You mean highway 40 keeps going after 270?

Has anyone been out to the Chesterfield Valley lately? I was out there last night and I must say I’m stunned. I grew up in Chesterfield but my family moved further east when I was 11. I used to play softball out in the valley near the Smoke House and I know it was all under water in 1993 during the floods. I guess the last time I was out there must have been about 4 years ago shortly after the Wal-Mart opened. It seems like it has exploded since then. Every discount chain store and homogenous chain restaurant possible has taken root and sprouted there. It’s amazing. I met some people at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Um, don’t go. That’s all I’m going to say. Is the population that large out there that they need a Lowe’s and a Home Depot in the same place? What about a Wal-Mart and a Target? I’m the last person in the world who anyone would accuse of being an earthly crunchy granola hippie type but this looks to be a brash display of capitalism at is purest. I think I would feel smothered in a community where every house looked exactly the same, came with an SUV and 1.5 children, and big night out was a coin toss between Red Lobster and The Olive Garden.