This week in Flyover Country
An eye-opener for sure
I’m exploring the Indiana Backroads this week for a series of upcoming Photowalks episodes. (Thank you Best Western for supporting the trip!) And I have a few random thoughts.
The Indiana Backroads is a great way to step back in time. I can’t tell you how many horse and buggies I passed near the town of Shipshewana, which happens to have the third largest Amish community in the U.S., after Pennsylvania and Ohio. At the Walmart, as pictured above, they even have a place to park your horse and buggy while you shop.
You’ve heard of Midwest Nice? Every time I pulled over to take photos, someone else would stop to ask if I was OK and needed help.
I met up with two really nice locals in Northern Indiana who spent the entire day showing me around. Thank you Lou and Sarah.
Before roads were paved with gravel, they were packed with bricks, and out here there are still many brick-lined roads. The shot below is from the little town of Valparaiso, which is right on the Lincoln Highway, in front of the Brick Street Pizza shop.
Old downtowns out here are thriving and look like they did in the 1950s. Locals respect their heritage. Most notably Goshen, which even has a cool, huge used record store in a former auto garage.
Other downtowns look like they’ve seen way better days. I drove through one this week, and counted only a handful of businesses still open. The first shop to greet visitors when you enter town in Kendallville is a “Family Video” store which closed in 2020, and has been available for rent since.
The stores that are open are more diverse than I’m accustomed to seeing. I saw shops devoted to balloons, pretzels, popcorn, jewelers, hardware, kids haircuts, tuxedo rentals and of course cafes and bakeries—like the downtowns of yore.
It’s not hard to find a great grilled cheese sandwich.
The grass is green. Really green. But the corn fields won’t grow until the fourth of July.
Thanks as always for joining me on the ride. More to come!