short of remarkable and make me incredibly proud of Valdosta’s leadership. Before this Walk Around Lowndes thing, I’d always regarded Valdosta as little cow town but now, I regard us as a big-ole highfalutin Cow Town! (and that moniker is a term of endearment).