Showing posts with label Indiana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indiana. Show all posts

5/13/2023

May 8, 2023 Traveling to Pennsylvania

(Note: This blog is picture intensive.  Many of the pictures were taken as we were driving so they may not be super sharp. But the scenery just had to be captured. Notice the topography changes as we traveled– Amazing!)

We woke to cloudy skies, got ourselves and the motorhome together and off we went to the east, past more farms:

2023-05-08 Travel Middlebury IN Clarion PA (3)

Into Ohio:

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Where we found another muffler-type man:

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More wind turbines (they are all over the U.S.):

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Looks alien, doesn’t it?

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Past farms:

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And wineries:

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The skies are clearing – YEA!

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All that white is dandelion gone to seed..what I call “puff-balls”  Smile

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Past many swollen rivers:

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Into Pennsylvania – we are almost home:

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We stopped at the PA Welcome Center and found a Peter Toth statue – one of the “Whispering Giants”:

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2023-05-08 Travel Middlebury IN Clarion PA (75)

We have seen a few of these on our travels.  The interesting story can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_the_Whispering_Giants

https://postcardhistory.net/2021/06/peter-wolf-toth-and-his-trail-of-whispering-giants/

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=14zbWNd9SX-ij52j72VpSJcPGU6w&hl=en&ll=44.63262389136883%2C-113.15829150000002&z=4

Our travels continued:

2023-05-08 Travel Middlebury IN Clarion PA (85)

2023-05-08 Travel Middlebury IN Clarion PA (87)

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After 400 miles – long day – we settled in at a Walmart in Clarion, PA.  We should be home tomorrow so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Today’s stats:

Miles Traveled: 400 Miles  (Long Day)

Routes Traveled:

Indiana: IN-120; IN-9; US-20; I-69; I-469; US-30

Ohio: US-30; I-71; I-76; I-277; I-77; I-76; I-80

Pennsylvania: I-80; PA-68

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5/07/2023

May 4 - 7, 2023 Indiana

(Note: This blog is picture intensive.  Many of the pictures were taken as we were driving so they may not be super sharp. But the scenery just had to be captured. Notice the topography changes as we traveled– Amazing!)

May 4  - May the Force Be With You

We woke to clear skies and no wind so off we went north and east into Indiana:

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More trees and green:

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On their way to another farm:

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We saw many, many wind turbines:

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Dandelions gone to seed – puff balls:

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Thru many small towns:

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2023-05-04 Travel Danville IL Shipshewana IN (43)

Getting the fields ready to plant:

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Old barns and farms – just love them:

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Saw this in one of the towns – looked new!  Interesting:

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This was the building:

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We saw so many horses and cows:

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2023-05-04 Travel Danville IL Shipshewana IN (55)

Feels cozy:

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Many years ago, we met a woman and her daughter in Texas who hated the east.  Their reason was that they felt very claustrophobic on the roads and they couldn’t see very far because of the hills and turns.  I can understand that feeling after traveling thru many of the flat areas with few trees where you can see forever.  Growing up in the east, I just loved the roads like the above picture.

Past many tracks plus crossed over some that were very rough – LOL!

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Scenes from along the way:

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The entrance to the county landfill – there is even a small replica of a barn:

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2023-05-04 Travel Danville IL Shipshewana IN (82)

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We arrived at the Shipshewana North Campground, set up, took a quick run to the store and relaxed the rest of the day.

We will be here for four nights to check out the RV surplus stores for supplies, parts and ideas. 

Today’s stats: 

Miles Traveled: 248 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Illinois: Kickapoo Road: IL-32; IL-28; US-150;  I-74

Indiana:  I-74; IN-63; US-41; US-24; US-31; US-20; IN-15; IN-120

May 5 – Cinco de Mayo

Our stop today was Bontrager’s Surplus.  I just love going thru all the “stuff” they have and they do have a lot of parts for RVs.  Unfortunately, they did not have what we we needed.  But that is okay – we had fun anyway..  LOL.

We checked out two other surplus places – one changed to online only, no store.  The other just carries RV appliances.  Oh well.

Since it was late afternoon, we stopped at the Bristol American Legion for a few drinks and their fish fry supper – YUM!

May 6

This morning was laundry day – yippee, not.  It is just one of those things that need to be done.

This afternoon, we tried out one more place – Johnson’s RV Surplus.  They did not have what we needed either but we got some great ideas for the dinette.  Oh well.

May 7 – Happy Anniversary to US!

We were going to one of the famous buffets in the area but didn’t realize that all of them closed on Sundays.  Oh well.

So after our Walmart run for supplies we just hung our and enjoyed the day!

Tomorrow we are heading east.  If all goes well, we should be home sometime on Tuesday…

Side note:  This area is known for their Amish population.  Every where we traveled, there were always horse and buggies.  We also passed many Amish homes and farms – with many very young horses.  I do not have any pictures because I am uncomfortable stopping and asking to take them. 

Enjoy today!

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9/06/2022

September 2, 2022 Travel to Iowa

Today was one of the dreaded travel days for me.  Although we were not going in to the Chicago Metro Area, we were going to go thru the outer edge of that area. 

In 1981, I traveled thru the Metro Area – and it was a nightmare.  In 1997, Andy and I traveled thru that area at 4AM and it was still a nightmare.  Since we have the RV, we have come close but I made sure we avoided it.  However, there was no easy way today.

So away we went and my nerves went crazy (hey, at least I did not have a panic attack although I did come close!)  My Andy was wonderful thru this. 

This does not look bad here but I kept my eyes closed and kept praying when it was bad.  Four lanes of traffic for almost 80 miles – Yikees!

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We made it into Illinois where it was still bad for a while:

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Finally out of the woods where we saw these cool roadside attractions:

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Satellite Dishes – Aren’t they cute!

Farms and windmills – I just love them!

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The Mighty MISSISSIPPI!  We are officially in the west:

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And into IOWA!

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We stopped at the World’s Largest Truck Stop on our way in.  WOW!  An incredible place!

2022-09-02 B World's Largest Truck Stop Walcott IA (6)

In the visitor/truck stop area, there are three floors.  The bottom floor has everything a trucker may need to buy for his truck.  The second floor is the gift shop, the food court and the restaurant.  The third floor is for truckers only – showers, rest area, etc.  This is one of the trucks from the gift area:

2022-09-02 B World's Largest Truck Stop Walcott IA (9)

This is the bottom floor and the trucker shop.  Notice the big truck in the back:

2022-09-02 B World's Largest Truck Stop Walcott IA (11)

We spent some time going thru the gift shop and the trucker shop and picked up a few items.  We are looking for some things for our cab and have yet to find.  They have a trucker’s museum here that we will be back to see.

From there we made our way to the Cedar River Campground, set up, fixed some more, and relaxed.

Miles Traveled: 285 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Indiana: CR-04; I-80/90

Illinois: I-80/294; I-80

Iowa: I-80; IA-38

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