Onward, Northward, Eastward

7/16/2020—7/17/2020

A Brief Interlude

Purposeful interruption in the writing go the continuing saga of our 60 years of married life, so please excuse me. We’re taking about 10 days of driving about 2500 miles and seeing relatives in Indiana in two different places, then we skirted over to Middletown, NY, to visit with our second son, his wife & children, as well as another of our grandchildren, our daughter’s oldest who also lives here. So here’s a short synopsis of the trip:

Last Saturday, we left town about 6:30 am and drove a rather long and strange route to get to Franklin, IN. I wanted to go across the Ohio River on U.S. Hwy 231, that’s somewhere near Owensboro, KY. What a bridge! It was very strongly designed (new) and had a truly eerie feel about it. Look it up. The support for this span was elevated high above the bridge lanes so that twice you drove under huge concrete masses—almost scary! Seriously, look this up. Very unusual. 

After the bridge, I wanted wanted Barb to see, because it is beautifully quaint, Salem. My phone GPS let me down. The first because following directions as they were told me, missed the town, the second because the GPS routing compared to the signs on the highway simply led me around the town and we were going away from it before I realized what had happened. …Best laid plans, right? By that time, it had taken longer than it should have so we just went back to boring old Interstate usage and went to Franklin.

We ate a wonderful meal at the Big Woods restaurant in Franklin, not seeing anyone wearing masks except the wait staff who lowered theirs when talking to us—ineffective usage, I’d say.

Sunday morning we meandered around and finally found a breakfast meal in my home town, Trafalgar, IN. In fact, at a restaurant which is the old school building which was built while I was attending high school next door. That was fun, the waitress let me tell her a couple of short stories of my infamous days there, so that made my morning. 

At noon, we went to the country event center in Samaria for my family reunion. Not very many of us because of the virus, I suppose, but extremely enjoyable. My 93 year old sister and I were the eldest, the rest were nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews and spouses with one granddaughter of one of my brothers and 3 grandsons of one niece. As I said, not many there. Good food, good conversation and fellowship that lasted till 4:30. I’m glad we went.

From there we drove to Winona Lake, a resort area we have heard about all our lives, but neither of us had ever been there. What a beautiful “secret” Indiana is hiding out in plain view. Truly a beautiful place in a “lake district” of Northern Indiana between South Bend and Fort Wayne. Several things in and around Winona Lake were very interesting, but the time element for us was very short so we confined our enjoyment to the Winona Lake Village—a collection of Victorian era homes which have been converted to unique small businesses and shops. Right on the bank of the lake, the walking paths throughout and all lawns, sitting areas, etc., were spotless and so pristine. Easy to see how the respect and pride of the community shone through. It would have been easy to spend 3 or 4 more days there. But, on we moved!

Barb’s nephew and his wife have an absolutely beautiful 36 acre country home, loaded with all the stuff country homes should have: 8 acre lake, 2 ample gardens growing everything from black raspberries to tomatoes, all small wilde animals making unscheduled appearances as well as deer and in the Winter, there is otter which play in the snow and the lake. Their home is very well done and kept beautifully by the maid-in-residence (his lovely wife!) Noticing the quality of the home, I mentioned to Barb its doors and windows probably cost as much as our whole house. They reminded me of what we saw in Germany many years ago. We really enjoyed our time with them and warned them we were coming back and staying longer (doubtful, but the warm sentiment was there.)

So, Tuesday morning came and we headed to New York. A very good and uneventful trip, found us arriving at our son’s home at 6:30pm, safe and sound. No “border” cops harassed us or anything. We liked that. We’re enjoying our stay and I’m writing this on the third day, Friday the 17th. 

Wrap-up coming soon.

Thanks for reading, the Elder