August 25, A New State

Now that we have arrived in a new state, Ohio, I will have a few things to say about Indiana. First, Indiana is a very pretty state. Sure, there are farm crops everywhere, but that is broken up by some very scenic rivers, rolling hills, and interesting towns. However. Indiana was not, for us, a very friendly state at all. It was difficult to find services for the RV, and it was difficult to find places to pull off the road. I guess the public lands of the west had me spoiled in that regard. Plus, the drivers did not want to move over and give you any room at all, when the shoulders were mostly small. And, a pet peeve of mine, if I take the time to wave and smile at you, it would be nice to see something in return! Ok, rant over. Done with that state.

Ohio! I don't know if this will be more friendly or not. But it really is amazing how the tone of an area really changes so quickly. Since Jeff got a pretty early start, we were certain of crossing the border in the afternoon.

The last Indiana sunrise.

       
Other than Decatur, IN, most of today was in the countryside.Most of the countryside is farming, as you can imagine. It is still quite lovely.

As usual, I was looking for a dump site. My GPS and the site I've been using to find them, again took me on a wild goose chase! According to the site, there was an RV dump at a truck stop just south on one of the interstates. So, off I went. Maybe 7 miles down the road. Got there, and apparently the new foreign owners have changed a few things. I guess that tells me that I really cannot trust that site, either. It has lead me wrong twice now. Just remember! You can't believe everything you read on the internet! I finally found a KOA campground in another little town on my way back to the route. And they didn't even charge me!

While I was out gallivanting around, Jeff passed through the small town of Uniondale. He was very excited to see more of the interesting sidewalk bricks. He still didn't snag one, though! Lol.

         

Jeff has a knack for finding the fire stations!

This town had some really great little sidewalk bricks, too.
We still don't have one....

           

Jeff still finds things on the side of the road, but they are almost normal things through here! I'm not sure why that is. Things in the landscape seem to be more prevalent here.

     

Some of these things are really cute! But you  have
to wonder what they really mean....

     

People still discard their old cell phones on the
side of the road.

And Jeff find's his daily ice cream bar! He just doesn't
photograph it often.

           
While stopped on the side of the road at this welding shop parking lot, thinking I would be out of the way (they were very, very busy!), one of the owner's, I think, came out to talk to me. I wish I had gotten a picture of her. She was very nice, and interested in what we are doing. She did't seem to mind me sitting in her gravel lot at all, either! Hope you are reading this! Thanks!

So if you need welding done in eastern Indiana, this is the place!

Next we cruised through Decatur, OH. It was a very nice looking town. Of course, there were tons of great houses, and interesting buildings. I don't know why I am so focused on these. Maybe because my hometown of Dallas, Texas, has routinely torn down most of the old and brought in the new. Not that I have anything against new stuff, too. But Dallas has a habit of tearing down things that are historical simply for the sake of progress. The Dr. Pepper plant, the Mrs. Baird's bread bakery, and more. I think these towns back east are just a little more proud of their history and heritage to tear too much down!

               

                    

                    


Oh, wow. We thought we were closer than this! Bummer.....

Finally, we hit the state of Ohio. We knew it would happen today, but it seemed so far away. I was counting on finding more roads or wide spots, but not so far.

We actually stayed in an RV park just outside of Van Wert, OH! A real park! We had electricity and water, but unfortunately, we couldn't make the WIFI work for us. We find that to be the case in most of them. But it was a very nice, and very quiet, place. Timberwoods RV Camp.

We are finding more mailboxes as we go. Today was interesting, too. It seemed like the majority of them had been patched with either duct tape or bungee cords!

                     

                     

A double decker plastic one!