Hard to Go Home Again

You grow up in Indiana, move to Colorado where you live for over 31 years and then come back to the place of your childhood.  I'm not sure what changed more; the old stomping grounds or the two people who returned.  Vickie and I went to the Kosciusko County Fair in Warsaw, IN and found very few things that stayed the same.  The highlight of the fair was missing - BINGO but at least they still have Elephant Ears.  This is fried dough the size and shape of an elephant's ear brushed with butter and covered with cinnamon and sugar.  There could most likely be nothing more harmful to your body but man are they good.

We walked around the fair for about two hours without seeing one person we knew but it may be because all of THEM got older and just didn't look the same.  Another shock came when we went to were the merchant's building use to be and only found a handful of businesses set up in a couple small tent.  Hang-on, the final blow came when we did not walk away from the fair with a flyswatter or a yardstick.







Now fast forward a couple weeks and you will find us taking a three hour drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana to the World Famous Coney Island Hotdog Stand.  This is a place you can come home to even after 31 years.  Vickie and her family have been going there since she was a kid.  They have not changed a thing since 1914 when they opened and it is still ran by the same family.  They sell over 2000 coney  dogs each day and the sauce is just as good as we remembered.

If you ever get to Indiana you have to stop on West Main St. in Fort Wayne and have a seat between the suits and the coveralls and enjoy a few minute of days gone by.

See you at the next stop along the road - you know, the places on the B-Side of life where you can be totally unplugged.

Everything is Coming Up (RED) Roses

Pictured here is what retirement is all about for me.  You check out the local stores, fine a completely new off the wall wine like this Red Guitar Sangria.  Then you set back with glass in hand and watch a red bird (Cardinal) feeding off your one of a kind red Hawaiian Shirt bird feeder.  Almost sounds a little Red Neck - oh well when in Rome - you know the rest.  This wine was a great find as it had a great taste and I got a history lesson about the guitar.  According the the bottle - Centuries ago, the Spanish added a sixth string to a little recognized instrument of the time, bringing to life what we now know as the guitar.  For countless generations, since that day, music, food and wine have been the fabric of the Spaniard's joyful and vivacious existence.  Put simply, la buena vida (the good life).

I would have had some really great photos for you to take a pick at but I did not follow the sage advice of my good camera toting friend, Don Reiley.  I would have had the greatest redneck shot last week if I had my camera at hand.  Parallel parked in front of the Silver Inn Bar & Grill in downtown Silver Lake, Indiana was a riding mower.  I guess there is more than one way to get to your local hangout when you lose your license.  Earlier that week I saw a Amish horse & buggy with a boat & motor on a trailer hitched to the back end.  I knew fishing was big in Indiana but had not seen this before.  Give a man a fish vs teach him to fish - again, you know the rest.  Anyone who tells you that retirement is boring have just not really looked at it the right way. Yes I still complain on Sunday afternoon about the weekend going too fast at which time my wife reminds me it doesn't matter anymore.  So far this has been a wild ride with dropping the 5th wheel on the back of the truck and a couple weeks later getting upfront and personal with one of the many Indiana deer.  It all worked out as I was able to get an estimate on the front end damage at the same time I was having the rear end fixed.  Good news, the middle of the truck still looks great.

We have only just begun as the song says but I would have to say to anyone I meet - don't be afraid to follow your dreams.  Actually be a little afraid if you don't go for it as you will always be asking yourself - what would it have been like.  Believe me it is worth the chance.  Until next time keep red birds in your dreams and red wine in your tummy.

Unplugged and out!!!

At The Table

It has been great driving around northern Indiana seeing all the sights, including Amish buggies, lakes,  small towns full of unique shops but we also took time to eat.  Let me tell you the people in this part of the country do know how to cook and bake and fry and roast and smoke - well you get the picture.  Everywhere you go there are places to purchase hand-made cheeses, candies, canned and pickled vegetables and some of the best baked goods you have every put in you mouth.

There is a place called Rise & Roll Bakery just outside of Middlebury, Indiana where you walk in the door and want at least one of everything they have on display.  You can gain 5 lbs. just breathing the air inside.  Just down the road from them is the Guggisberg Deutsch Kase Haus Cheese Factory with over 20 kinds of hand-made cheeses that are all out of this world.  Believe me you will not go hungry around here.



In addition to what you can buy to take home there is a restaurant on every corner with home-made meals served family style.  Every meal is topped off with a large selection of pies, each better than the one you tried the last time.  Thank goodness there are also many bike and walking paths to counter-balance some of that great eating.  I just have to remember to do more of the walking and less of the eating.

Part of the walking has been through the woods to find the every allusive morel mushrooms, more commonly know as yellow sponge.  I am glad for friends and family who have shared some of their findings as I have logged over 12 hours in the woods and have found a whooping 7 mushrooms.  At least I can't be accused of hogging more than my share.

Farming Unplugged

If you have ever farmed or lived in a farming area you will appreciate all the work that goes in to doing everything with horses.  I could not believe how easily the Amish can handle a six or eight horse hitch and how much ground they can cover in one day.  It was fun to watch one field being plowed by a tractor with eight huge tires and a 24 row disk and across the road a 4 row disk pulled by eight horses.

I think the reduction in overhead is what makes them do what I showed them doing in a past blog - making a trip to Wells Fargo Bank.  It's good to have the men in the field as it gives the women time to do all the great cooking we have been sampling.


Until next time - Unplug and travel safe
Jim (unplugged)

Turn Back the Page

You don't need a time machine if you visit this part of Indiana.  My wife and I really enjoyed seeing all the horse and buggies darting everywhere but I am sure it would be different if you lived here all the time.  I did notice one thing that I found interesting, they still need Wells Fargo Bank to store all that money they tell you they don't have.

                                                                                         

Back Home Again in Indiana

Okay, we are completely setup and starting to enjoy the surrounding sights.  Yesterday we took a short drive to Napanee - the very heart of Amish Country.  A close friend told us about a place , Rentown where you can buy some of the best cheese in the world at some really, really cheap prices.  I may never go to the bathroom again if what my mom told be about cheese is true.  I'll do more research on that subject before I eat all the cheese.  In addition we picked up some homemade noodles which is just what we needed for the cool weather that has moved in.  My wife combined them with some white meat chicken, a little celery, carrots and some secret spices and my life warmed up to topical level.

We have dodged many horse and buggies on the highways and byways of the area.  It is so cool to go back to a simpler time and how uncomplicated life can be.  Then you see the buggy veer into the parking lot of your local Walmart or through the drive-thru at Arby's and pick up a beef & cheddar with curly fries to go.  It kind of punches a hole in the whole romantic view of the simpler times but at least they don't blow by with only the loud bass sounds rattling your side mirror. I will go out tomorrow with the camera and try to get some pictures of this unusual mode of transportation.  I say try as they are not big on getting their picture taken but for my followers I will put my life on the line.

As I had mentioned earlier it had turned a bit cold here and will be that way for the remainder of the week.  It was nearly 8o degrees over the week-end and last night we had the furnace running to keep our toes warm.  Still better than the snow we would have had if we would have been back in Colorado last week.  I need the sun to come out bright so I can find some morels (yellow sponge) mushrooms.  My wife and I have not had any for many, many years and I will spend days in the woods if needed to come up with these small treasures.

I'll be in touch soon with more B-side/Unplugged info - have great travels.  Jim (unplugged)

Well after two overnight stops from Colorado to Indiana we made it to the Hoosier State without any problems at all until we got here.  We could not get the RV leveled the first day and no one was at the RV Park besides us so no one to give me the advise you always get from your camping friends.  It took us two days to get setup when it should have been about two hours.  As a final act we had the jaws on our fifth wheel hitch release before we had the front jacks completely down and let the RV rolls back.  The pin came out of the lock and the RV dropped down on the back of the truck putting a big dent in the bed rail and bent out the tailgate.  We will have the truck fixed and no one was hurt so it is forward with life.  Last night we even got a chance to set down in our new gravity chairs and have a beer.  Ain't retirement great.

We will start looking over the surrounding area tomorrow and I will be giving you some great B-side/Unplugged places to visit if you are ever it this area.  I will be snapping some photos of the local sites and giving you some insight of the Amish culture as we are smack in the middle of their country.

Until later I'm wishing you great travels and warm memories.

Jim (unplugged)