Relaxing in Ohio

It's a gorgeous day. The temperature is in the high 70's and the sun is shining. As you can see, there's a bit of fall color in the leaves. We've been to town today to have the oil changed and ate lunch at Wendys. Their chicken, apple, pecan salad is delicious.

I have attached the picture of Joe and Kay Peterson, founders of Escapees in the 70's. When I walked up to her, she said, "Oh, you're tiny like me." They are delightful folks with a zest for life. I'm so glad I was able to meet them.

Saturday, Robert and Sue came down from South Charleston, OH and we rode with them over to Waynesville to eat at the Der Dutchman. They have a wonderful buffet and we all ate our fill (and then some). We walked next door to Carlisle Gifts & Furniture. They have some beautiful Amish furniture there. It's a lovely place to browse through.

Yesterday Gene & I attended the church service held here at Thousand Trails. We were delighted to see Larry and Linda whom we had met at Indian Lakes TT, and met new friends as well. During the afternoon, we became acquainted with our neighbors on either side of us. Juan and Francis are from Florida and Roger and Gale are fulltimers originally from Oregon. We spent a lovely time getting acquainted and swapping GPS stories, etc. This is part of the fun of traveling - not only do we see new places, but we meet such friendly people.

Tomorrow we'll be on our way again to visit dear friends Barbara and Paul and then on to West Virginia to spend time with daughter Diane and husband Mike. This will be the first in several years that I will spend my birthday with family (other than Gene of course). I'm looking at # 66 and thankful to be healthy and able to travel.

Until next time,

God's blessings and our prayers are with you.

Escapade was great

What a week of learning and fun. This was our first Escapade, but will not be our last. We attended many classes - sometimes together and sometimes choosing different ones. I've learned a lot about basic RV systems and maintenance. Now I'll organize the information into my RV notebook and make my list of things that need to be checked and fixed if necessary.

The Elkhart 4-H Fairgrounds was filled with 796 RV's of various sizes. We counted about 7 or 8 Roadtreks scattered throughout the fairgrounds, but only met the owner of one. As we pulled into our parking spot by the grandstand, we were delighted to see John & Ellie parked beside us. They had been parked behind us at the Gypsy Journal Rally week before last. We saw several other folks that had been at the Gypsy Rally. It's always great to see familiar faces

We met many wonderful people including John & Vera who are members of Christian Fellowship BOF (Birds of a Feather group). We joined them and about 2 dozen others for a special time of worship and sharing each morning at 7:00am. It was a blessed way to start the day.

We officially joined that group and the Florida Gateway Chapter 27. We will now be able to meet together with Escapees in our area. We have already signed up to go to the rally in early November.

Today we left Goshen and Elkhart Fairgounds and have traveled down to Wilmington Thousand Trails (which is actually closer to Lebanon, OH). We'll rest tomorrow after a very busy week.

Next post will have a very special to me picture of Joe & Kay Peterson - founders of Escapees - and me.

Until next time,
God's blessings and our prayers are with you

Parke County Covered Bridges

Yesterday was Covered Bridge Day. There are 31 covered bridges in Parke County. The annual festival is in October, but we prefer to avoid the crowds. We stopped at Neet Bridge first. It was built in 1904 over the Little Raccoon River.

Our next stop was Bridgeton Bridge (over Big Raccoon Creek) and Mill. This bridge has quite a story. It was burned in 2005 by arson. The community of Bridgeton and surrounding communities donated all the timber and other materials needed, labor and food to feed the workers. The project was begun in April 2006 and completed in time for the festival in Oct. 2006. What a testimony to people working together. The Mill next to it is owned by Mike Roe. He also has an interesting story. He bought the mill in 1995 and has since rebuilt the dam and millpond and is restoring the mill itself. He currently grinds flours & grains with huge millstones using a 1907 Trolley car engine for power. His plan is to restore the mill to turbine/water power as it once was. We ate lunch there - delicious homemade sandwich buns using flour ground there - and enjoyed a leisurely visit with Mike.

The roads taking us to the various bridges are narrow with no yellow lines. Another reason to be thankful for our "van" type RV!

We stopped at Roseville Bridge in Rosedale next. This bridge was built in 1910 over Big Raccoon Creek and is still used today. The sign indicated it had a 6 ton limit. We are only 5 tons, but didn't want to check it out. A pickup with livestock trailer came over it while we were taking pictures, so evidently the local folk have no qualms about using it.

Our last stop was Mecca Bridge, built in 1873 over Big Raccoon Creek. By that time it was 3:30, so time to head back to Horseshoe Lakes. On our way back, at the intersection of Mecca Road and Hwy 41 we saw the church sign we had seen in 2008 when we were here. "Est. Jerusalem 33AD". That says it all doesn't it?

It was a delightful day. Today Gene is watching U S Open tennis after installing a fan in back of our refrigerator to help it stay cool. I've done "computer stuff" and will prepare for our day of travel tomorrow. We're headed towards Goshen and the Escapade that starts on Sun.. Not sure what kind of wi-fi is available, so it may be a week before you see another post.

Until then,

God's blessings and our prayers are with you.

Little Italy Festival - Clinton,IN

What a fun day we had Saturday. Each Labor Day weekend in Clinton, IN for the past 45 years, they have celebrated Little Italy Festival in honor of the Italian and other immigrants that came to Vermillion county.

We first toured the Coal Town and Railroad Museum (free). It had photos, artifacts and video to help one learn about working in the coal mines. It was a terribly difficult and backbreaking way for a man to support his family. It was interesting to hear the comments of the local residents as they watched the movie taken in 1954 at the Big Oak Coal Mine near Blanford, IN. "My Dad and Granddad worked at that mine." Others recognized some of the 35 men who worked in that mine. The mine operated from 1940 to 1965. Now all the coal mines in the area are closed. The Wabash Valley Visions & Voices has a website that provides much information including the video/movie. You can find it at http://visions.indstate.edu

We walked through the midway and carnival rides and down Water Street where the vendors had their food booths. Ahhh the fragrances. It wasn't long until we were hungry, so we purchased a spaghetti dinner from Sacred Heart Church booth and enjoyed our meal. Each year they prepare 1,200 pounds of pasta and over 300 gallons of spaghetti sauce. Mama Mia! This was followed by an ice cream cone - chocolate & spumoni. Quite a treat.

At the end of Water Street, we saw the gondola float that had been in the parade the night before. The Re (king) and Regina (queen) are chosen in August to reign over the Little Italy Festival. The gondola was specially made and imported from Italy in 1967. Until 1979 visitors to the Festival could take a ride on the Wabash River in the authentic Venitian gondola. It was then sold to L.I.F.T. (Little Italy Festival Town) and used for promotion of the Festival in parades, etc.

Also at the end of Water Street is the Quattro Stagioni (Four Seasons) fountain, "the symbol and focal point of Clinton's Little Italy Festival." The Fountain was constucted in 1967 and has been renovated three times because of erosion.

We wandered back to the main festival stage in time to watch the sausage eating contest. The kids group had a plate each of ring sausage and onions weighing 2 1/2 pounds. The winner, a youngster from New York named Joey, consumed 1 3/4 pounds. The adult group had plates of sausage, onions & peppers weighing 4 1/2 pounds. The winner, Mary, consumed over 2 pounds.

One of the major highlights is the grape stomping. Three tubs were brought out for the Queen of Grapes, her court and audience participants to "stompa da grapes". It looked like they were enjoying themselves, but I didn't feel inclined to join them. The event is accompianed by Italian music, cheering and a festive atmosphere.

I wanted to see the Little Italian House on 9th Street, so I bought a ticket for the wagon ride, while Gene drove the RV over there. The tractor pulled wagon took us past the Coal Mine Museum, down Vine Street, then 9th Street to Piazza Immigrante. The Immigrant Square contains a bronze statue of an immigrant symbolizing all the immigrants that "came to this country to make a new way of life, to better educate our children, and to seek jobs to ensure our ambitions." The Square also contains a coal fountain - a monument dedicated to their past as coal miners, and a "Toro" drinking fountain - a replica of drinking fountains in Torino, Italy.

Our next stop was the La Piccola Casa Italiana (Little Italian House). The kitchen was a delight to look at, but not one I would want to work in. It contained a wood stove, iron & enamel cooking utensils, and an ice box. The back porch contained the laundry tubs and wringer, and in the basement was the wine making equipment. Next to the house is Il Mercato -" a market furnished and decorated with salvaged items of the past to represent the early coal mining days." Next to that is La Cantina , the Winery (museum of cellar relics) which displays " wine presses, barrels, bottles, crocks and jugs once used by local residents". It was an extremely enjoyable trip into the past of this community.

The newpaper "Il Bollettino Della Piccola Italia", a special supplement of The Daily Clintonian, has been produced each year for the past 40 years. It contains many informative articles about the Festival, history, etc. I used this as my source of details.

Until next time,

God's blessings & our prayers are with you.

Busy Week - short message

We have had a great time at the Eastern Gypsy Journal Rally. Our heads of full of new information which will help us travel smarter and safer. Nick & Terry do a great job of organizing seminars and vendor displays to keep us up to date on information and products.

We have traveled from Elkhart, IN down to Clinton, IN (southwest IN right next to IL state line) today. Our GPS gave travel time as 4 hours. We always add an hour or two for lunch, gas stops, Wal-Mart, etc., so arrived about 3:30. Gene is catching up on TV watching (tennis mostly) and I'm catching up on emails.

We only traveled on the interstate for a short time. Our preference is to travel through small towns and enjoy the scenery. Our lunch stop in Lafayette was at Camille's Cafe. It was similar to Panera Bread, but had salads, sandwiches, pannini, & smoothies. When we left there, we passed right by Purdue University.

Our route had us crossing the Wabash River a total of 4 times. Although the river is wide, the level seemed quite low. One section showed many boulders in the middle - not a river I would want to travel in any kind of boat.

This weekend is Little Italy Festival in Clinton. We'll go in tomorrow to see the displays, booths and hopefully see the "grape stomping".

We'll be here at the Thousand Trails Horseshoe Lakes preserve for several days, so I'll be able to have a good connection.

Until next time,
God's blessings and our prayers are with all of you