Down the Road

Photographs and stories by Jim Grey

Latest articles

  • Shopping in the suburbs

    I’ve always lived in cities. I groove on grids of streets with curbs and sidewalks. So when I moved to Indianapolis, I didn’t consider living in the suburbs for a minute. But to get a better school system, I did buy an older home in the old suburbs outside the old city limits. (The city…

  • Find joy where life is

    In the few months before I went on the mission trip to Mexico last fall I started a new job, my divorce became final, and I left a one-room apartment and rented a five-bedroom house. I grieved my marriage (and tried to be a good dad to my sons as they grieved the changes in…

  • Adventures to come

    I watch 6News Good Morning Indiana while I get ready on work mornings. Weather guesser Paul Poteet has a sharp, fast wit, and I can usually use a laugh at 5:30 in the morning. (I would have killed for Paul’s wit when I did radio years ago.) I think I’ve left more comments on Good…

  • On the small screen

    I debuted on TV in 1976, back when stay-at-home moms were still called homemakers. There were enough of them then that locally produced homemaker shows aired in the morning on stations across the country. A woman named Betty somethingorother hosted South Bend’s homemaker show, The Betty Somethingorother Show, live each weekday on WSBT-TV. It was…

  • The National Road in Illinois

    A long trip down the National Road in Illinois, with plenty of old-alignment goodness. They built a new road and left the old one behind, right alongside!

  • What’s the use?

    In 1989 I bought my first brand-new car. I had just graduated college, gotten a job, and moved into an apartment when Dad said, “Enough freeloading; I’m coming in two weeks to get my car back.” I looked for a used car, hoping to save money, but nobody in town would lend me money because…

  • Brownie Reflex, Synchro Model

    A quick look at the 1941-52 Kodak Brownie Reflex, Synchro Model, a pseudo-TLR for 127 film.

  • Old US 36 in western Indiana

    A short drive down old US 36 in western Indiana — its current and old alignments. There’s plenty to see here for every roadfan.

  • Pride of workmanship, part 2

    I moved to Indianapolis many years ago to take a job editing technology books. My first project was editing a new edition of one of the publisher’s biggest sellers. I drew this plum assignment not for my l33t editorial skills, but for being the new guy. You see, the author had a reputation for running…

  • God grenades

    Last night I drove home after nine from a late dinner with some folks. Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, still a novelty here, it was still light out, and it was warm. I rolled down my windows and cut through Broad Ripple, an old Indianapolis neighborhood known for its shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. I cruised…

  • Pride of workmanship, part 1

    Quality guru W. Edwards Deming, who helped transform Japan into an industrial powerhouse, claimed that workers who feel pride in the quality of their work are critical to a company’s success. Pride in my work is certainly critical to my satisfaction on the job, right along with being challenged and enjoying the environment. When I…

  • All about the old road to Bloomington

    I’ve finished writing about my Bloomington road trip at my personal Web space. Every dead end and bit of abandoned pavement is described in excruciating detail at the link below. http://www.jimgrey.net/Roads/SR37IndyBloomington/index.htm