| Author |
Message |
Roblover
Member
05-17-2011
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 7:52 am 
How does Arlington even qualify as a town, other than a ghost town? It was eery. If everything is an hour away, does that mean hospitals too? I would be afraid of a farming accident with no immediate help. What happened to the town to cause everything to shut down except the high school? Even the bank was locked.
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Mamapors
Member
07-29-2004
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 8:02 am
I was wondering how you sustain a high school with only 400 people. They must have many small towns near each other that share the high school.
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Codebear
Member
07-02-2011
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 9:07 am
Megan Bell on Good Morning America
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hbxr6
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Babyjaxmom
Member
10-20-2002
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 10:18 am
I was wondering where they have to go to grocery shop. I lived in a small town when I was a kid, in the Sierras near Mount Lassen. It was a wonderful place to be a kid, but my older sisters (teenagers) were bored out of their minds. We had to drive between 1/2 to an hour to shop or go to a movie.
I'm thinking there must be other towns in the area that support the high school. There were a lot of people at that game. I'm also wondering what Chris's sisters' husbands do for a living. Are they farmers, too? It was pretty bleak.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 11:05 am
I think bleak is the right word. I love small towns but that isn't a small town. It's a deserted town. As we've said, there has to be some population near by. That was a fair sized high school with a fairly well attended football game. Not big by any standard but at least a few people.
No one has mentioned it (and as Lexie said, production must have been behind it) but under other circumstances I would think it very unfeeling for the women to go there on their own without Chris' invite. A hometown is something I would think he would want to be there for so he could explain things and share the experience.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 11:48 am
When the sisters visited, one of them had flown in from outside the US, so at least one of them doesn't live near the family farms.
It really was a sad "town". Gosh when I lived in Modjeska Canyon, pop 250 of course we were on the edge of civilization and all but at least we had a little store/gas station (never used them because they were pricey and we went down the hill every weekday anyway) but at least they were there, there was still a school the next canyon over (and that only closed recently, much to the sorrow of those in several canyons), there was a post office in the next canyon and a couple of restaurants. It was a wonderful place but the teens did get bored. We had maybe a 30-45 minute drive to grocery stores and all that and now there are closer ones and even toll roads.
I would have thought since Chris' family is said to be pretty well off, they'd try to support a small business or two, try to revitalize the place
I thought it was strange to take the field trip but I suspect production really DID want to winnow out those who simply had no idea just HOW deserted that little "town" is. I did feel like this ruined it for Chris to at least give things a positive spin like Jade got.
So now ONLY Whitney hasn't seen the reality of the place but was charmed by life in Des Moines..
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Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 12:48 pm
Whether production encouraged the road trip or simply allowed it, it does seem more than a bit insensitive. I think all of the dates should have been in his hometown. Maybe the girls should have been sleeping in an RV or tents outside of town rather than a hotel in a city.
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Codebear
Member
07-02-2011
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 1:45 pm
The following is from Google Maps. Photo of old school in Arlington. Windows broken out. Photo and aerial view of Starmont HS. Starmont HS is 5 miles from Arlington. Arlington is 182 miles from Des Moines or 150 miles if you go directly through the corn fields.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 3:17 pm
Starmont has a nice website. It looks like a nice active school. 182 miles from Des Moines is a long way away.
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Cinnamongirl
Member
01-10-2001
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 3:53 pm
yeah a 3 hour drive to Des Moines... but a few smaller towns like Waterloo or Cedar Rapids are just an hour drive from Arlington. Groceries, Doctor/Dentist/Hair appts all an hour away.. not to mention fun stuff like a movie or dinner out..
Definitely do-able... but it would be a big adjustment to most people.
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Lakecat
Member
10-01-2006
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 4:02 pm
I lived in Brownwood Tx for a year. It had a sonic, a Walmart and a donut shop and not a lot more. The nearest mall was an hour and a half away in Abiliene. I was totally miserable.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 4:52 pm
Even the nearest Wal Mart is 21 miles from Arlington..
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 5:29 pm
I can see that they tried to tone down the international travelling on this Bachelor but that sort of isolation is a huge change from the lifestyle they are experiencing on the show. It would be an enormous lifestyle change.
My Aunts and Uncles lived on the south shore of Nova Scotia about an hour outside of Halifax. But that didn't seem nearly as isolated as what we are seeing here. There were lots of nice places to eat and even places to stay.
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Northstar
Member
09-29-2008
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 5:34 pm
I grew up in a small town (long long ago, lol). Things like lack of shopping, concerts/movies, etc wouldn't bother me as much as the EVERYBODY knows your business factor. I don't deal well when it's common place to have no boundaries. Nosy people are annoying to me.
Of the remaining, it can only be Carley, Whitney or Becca. The other three would never make it in that lifestyle...imho.
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Lexie_girl
Member
07-30-2004
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 5:47 pm
Brenda - Production totally set up the field trip for the girls to go to Arlington. On the show, the girls (or the guys if it is a Bachelorette) are locked up tighter than a 55-gallon drum. They aren't allowed to leave their hotel room for anything. They can't even go to the hotel beauty salon for hair and nails. They order room service three times a day unless they are on a date. Production didn't "let them go" to Arlington - Production set up the trip.
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Reenie
Member
06-24-2006
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 7:07 pm
Whitney has a career in Chicago amd she's going to give it all up to move to Arlington? I just don't see it. I don't mean to be so cynical, but that town was really bleak.
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Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 7:12 pm
Yeah, historically we've never seen anything like it. I wonder if they told chris. It seems a bit unfair to him, but I think it was important for all the girls to see the town. All of them should have seen it with Chris!
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Lakecat
Member
10-01-2006
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 7:42 pm
I knew Carley was a goner. Do the the tattle tales ever stay? I saw Kaitlyn modeling a coat today on a pop up ad on the Internet. I guess she's a dance instructor/model
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Reader234
Member
08-13-2000
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 7:46 pm
Didn't whitney just say his sisters live in Chicago and he comes here a lot? It's so strange?! She said that's why I'm not taking you on a tour of Chicago, and then she took him to her work place, and he seemed to get how smart she was, and how important her work was.
Now this date with Jade is just weird. 1st they show a clip of her showing him on the computer. Then the home visit, now back to the reveal, I really wasn't paying attention, oh, I guess they spoiled it with the commercial!
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Northstar
Member
09-29-2008
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 8:37 pm
Lakecat, the tattlers never stay. Plus, he's very very drawn to the perky factor and she didn't have that in the bag...nor does Jade. Britt exudes it!!
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Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 8:42 pm
Stupid DVR didn't tape Bach for me tonight so I missed the first 1/2 hour! Anyone want to recap for me quickly?
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Codebear
Member
07-02-2011
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 9:10 pm
Anyone interested in seeing the video Jade showed Chris, can view it with the link below. The video is age restricted and contains nudity. To view it, you must click on "Set Age Gate Off". Jade used the name Jade Elizabeth in Playboy.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x29kkpp
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Northstar
Member
09-29-2008
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 9:34 pm
@ Brenda,
-Becca and Chris had a one on one, went to his loft rental, chatted on the sofa "like a normal date", watched the sunset on the rooftop..it was all good wholesome stuff.
-Girls sitting around chatting, Britt announced to girls she'd packed and was going to leave, she'd tell Chris at the party. Some challenged her on her sincerity, blah blah blah. Carley was kinda snarky.
-They're all pretty'd up, Chris stops in to say no party, they would go straight into Rose Ceremony.
-Ceremony starts, Britt stops Chris, they talk, he said he didn't want a wife who reacts like that, told her Carley outed her sincerity, Britt leaves and cries on the curb.
-Carley does not receive a rose, he walked her out, she cries in the limo.
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Spoton
Member
09-16-2005
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 9:36 pm
Okay, I must defend the rural Iowa life. There are tons of tiny towns in Iowa just like Arlington. As farms grow larger and the population shift to larger towns, the little Arlingtons die off. The schools are all consolidated, taking in kids from a large area . There are many midsized towns all over. Arlington is only 10 miles from Strawberry Point, 20 from Oelwein. Those are towns which support the businesses for the areas. Grocery, restaurants etc. I bet it is a lot easier driving to Waterloo which is 60 miles, than to travel across Chicago to visit friend or family. And Chicago itself is only maybe a 3 hour commute from the Arlington area.
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Brenda1966
Member
07-02-2002
| Monday, February 16, 2015 - 11:22 pm
Thanks Northstar! I saw Carley in the limo but I had no idea what happened to Britt.
Small town life is wonderful for many, but these girls need to know what it's like. For me, not having a Target 10 minutes away is a deal breaker. 
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