Wandering Indiana, In Search of the Past
I had the glorious assignment of skipping out on two days of work for � two days of work at a gathering of newspaper editors.
I took the leisurely route down to Brown County. The back roads in a borrowed van, You really get to know Indiana.
It�s like driving onto the set of Hoosiers: Cornfields wavering in the end of their lifespan, fading barns and basketball hoops backlit by the setting sun. A truly lazy drive.
I saw towns so small the only sign announcing their names were tacked on to utility poles like so many garage sale ads. One town was not much more than a long bend in the state highway, yet the only businesses (ah, competition) were two memorial stone companies, not a block apart. There must be a reason two headstone companies chose the same curve. I couldnot figure it out at 55 miles per hour.
There were many closed businesses, but more open than closed. Most had hand-lettered signs as opposed to major-market plastic jobbies.
Gas prices rose and fell as the miles passed. It�s an area of mystery to me. How can gas cost as much as 10 cents more down the road, then drop again.
I took a chance to drop in on Steve The Legend in Bloomington on my way home. Steve has lived there longer than most people. He came from Chicago for who knows what reason and stayed.
In the �70s, when I met him, he was the wide-eyed wonder with a ponytail who knew everyone in town. He sold T-Shirts and did quite well. Chances are, any Little 500 rider from that era and any Greek supporting organization had their slogan shirts made by Steve.
He was savvy enough to break out wonderful sayings on shirts and be on the street the very night IU won a championship, hawking and earning, but also just enjoying the moment.
Nowadays, these kids like the jam shorts and pillowcases and so he produces them.
He has some major clients and spends at least one week a month on the road at trade shows or at sales venues.
Steve has inoperable prostate cancer.
They found it about three and a half years ago, gave him five to live and he laughs and says he�s either getting better or he�s almost done. He seems to have lost none of the zest for life, even if the new lifestyle demands a once-per-month trip to Chicago for intravenous medicine.,
He has no testosterone now. His insidious enemy feeds upon it.
And, as he said, chances are the cancer will find something to feed on. So, even if the cancer is not spreading, it lurks still.
He was the same Steve to me.
How�s Patti?
How�re the kids?
He has yet to meet Mikayla, but he sent home some jam shorts for Meghan, some of which her mother will not let her wear. Even around the house.
You take these trips back in time.
So much remains the same.
Little towns.
Brown County.
Newspaper talk.
Gas prices.
A Dairy Queen break.
So much changes.
A revelation.
More prayers to be said.
Another chance to shake your head in wonderment at the challenges of life.
I�ll make that trip again.
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