June 25, Day 10: Collinsville, Illinois to Holmesburg Ohio, Amish country

Today was a day that we drove mostly in the rain or dark, foreboding clouds. We drove and drove and drove, including taking a wrong turn and seeing some really obscure little towns in Illinois. We also dealt with construction and more construction, particularly around Indianapolis. This is not the fun part of travel. We drove a total of about 500 miles today.

We’ve been going through different states. Illinois led to Indianapolis, Indiana and finally to Ohio. It is good to watch the miles roll by. In the last two days we drove nearly 1500 miles. That’s a lot of driving and both of us were really ready to arrive in Ohio.

We’re going to spend the next couple of days in Ohio Amish country. We decided to start off our time with some genuine Amish food at the “Dutch Kitchen.” We know that Amish people love to cook and to eat good solid comfort food. For dinner Patti had a fish fry with mashed potatoes and corn while Dick had some chicken with zucchini fries and green beans. We didn’t save enough room for the homemade pie, so we brought some back to the Airbnb for a late night dessert. It was all delicious.

Speaking of Airbnbs, we are settled into a brick schoolhouse built in 1896… they are celebrating the 125th anniversary of the building of the school. It was rehabbed and made into a house, including a beautiful second-story loft where we’re staying. The couple who owns the home are a delight and we spent time chatting with them about the school house and the community.

Literally adjoining the property is one of the rails-to-trails bike paths where they ripped out old railroad tracks and made them into bike or hiking paths. This one was particularly charming and we went for a late evening stroll, which turned into a 3 mile hike. It was so beautiful going along the edge of the creek, sometimes being passed by Amish and Mennonite folks on bikes. We also saw a couple deer and were enchanted by seeing so many fire flies. After being in the car so long It was really a delight to get out and stretch and just feel the quiet of the neighborhood.

Dick worked on some more photos while Patti soaked in the giant bathtub. We are glad tomorrow will have some cultural adventures but all within about a half an hour drive. Yay!