Lake
Co. (7/1988)
Suburban
Chicago villages. This is the blue collar side of the city where dirty business gets down:
hauling, shipping, steel mills. It has its fair share of problems and has long been a
hiding place for the more notorious of Chicagoland. Whiting. Hammond. Casinos and lonely shipyards. East Chicago.
Gary. This city has a bad reputation as the
murder capital of the U.S. and the birhplace of Michael Jackson. I never hang around much
to see if it lives up to the talk. Merrillville. Stayed here once to see a Broadway show. The Lincoln Hwy divides
Chicagoland from the rest of Indiana. Schererville. Munster. Dyer. Tell the IL governor how you feel about him by buying gas here. Crown
Point. Hobart. Pronounced "Ho-Bert,"
stupid. Lake Station. Cedar Lake. Visited town as part of Easter
retreat with FPBC. Pleasant quasi-suburban town surrounding lake. Lowell. Being
built up into a suburb. Creston. Belshaw. North Hayden. Drove down a
creepy barely paved street on Illinois border near here.
Newton Co. (7/1988)
Roselawn. Passed through a bunch of times, but never smelled the roses. Lake
Village.
Jasper Co. (7/1988)
This
place a personal significance as the birthplace of my grandmother. Well-explored. Roads
stretch a straight path for miles through wheat fields and big skies.
Demotte.
The most civilized part of the Kankakee Valley. Wheatfield. Yard sales on every corner. The burial place of my ancestors is
along the road at IN-49 at Sorrowful Mother. Railroad cuts a border to the town. Many eyes
watch you drive through. Kniman. The site of the "Old Forty" in family history, where
Clemens Ott built his lonely farm and church. Now the town is a few trees, a man on a
riding mower, and a schoolhouse converted into a bar. A man there revelled in telling me
stories one spring afternoon. Remington. Rensselaer.
Porter Co. (1997)
The Chicago identity of the lakeshroe
dwindles away. Valparaiso. Portage. Chesterton. Indiana Dunes NP. The famous dunes
once stretched all the way to Chicago. If here in winter be ready for snow. Burns
Harbor. Beverly Shores. Exclusive neighborhood in the dunes. Hebron. Kankakee
valley town that has the most perfect main drag in the Midwest. Get ice cream and
firearms. Kouts. A nice town that would prefer you drive right on.
Laporte Co. (1997)
Michigan City. Another lakeshore
city with some issues and a big nuclear cooling tower. The outlet mall meant to
reinvigorate downtown has not worked, but I always stop for some Pepperidge Farm crackers.
Always a place to stop for gas and provisions. Michiana Shores. US-12 looks like it
does everywhere...
St. Joseph Co. (1997)
Notre Dame. Site of the
beautiful campus of Notre Dame University. Lake Mary and Joseph, the grotto, Touchdown
Jesus, and the Golden Dome are a great way to stick it to the Klan that once dominated
Indiana politics secretly. South Bend. Blue collar city on the St. Joe River. More
Italians now than Fighting Irish.
Elkhart Co. (2003)
Passed through farm and forests of
Elkhart once on the way to Cleveland along Indiana Toll Road.
LaGrange Co. (2003)
Shipshewana. Here the Amish are
utilized as tourist attractions. They do make some of the items that are pawned off to
retired people in the stores, but most of them seem to be running small farms on the
outskirts of the town and not bothering too much with the village. Lagrange. Howe. Watch
for horses and buggies along the roads.
Steuben Co. (2003)
Passed through on the way to Cleveland
once. Driving through Steuben County reveals what the Midwest is all about. Fremont. Has
some significance to historical research done for a friend.
Clark Co. (200?)
Passed through the industrial suburbs of Louisville about three times. There always
seems to be road construction here. Jeffersonville. Sellersburg.
Scott Co. (200?)
A resident of this
county commented with some scorn that I "must've been far from home." ...
"Not too far," I responded. She persisted to disagree. Must be a provincial
place. Vienna. Scottsburg.
Jackson Co. (200?)
Passed through a few times along I-65 and US-31. Muscatatuck NWR. Crothersville.
Uniontown.
Bartholomew Co. (200?)
Passed through along I-65 a few times on the way home from the South. Columbus.
Shelby Co. (200?)
Passed through a few times
along I-65 and once along I-74 on the way to Cincy.
Johnson Co. (200?)
Franklin.
Edinburgh. A good resting spot on the road is the outlet mall here, which included (at
one point) a museum dedicated to pop star John Cougar Mellencamp.
Marion Co. (200?)
Indianapolis. Chicago's ugly
cousin. Stopped a few times for a rest in this metropolis. The city is in that strange
zone where the Midwest of the Great Lakes meets the Midwest of the Ohio River. Don't miss the honorary Babyface Highway sign.
Boone Co. (200?)
Passed through grain fields about three
times on the way home from the South along I-65. Lebanon.
Clinton Co. (200?)
Passed through grain fields about three
times on the way home from the South along I-65.
Tippecanoe Co. (200?)
Passed several times on the way home
from the South. Forests dominate the land around the Wabash River. Lafayette. Halfway
between Chicago and Indy. As a historian interested in local history I feel the spirits
always telling me to stop at the site of the battle of Tippecanoe.
White Co. (200?)
Passed through the wide open wheat
fields several times on the way home from the South. (Never been to the famed beach.)
Rush Co. (200?)
Passed through twice on the way to Cincinnati.
Decatur Co. (200?)
Passed through twice on the way to Cincinnati.
Franklin Co. (200?)
Passed through twicet on the way to Cincinnati.
Ripley Co. (200?)
Passed through twicet on the way to Cincinnati.
Dearborn Co. (200?)
Passed through twice on the way to Cincinnati. Forested Ohio valley.
Posey Co. (7/2006)
Crossed wide Wabash River here at I-64
and then turned back to Illinois on the way home from Southern Illinois. I wanted to see
the legendary river. |
