I had to ride out toward Highland, Indiana a little bit ago and took the same route the bus used to take when I needed to go to the Doctor and my family didn’t have a car. It sort of became a fantasy ride into the past for me.

As some of you might remember, we used to have the Shore Line Bus Company, which had routes throughout the Calumet Region. The buses were painted a yellow orange and green and was dominent way to travel if you didn’t have a car. They lasted until the mid 1970’s and I still remember them.

Since I was the sick one in the family, I often went to see the doctor with my mother and took the buses to Highland, where the office was. We took the 5 or 5b bus that dropped us off in downtown Hammond and transfered to the number 2 bus that traveled to Highland and beyond.

Riding into downtown Hammond, I remember the old bridge with the steel overhead canopy that existed over the river, near American Steel Foundry. Did you know that the site of the foundry was also the site of the first settlement in Hammond? There’s a plaque on the side of the building that says so. I read it one day walking to downtown Hammond from Calumet College in the 1970’s.

Anyway, once we got on the #2 bus to get into Highland we traveled down Hohman Avenue to Ridge Road. Most ofthat is pretty much the same, except if you look at Downtown Hammond. It’s Ghosttown Hammond these days. Goldbaltts is gone; the other stores are just a memory, now. The streets echo the footsteps of people no longer there.

Ridge Road is also different. When I used to go to the Doctor, then, it was all farms and open area. You could actually see barns ans animals grazing in the fields. Today it’s all stores and businesses. Traffic is congested and driving or riding is like being in a smokestack. I suppose you could call it the price of progress these  days. But we just traded one old sameness for another one.

After the doctor visit. My mother used to splurge and get me a chocolate malt at the Ken-Ridge drug store, which had a soda fountain in the store. I didn’t get a chance to notice if the place still exists, but I’m sure the soda fountain is gone. It’s not very cost efficient. But the malt and the atmosphere sure was great.

I never know how far that bus traveled from the time it left us off in Highland and returned. I suppose it went into Gary and returned to pick us up later. It was a long trip. Maybe a good half day. But it was cheap and for a kid, a chance to see a world beyond North Hammond.