Introducing: "When in Rome" Wednesdays

I am always fascinated by the sometimes profound differences brought on by living in different spots of a relatively small region. I was raised in northern Indiana, went to college in the same area, and moved to central Indiana for work after graduating. All of these places seemed fairly similar.

Yet when I took a job in Illinois, just a couple hours to the north and west, I noticed a very profound change in people, mores, and values. The culture shock was even more pronounced when we recently moved to southern Indiana. Yet, on a map, I've never lived more than a few hours' drive of any other spot I've called home.

Out of this is born the idea for a weekly feature on this blog: "When in Rome" Wednesdays. Each week, I will relay some of the experiences unique to different spots in our corner of the globe. Most of the time they will be stories from the the small, two-state radius in which I've lived. Other times they will be experiences of friends or co-workers. We've all had moments where the best we can do is shrug our shoulders and say, "When in Rome..."

In the inaugural installment, I present to you what apparently passes for road maintenance in southern Indiana:


A little background: For close to a month, I have been aware of at least a half-dozen large holes in the road on my way to work. I became aware of these by hitting them at 50 mph. Since said road is a well-traveled route, I imagine many other drivers discovered these potholes in the same manner.

Enter the Greene Co. Highway Dept, which last week, instead of filling the holes, decided the best course of action was to alert motorists with a neon pink spray-painted "HOLE" with an arrow the length of which ends flush with said hole. This helpful gesture has been replicated for each hole on the road. So now, instead of a few axle-bending, tire-shredding hazards, we now have a handful of blindingly distracting axle-bending, tire-shredding hazards.
(And yes, you are correct when you imagine the kinds of looks I received when I snapped these pictures with my camera phone.)

This method of dealing with road hazards is somewhat new to me for a variety of reasons, the main one being that virtually every road in and around Chicago, IL is under construction. Thus, a road with holes such as these would not be dealt with via Krylon can in that region. Rather, entire crews would spend months shutting down one lane at a time to complete a project that could be handled in an afternoon with a guy with a pickup and some hot mix.

Which area's method of road maintenance is better? Hard to say. But, I'm here now, so...When in Rome.

You feel me?

AF