New Vice President, Development Aaron Kloke describes his job as “digging into” general project management: budgets, design, construction, contracts, and basically whatever is needed to complete a project. “I'm working directly with Christian on all things development. He and Deborah have been doing this just themselves. It's wild to me that they've been doing that and running a business, so I'm kind of a pressure release valve, I think, on a lot of their work”

Aaron and his wife are both native Nebraskans—he is from York, she’s from Lincoln—but they have spent the last eight and a half years in the Rocky Mountains. They recently returned to be closer to family, and they are enjoying the enthusiasm bump most natives get when they return home from a while away. “I think the plains are really beautiful. People who say Nebraska is boring have only seen it from the interstate.”

Making the most of our beautiful state, he and his wife enjoy exploring local coffee shops, restaurants, and antique stores. Aaron likes to be physically active, outdoors if at all possible, and his favorite new activity is gravel biking. Especially while on a Taco Ride. “Every Thursday between May and October, people hop on the Wabash Trail in Council Bluffs and ride 10 miles to Mineola, Iowa. There is a little steakhouse that serves, I can't even guess how many bicyclists there are, but quite a few, and then you ride back. A lot of times, depending on how late it is, you're riding back in the dark, which is pretty fun.” After taking two Taco Rides, Aaron realized he was in love with the sport, so he went out and bought a gravel bike. Much more versatile than it sounds, a gravel bike looks like a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike. “They're good for Omaha roads, too, because the roads here are pretty rough and you need bigger tires, so I have something to ride around town.”

Now that he has the bike for it, Aaron is training to ride the length of the Wabash Trace Nature Trail from where it starts in Council Bluffs to where it ends in Blanchard, Iowa, 62.3 miles away.  That's the first leg of the ride. The next day you turn around and ride home. (Yes, that's 124.6 miles in two days, #whew.)

Like many avid readers, Aaron has too many books on his bedside table. One of them is Atomic Habits, which he's been hearing about for years and now he sees why. He's also reading a book called Paved Paradise, which feeds into his interest in city planning. 

“It goes into how parking, whether we realize it or not, has a huge impact on how our cities are built—our environment, urban environments. There's a few things that impact our neighborhoods so much and we have no idea. . . Consider this, most of the buildings in like the Haymarket, the Old Market, downtown, those buildings are illegal to build in just about 99.9% of America. The zoning codes just will not allow you to build like that anymore. And yet these are the places we cherish most.” He apologizes for getting on his soapbox, and then goes on. “These are the places we go to on vacation, these places are all destinations, and yet we can't build more of them. It drives me mad. And parking is a huge factor behind that.” To which we can only say, some soap boxes are worth getting on. Bluestone is lucky to have someone with such a passion for higher-quality development. Welcome back to Nebraska, Aaron!