Road Trip to Nashville and Columbus

 8-14-2021 - Saturday

Before we headed home last night, 

The campground seemed completely full when we drove through it this morning, and the sign on the highway says "full".  We still had campers arriving when we went to bed last night.

I texted Cathy and got them out of bed this morning.  They had indicated they wanted to take us over to the Farmers Market, and we needed to get an early start.  Joe said it was only 2 blocks, so we walked, but it was longer than 2 blocks.  Just saying.  Anyhow, we picked up a few items (tomatoes, cantaloupe), and we saw an old high school friend, Dale Marchino.  He and Joe rehashed high school days, and family.  We bought a cantaloupe from him, and he threw in an extra one.

Back at the house, I took some pictures of the flowers in the back yard.  They look lovely.  Cathy said this planting is a pandemic project, and the result of them watching Gardeners World with Monty Don.

Then we headed for breakfast.  On the way to breakfast in Ellettsville, we passed the new IU Medical Center.  Every time we drive in to their house, we go past the southeastern edge of the IU campus (beautiful) and some of the old fraternity homes.  

Anyway, Joe F used to work in Ellettsville when we first got married, and we bought our first boat there, so that was somewhat familiar territory, although we really didn't remember any of it.  While I went to the restroom, the group decided we would go on a road trip, so Joe M. drove us to Nashville and Columbus.  Joe F had worked Christmas trees in Nashville a long time ago (probably right out of high school), but neither of us had ever been to Columbus.  Nashville is a very touristy town, full of gift shops -- and people.  Parking is a problem.  The streets and shops were busy, and we couldn't find a parking place so we didn't do any shopping there, not even window shopping.

On the way to Columbus, we stopped at a flea market.  I picked up a toy truck to do some crafty thing with when we get home.  We checked out several birdhouses, something Joe always thinks he's going to create.  

I really like this little house because of the rocks on the chimney.

They also had painted rocks.  I thought I might try these frogs when I get home.

On to Columbus again, a very pretty, clean town, known for its architecture, among other things.  

all the bridges in town have artistic features, like this one.

downtown are some very creative buildings, this one has a neat statue on the grounds.

The Commons is a public playground and conference building.  Joe and Cathy did some work on this one, especially with the donor signage plaques and the logo.  It was closed but we were able to find an open door.  

Inside this building is a famous sculpture, '“Chaos I” is a large kinetic sculpture by Swiss artist Jean Tinguely located inside The Commons in downtown Columbus."  To me, it was not a beautiful thing, but Joe said when it is moving, all the parts move, and it is pretty awesome.  He added that it is in every fine arts textbook.

This is the Columbus courthouse, very majestic looking.

We tried to stop in an ice cream shop for a snack, but there was a 20 minute wait there. 

 

But when Joe F stepped off the curb here, he did something to his foot and from then on, could hardly walk.  His plantar fasceiitis has been acting up again, so we assume he did something to aggravate that.

We checked out 2 other places across the street for food, all of them closed.  Joe's foot was hurting so bad that Joe M went and got the truck and picked us up.  Then Joe M decided just to take us to Tony Stewart's favorite place in town, the Dairy Queen.  They like Tony here too, they have a big poster of him in the back.

The Cummins Engine Company is headquartered here in Columbus, so we stopped by there.  It's a huge facility, and they have a manufacturing plant here too.

This Cummins engine is in the front of their building.

This is their manufacturing plant.

they had a row of semi trailers just waiting to deliver.

Joe drove us around some other buildings in Columbus, including their new learning center.  This is the description of this venture. 

"Using the power of place and community collaboration to solve grand challenges that span public, private, and social sectors. On September 16, 2005, Columbus, Indiana dedicated 

the first shared-use facility in the  state supporting Indiana University Purdue 

University Columbus (IUPUC), Ivy Tech Community College,

 Purdue Polytechnic Institute, and WorkOne under one roof.  

This is a very impressive complex, so large I couldn't get a good picture.

Finally, we finished Columbus and headed out of town.  Joe wanted to take us to a brewery they liked, Hard Truth Distillery Company, but the parking lot here was completely full too, so we just did another drive-by.

We got back to their house about 5:30, and they worked on my computer for a while.  My right shift key still doesn't work.  Cathy took that key off, and cleaned a bunch more sugar out of it, but she couldn't get the key back on.  Joe M also took a stab at it, but I guess I have to move up to the next level --we will be seeing Paul Croxton on Tuesday (my other consultant) so maybe he can get me put back together.

We do finally have a plan for the next few days, and a destination.  Paul is in Ft. Wayne at Dixie and Jim's, so we are heading back to Ft. Wayne to see all of them.  Then, we think we are heading across Illinois on hwy 24, and then hwy 36 across Missouri and ----- (that's as far as we have figured out).  

We had good weather today, a high of 82.  Joe and I sat outside when we finally got back to camp -- and watched our neighbor kids play football.  It was very pleasant, with campfire smoke reminding us of days gone by.  Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be about the same, although there is a chance of rain.  And Monday we leave.

Down Day in Bloomington

 8-13-2021 - Friday

Well, we didn't do too bad with our "down day," although Joe got up at 6:30 (said he was awake since 4:30) and totally shocked me.  I didn't wake up until about 7:00.  We had a slow morning, but after breakfast we headed into Cathy and Joe's office, and took Joe his birthday cookies (which, of course, we shared with him).   I wanted to get a hair cut, so after we bothered them for a while, Cathy gave us an address for a shopping center with a Great Clips and a White Castle.  I had a 55-minute wait for a hair cut, so we shopped for Joe a new phone holder, since he ripped the back off his yesterday, getting out of the Jeep.  He actually found one at "5 Below" for $5.55, and so far he likes it.  I had my hair cut, then we stopped at White Castle, but it was carry out or drive through only, so we got ours to go and drove back to the RV park.  By then, they were no longer hot, but they were ok.  

We got a nap in today, then Cathy invited us in for dinner, so we headed back into town.  Joe M. cooked some wings on the grill, and we had a nice meal with them, finished with sitting on their deck.  Joe brought out the remaining cookies, so we topped our meal off with them. Then it was back to the RV, in the dark.  We saw a deer right before we turned into our campground, it was getting ready to jump into the road so I was glad we both spotted it.  

The campground is full now, and in the dark, it was hard to find our roads even with the GPS directing us.  With only one wrong turn, we found our way back home and called it a night.  Tomorrow we are supposed to meet Joe and Cathy early and go to the Farmer's Market, which is only 2 blocks from their house, so we need to get a move on.  Then we will see what the day brings.  Hoping for cooler weather.

Bedford/Mitchell/Orleans

 8-12-2021 - Thursday

We were hoping for an earlier start this morning because Joe Myers had given us a pretty full agenda, starting with breakfast at a bakery in Bedford that he highly recommended.  We left the RV at 10:00, stopped at the gate to ask about a waiting list to stay longer. She said there was a site, 116, open but she did not have the ability to "extend" our stay and suggested we get online, or try the office at the entrance where we did the other day. We drove up there, yes it was available, but she couldn't "extend" our stay, because she couldn't take the money if the office was open (when we got here on Tuesday, the office at the gate didn't open until 3:00 so she could take our credit card then, go figure). But she came up with the magic word -- we could “transfer" to that site, but we had to move today. But she couldn’t do that either, but they could back at the gate where we started out. So we went back to the gate, yes she could transfer us, but we had to move today. So we did all that, are now good until Monday morning. So 45 minutes later, we are heading out again.  What a mickey mouse way of doing things!!!

 Anyway, at 10:45, we are finally on our way, going across the causeway toward Bedford.  Water on both sides of us, very pretty.

On the way to  Bedford, we encountered our first Amish horse and buggy.  I always get excited when I see these, always think I have to take a picture of them.

in Bedford, we drove part way around the square (the buildings surrounding the square are beautiful Bedford stone), and found the bakery that Joe had raved about.  Another 11:30 breakfast. The choices were immense, 4 cases full of yummies.  

We settled on cinnamon rolls, and they were delicious.  We could see why this is one of Joe Myers' favorite places.

Joe had encouraged us to drive completely around the courthouse square and check out the beautiful limestone buildings, so we headed back to the square.  Bedford is the limestone capital of the world, and the limestone buildings last forever, and still look new.

Joe parked in front of the courthouse and I got out to take a couple of pictures.  There were some beautiful flowers here on the grounds.

There was also a buffalo statue on the grounds.  At one time, buffalo roamed Indiana, and parts of Highway 50 are also known as the Buffalo Trace. There are 200 of these painted buffalo around the state.  The second picture, which is on the courthouse side, has a beautiful covered bridge painted on it.

There are also a lot of beautiful limestone churches in town, some of them are huge.

As we headed out of town again, we saw an Amish produce wagon set up.  Joe stopped and looked at their cantaloupes but said they were all cracked on the bottom so he didn't buy any.

Along the way we came past this house -- looks like mother nature won this battle.

Next we headed to Mitchell, but we got sidetracked by a sign about Blue Springs Cave.  So we pulled in there and did a 1-hour boat ride tour in the cave.  Pretty awesome.

entrance

small stalagtites

other tour boat coming in, so we waited to leave until it was unloaded

You can barely see our opening here, where the boat goes through

There were several rock formations, everything is covered with a coat of mud but every once in a while you could see the limestone peeking through, especially in the few places the boat scrapes the side occasionally.

this is a good picture of the mud coating

Our guide/boat driver did a couple of "things" at the turn-around point.  She had us turn off all our flashlights, watches, phones, etc., and put us in total darkness.  With the lights back on, she smacked a floatable seat against the floor so we could hear the echoes.  Pretty cool.  The whole experience was pretty cool, very relaxing.  But the short walk up the steep incline back to the gift shop about did us in.  We have learned every cave we have toured ends with a walk up an incline, this one was particularly steep.  

Once we got our breaths back, we went back to the turnoff and continued on to Mitchell, home of astronaut Gus Grissom, the second American to travel in space and who perished in a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission in 1967.  We didn't go far enough the first time, toured Spring Mill Park instead, then drove back to town and tried it again.  This time we asked someone, and were successful.   

we didn't go inside the house

I love these pink flowers, called Naked Lady Lilies, Resurrection Lilies and Pink Surprise Lilies.  We have seen them all over southern Indiana, and they were also alongside the Grissom home.

On to Orleans, where I used to go to church camp.  It was fun driving through there, and I believe there are still some of the buildings being used, although a different church owns the grounds now.  I think this is the dorm we stayed in.

I believe this is the tabernacle we went to.  I looked inside and the bleachers looked familiar but I think they have upgraded the front altar area.

A

The landscaping in front of the tabernacle was very nice, including this planter filled with flowers in the shape of a cross.

and sure enough, the White Castle is just across the road.  It didn't like anyone was working today when we drove around the building.  We were told it is there processing plant, I believe.

also along the road here was one of those caution road signs, this one with a horse and buggy.  but we didn't see any of them here.

We made so many trips back and forth today, in the campground, in Mitchell, in Bedford.  And we do this everywhere we go.  I'm sure all over the country there are people saying “there goes that little white jeep again." 

We finished the day with pizza in town, another recommendation from Joe and Cathy.  They didn't join us, they have a broken board on their back steps and wanted to get that fixed -- I'm sure they were thinking they didn't want us falling through it.  But we were exhausted.  I was in bed by 8:30, and Joe followed shortly after.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a "down day" -- we need one.  But we are not very good with those, so we will see.