#24 The Highway Home

1st Stop-Battleground, Indiana

We have 2 stops in Indiana. Our first stop includes a couple nights at Prophetstown State Park in Battleground, Indiana. Sounds kinda warlike.

Prophetstown had a wonderful bike path all around the huge state park. As you can see, they are preparing for Halloween. Different clubs put their Halloween touches along the bike path so it made our ride very interesting and fun.

We liked the Fiddlers display; it reminded us of our friend Shelley. She loved the Minions. On the path watch out for bike path hitchhikers. Oh look, there’s a hitchhiker invading on those Minion Fiddlers. Call 911 and tell them there’s a hitchhiker dressed like a coal miner in a tie dye shirt hiding out by the Fiddlers’ Gathering.

Glad we handled that distressing Halloween Horror. Down the street and up a long hill we found the Prophetstown Farm. It was a super cool find out in the middle of nowhere. The Farm was a working farm with cows, horses, pigs, chickens and goats. I’m sure I forgot some other farm animals that we saw there. I hope when they read this blog they’ll forgive me for leaving them out.

On the property was a historic farm house that was decorated with all the items you would expect to see in the late 1800’s. This next item I found displayed in the kitchen was a surprise for me.

I realize the information is hard to read so I will paraphrase. In 1890 efficiency experts (I was shocked that they had efficiency experts in the 1800’s) looked at the farm house kitchen to see if they could make the kitchen chores more efficient. “Maybe the little woman can get dinner on the table quicker.”

So the efficients (made that word up, like it?) did time and motion studies and followed the woman of the house around the kitchen to determine where shortcuts could be made to her movements.

And what did they come up with? The Hoosier Cabinet, a stand alone cabinet with pull out shelves, prep counter, casters to easily move it around the kitchen and it was mouse proof. Well that last improvement got my attention. The Hoosier Cabinet was a kitchen staple for 40 years and it made the Hoosier Manufacturing Co. a ton of money. Sorry I didn’t take a pic of the actual Hoosier Cabinet but there is one in the photo above.

There were several garages around the property and this one had a Model T Ford tucked inside. Look at those perty tires. This vehicle was well preserved. The seats weren’t tattered and there weren’t any dents or scratches on the outside. The car was in Model T condition.

There were barns on the farm with old tractors and farm equipment. I enjoyed seeing how well they preserved the farm so visitors could see what life was like in the early days back on the farm.

The farm still has operational gardens on the property and from time to time they do farm to table dinners. They also have beef and pork for purchase on the property. We would have bought some farm raised beef but we still had places to go by bike. Besides how could I buy a pound of chopped meat after looking into the beautiful brown eyes of those cows?

Tippecanoe And Wabash Too

Two rivers run through the state park, The Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers. We rode our bikes to the far end of the park and hiked down to see where the two rivers converge.

Unfortunately, it was starting to get quite warm so we figured it was time to return to the camper and visit with Lucca. 95 degree temperatures have been so foreign to us throughout this trip that when they finally caught up to us we felt overwhelmed.

The next day was cooler again and we biked to lunch at TL’s Tavern in downtown Battleground, Indiana. TL’s was probably equal to a quarter of all the businesses in downtown. There were 4 corners and a railroad track that comprised the downtown community. It was a cute community and we rode our bikes all around to check it out.

Historic Battle Ground

After lunch we were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful park.

I did not know there was an important battle fought right here where we were bicycling? The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 11, 1811 right next to my bicycle and near the Tippecanoe River.

William Henry Harrison led the offensive against the tribes in the area. Harrison won the battle in 2 hours and burned Prophetstown to the ground. He and his troops destroyed all the food supplies and abandoned the area. Harrison left the battle with the nickname of Tippecanoe and a very a positive reputation.

In 1840, 30 years later, when Harrison ran and won the US Presidency with Tyler as Vice President, he campaigned with the slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” I know I should have learned all of this in US History class but all I remember is the slogan.

One of the best and most important parts of our summer trips is how much we learn along the way. There is so much history tucked away in the unknown and less touristy corners of our Country that traveling outside of those locations is like discovering an unwrapped gift.

2nd Stop Harvest Host Winery UH OH!

It was time to leave Battle Ground and motor on to a Harvest Host Winery in southern Indiana. We packed up our camper as we always do and followed our RV directions to our next exciting spot.

About an hour out of Battle Ground, I received a text message from the winery welcoming us on 9/19. I said, “Pam, what day is it?” Of course she said Thursday and I said, “Pam, the winery isn’t expecting us until tomorrow.” Most Harvest Hosts only allow you to camp for free for 1 night. I looked at our reservations for Prophetstown State Park and UH OH our check out date is 9/19. We left a day early. What the heck were we thinking?

Neither of us panicked. Well I did a little bit on the inside but on the outside I was looking for a place to spend the night.

Welcome to our emergency KOA. We had a lovely evening at a super nice campground. There were no bugs, no dirt and a beautiful patio with firepit. We lost some money paying for two campsites but it’s been a 7000 mile trip so far. The navigator hasn’t made enough mistakes to fire her yet. Have I Pam? Pam???

They made milkshakes at the KOA so we ordered 2 shakes to go and onward we chugged to Sumner Crest Winery.

Lucca just loves wine. We did a wine tasting (not Lucca), bought a couple bottles of wine and a few gifts in the winery store. Then we sat on the covered porch to listen to live music. It was another beautiful evening. There were 3 campers staying on the property.

We had a very nice easy in and easy out spot. The next day we pulled in our slide, packed our stuff for a long drive to Huntsville, Alabama. We had to make good time because we had tickets to see The Indigo Girls and Melissa Ethridge and doors open at 6:00.

I Hear Honking

I am not going to belabor the point here. We were on I65 S diving toward Huntsville when a car pulled up beside us honking the horn. Pam opened her window and they pointed and yelled, “Tire!”

The shoulder of the road was non existent and Pam pulled over as far as she could without going downhill. I hopped out on the passenger side and with a quick peek I saw

This time the process was more scary than the time on the icefield pkwy. Luckily a State Trooper pulled up behind us and stayed for about 45 minutes while we called around for help. We were safe and back on the road in less than 3 hours and felt oh so lucky.

That night was concert night and then we were going to explore the Space Center and some other cool places in Huntsville. Actually, Huntsville was a really pleasant surprise for us. You are definitely going to want to come along…