The Next Adventure - Small town USA

Just stopping by to post a quick update about what is coming up next in my adventures.  I am happy, actually thrilled to share that I will be returning back to the USA for the foreseeable future!!  Now, do not read that as the same thing as being happy to leave Brazil - that would be WRONG.  I am not happy to leave, I am happy to arrive, very different things that unfortunately always happen together, always.  

I have accepted a delighful position with my company to be a manager at one of the ice cream factories.  Yes, that is right, I will fulfill everyone's childhood fantasy of getting to work in a real life ice cream factory where I can munch on ice cream anytime my little (or potentially cardiac arrest prone) heart desires.  I will have 3 direct reports and 88 operators working under me to do everything we can to deliver delicious, frozen treats to your freezers.  

This will all take place in Sikeston, MO.  That is Missouri for those of us who are either non-American or did not really get through the 5th grade (that is when I had to memorize the states and capitals... and I wont lie I thought MO was Montana for a while... silly MT)

 

As you can see from this map, Sikeston is a booming city that is bigger than STL - this is a lie.  Sikeston is actually itty bitty, think 15-17,000 people.  I will live in the true booming metropolis of Cape Girardeau which is large enough to have a regional airport about 30 miles north of Sikeston.  Cape, I have been told, is roughly 50,000 people.  Now it might seem as though this would deter my interest in accepting this job.  I will admit that at first, it did.  I took some time to read the Cape Girardeau wiki page, look at the Cape city website, and promptly break down thinking that I will not be just a big fish in a small pond, but I will be a blue whale in the smallest oasis in the freakin Sahara Desert.  But I got over myself pretty quick (I am really more like a beta fish - I play tough in the mirror but I am mostly harmless) and decided to focus on the more charming and wonderful parts of living in Small town USA. For example:

• Amazingly low cost of living
• Quick to learn the area and become a "regular" at the good spots
• Zero traffic (I hope)
• Easy access to nature and thus unpolluted views of the night sky (and the full solar eclipse happening in 2017 *thanks Philip*)
• Community feeling you just don't have in a big city
• Bon fires and beers (smores anyone?!)
• Horse back riding?? maybe 

 So - my time here in Brazil is wrapping up and I am both excited for the new adventure and sad to be saying goodbye to this one.  All of this will happen in a flash also, first day at the new job - July 1st.  First day at the Dr for obesity induced diabetes... September 1st.  Just kidding!!  I will try to resist the urge to do hourly quality checks on all production lines, I promise!

This month will fly by without a doubt!!