Amish Country, Ohio

Thursday, May 07, 2009
We got off the Interstate, finally, and took the back roads to the Amish area of Ohio. Ohio has the largest concentration of Amish in the country. Whenever you see laundry handing on the cloths line and all the pants are long and black, that’s a sure sign of an Amish family. Electric appliances are not permitted. We say a young girl mowing the lawn with a push reel mower. No gas engines are allowed.
Spend the night at the Mohican State Park Campground near Loudonville. This is a beautiful park. Much nicer then last nights stay at Caesar Creek. We have a campsite right on the Clear Fork of the Mohican River; what a nice view. About 7:00 a thunder & hail storm came through. Only lasted for perhaps 15 minutes. Other than that, we had a rain free day. Not much sun, but no rain was wonderful.

Friday & Saturday
Toured all around Amish Country, Holmes County, OH. Millersburg, Berlin, Walnut Creek, etc. Went to the Holmes County Flea Market, ate lunch at the Farmstead Restaurant, stopped by a bakery and toured Heini’s Cheese & Chalet. Watched cheese being made. Bought Carol lots of cookies at Kaufmanns Bakery and some dark chocolate fudge as a Mothers Day treat. I ate my share ,of course. Stayed at the Scenic Hills RV Park which is located in Berlin very close to the tourist attractions. Berlin is a very touristy town. Interesting but one visit is enough.
The weather was decent. Rained for about an hour in the afternoon.
On Saturday we went to the Walnut Creek Flea Market in the morning. It was OK but nothing special. We’re spoiled by the Green Dragon Market near Lancaster, PA. Their motto is “If it’s not at the Green Dragon, you don’t need it”. Later we drove to Lehman’s in Kidron, OH. This store was founded in 1955 to serve the local Amish communities. In particular those living the traditional life with no electricity, motors, etc. Lehman’s has all sorts of devices that require no power. Lehmsn’s ships old-fashioned, non-electric merchandise all over the world. www.lehmans.com. Toys, tools, wood stoves, hand water pumps, kitchen appliances,etc. There are museum-quality antiques on the walls. Had lunch there. As a bonus, there was a steam engine convention in town. We both enjoyed the display of old steam engines including some very old tractors. A very enjoyable visit.
About 2:00 we headed to Coshocton. There is a great City park and campground there. The sun is finally out now & then. Took a nice walk on the multi-use trail system running through the park.
The drive from Kidron to Coshocton was along narrow, twisting country roads through the most beautiful farmland we can recall seeing. A thoroughly enjoyable drive.

Searching for the sun

Monday, May 4, 2009
Last night about 9pm, the campground Ranger drove around announcing on his loud speaker, about an impending storm. It got very windy with a moderate rain. Turns out the worst of the storm was slightly north of us.
In the morning we packed up and headed to the SKP campground in Heiskell, TN, just north of Knoxville. On the way we stopped at a Lowes to buy a new waterproof cover for Carols scooter. The old one was beginning to leak.
It rained most of the way to Knoxville. The women who checked us into the campground said it had been raining for over a week. I was sitting outside when a women with a border collie walked by. She commented on Gopher. We took the dogs onto a nearby trail that ran along a creek and let them off their leash. What a time they had running through the woods, in & out of the creek. Gopher was soaked to the skin and worn out. She needed a good run after the drive from Chattanooga to Knoxville. Tomorrow we’re going to continue north into Kentucky. Searching for some sunshine. 
Carol & I sat outside at the picnic bench and played some Mexican Train. Talked to our very nice neighbors. The people across from us have a ramp that goes into their RV for their old Bassett Hound. Much like the one I built for Balou & Bagera years ago.


Tuesday & Wednesday, May 5 & 6, 2009
On Tuesday we drove to Fort Boonesborough SP near Boonesborough, KY. This was the site of a fort established by Daniel Boone. We took a tour of the reconstructed fort. Very interesting. There are people dressed in period clothing making candles, weaving cloth, a carpenter, a blacksmith, etc. Plus, the sun actually came out for a few hours today. What a pleasant change. The State Park campground is located on the bank of the Kentucky River. There has been so much rain in this general area that the river has flooded part of the campground.
On Wednesday we drove to Covington, KY with the plan of spending the day touring a very old cathedral, having lunch in the old German district and walking along the waterfront. It started raining about 10:00 am and it never did stop. So much for the plan. We just continued driving to the Caesar Creek SP northeast of Cincinnati, OH.
A disappointing start to our trip. We had planned on spending two weeks in TN & KY. The weather forecast is for more rain so we’re moving north into Ohio in search of better weather.

Summer Trip 2009. We're on our way.

Friday, May 01, 2009
Last night we went to dinner with Mike & Elaine Brennan at the Rose Garden. Got home shortly before 9:00 and tended to last minute preparation. In bed by 10. I awoke about 2:30; wide awake. We were on our way by 3:30 am.
Starting mileage: 22,332.
We were in Georgia by lunch time and were looking for Bar-B-Que restaurants. We both enjoy trying the very different regional foods. In South Carolina at Maurice’s, they use a mustard based sauce. In North Carolina it’s very heavy on vinegar. Georgia uses a tomato based sauce much more to our liking. Once before while traveling I-75 in Georgia, we stopped at The Pit Stop at Exit 63B, west side of the road.. Wonderful Bar-B-Que. This time we tried Smoke ‘n Pig at Exit 22. We were there about 11:15 and the place was crowded. When we left there was a waiting line. An excellent lunch. We’ll go back to either of the Georgia restaurants whenever we’re in the area.
We arrived at the High Falls State Park about 3:00. A very long driving day. Right at twelve hours. That will be the last long day for the trip. It just takes so long to get through Florida & Georgia. From now on our typical day will involve from two to four hours of driving. High Falls is a good stopping place. Only about two miles off I-75.
Tomorrow we drive to Tennessee.

Saturday, May 2, 2009
Left the campground about 9:30. The further north we drove the worse the weather got. North of Atlanta we drove into a very heavy rain storm. The rain is supposed to continue throughout the entire area for the next four days.
We stayed at the Chester Frost Park run by Hamilton County. It’s in Hixson, TN just east of Chattanooga. A very nice park. Well maintained, nice sized sites. On the shore of Chickamauga Lake. We picked a nice waterfront site for tonight and tomorrow. Went walking. Read our books. Grilled salmon & sweet potatoes for dinner; one of our favorite meals.

Sunday, May 3, 2009
Raining when we got up. Raining when we went to bed. Went walking whenever the rain stopped. Read our books the rest of the day. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to improve somewhat with Tuesday being partly cloudy. Oh well. Rain’s part of the deal. Everything is so green. When we left home there was a drought. The grass was all brown.
We try to identify birds as we see them using the National Audubon Society guide book. Saw a type of goose that we could not identify. Tomorrow I’m going to try to find the geese again and get a photo. Had homemade pizza for dinner.