East Chicago South Shore Line & road trip! (#0088)

Not an auspicious photo for the beginning of a journey, but it seemed like the best place to start.

I was off on a 2-week trip to Chicago and parts of the Midwest, with my typical agenda of revisiting some places from the past, curiosity about infrastructure and economics, looking to see what I could see about why the country is going crazy, and just simple exploration. The trip was going to be roughly a loop from Chicago down south through Indiana, west along the Ohio River to the Mississippi, and then up north through St. Louis and back east to Chicago.

So why start with the East Chicago SSL (South Shore Line) station? I was going to need a rental car for all but the Chicago portion of the trip, but picking a car up in Chicago was exorbitantly high. It turned out there was an Enterprise office near the East Chicago SSL station where I could get the car for half of what it would cost if I picked it up at the airport. Besides, I like to explore how public transit works wherever I can. The South Shore Line had an easy to navigate website, the staff at the station were friendly, the trains were clean and comfortable, service was quick, and with my senior-discount, the ticket was only $3.25. So, save on the car and discover something about public transit.