indiana territory

PERSONAL SIDE TO TOLL ROAD

I don't think I'm too happy about this Toll Road lease thing, but I don't suppose Mitch Daniels cares too much about what I think - I mean he didn't call me up and talk to me for a minute or so when I emailed him and blogged about him in relation to Daylight Savings Time. The most I got was a generic email.

And, before I launch into my Toll Road story, let me linger here for a moment to mention that I told him in my email that my mother said she "wouldn't have voted for that boy" had she known what he was going to do with the time. Now, I think that would have been reason for Mitch Daniels to take notice, but no, "that boy" seems to have forgotten the people who voted for him. We'll see what my mother does at the polls when "that boy" has his name on the ballot again.

But, okay, I started out to talk about the Toll Road. They built it when I was a little girl and it ran through my grandparents' land located on the northeast side of Scott, Indiana. Let me help you out a little with that bit of information - Scott is a tiny village northeast of Shipshewana. The Pigeon River runs along the south of town, which is about a block and a half from my mother's place in the northeast. Yeah, it's real little.

Anyway when the engineers were working on that area of the road, they rented what we called the "west room" from my grandmother. I remember one Christmas opening the double doors that led to that room and peeking in at the drafting tables. They also installed their own stove in the room which made the entire house warmer. (In fact, in later years, that room would be called "the cold room" until we put a gas wall heater in.)

When they were gone and the road nearly finished, my parents, grandparents and I piled into the car and drove up the lane and got on the spanking new highway. We went along until we stopped because a bridge had not been built yet. I guess it was an interesting thing to do - I don't really remember it that way because I was sitting in the middle of the front seat looking at the dashboard the entire time. Oh, I could see out the windows . . . it's just that the viewing angle afforded me only sky. So we went home and that was that.

You know, come to think of it, Mitch, you're messing with my backyard.

posted by Jody @ 3:49 PM