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.