I was aimlessly cruising around Google Maps a month ago when I stumbled on something unexpected just south of Pendleton- a ford. It looked like a real, drive-your-vehicle-through-the-creek kind of deal! A week of heavy rains had closed the road when I first visited, but my mom and I were in the neighborhood yesterday. With a Kia Sedona instead of a covered wagon, we set out on a good old-fashioned ford excursion.
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I was idly poking around Google Maps during a pocket of free time when something caught my eye: just south of Pendleton, a road met a creek. There’s nothing unusual about that, but I noticed something odd: satellite imagery didn’t show a bridge! I double-checked the aerials of the county assessor’s database, and there still wasn’t a proper crossing. Could I have stumbled across a ford? In 2025? I had to see the crossing for myself. A couple of weekends ago, I went on a ford expedition in my Hyundai Elantra.
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A couple of weeks ago, a series of storms tore through my corner of Indiana with a vengeance. My home was spared, but others weren’t so lucky. An old schoolhouse near Lapel took a hard hit, and buildings across the region -barns, sheds, and dwellings- were left damaged or destroyed. The winds also howled through eastern Madison County. Ripping through Camp Chesterfield, they toppled a piece of history: the vintage neon sign of the Western Hotel.
Continue reading “When the lights went out at the Western Hotel”
In 1966, Yorktown-based Marsh Supermarkets made waves when it entered the fast-growing convenience store segment. By the time the company was sold to a private equity firm forty years later, it operated 154 Village Pantries around Indiana and Ohio! Many of the oldest have been repurposed, and I try to take a photo whenever I drive past one.
Continue reading “Spotted in the wild: an old Village Pantry in Pendleton”
A few weeks ago, I carved out two hours of time off work for an outpatient procedure that ended up taking ten minutes. I’m the type who’s not exactly eager to show up to work early, so I went for an unexpected breakfast. As stupid as it sounds, memories came rushing back as I sat in the Burger King parking lot eating my Croissan’wich. I had a front-row view of an old Marsh Supermarket I remembered from my childhood!
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I’d eat tacos every single day if it were good for me. I’d never get tired of them! Fast-food Mexican meals might not be five-star dining, but Taco Tico had a special something that kept us Midwesterners coming back. When the chain disappeared from cities like Anderson more than forty years ago, it left more than repurposed buildings: a gaping, taco-shaped hole opened up in the hearts -and stomachs- of those who grew up with its take on Tex-Mex cuisine.
Continue reading “Two Taco Ticos in Anderson”