What the heck is a Hoosier?

Calling all Hoosier Campers!

Well, we made it... Indiana... the Hoosier State (what the heck is a "Hoosier" anyway? I'll have to look that up).

The day started out cool-ish and damp. Mid 60's in DeWitt, Illinois. We had a short day on the road planned... 2 hours to Terre Haute, Indiana then one more to McCormick's Creek State Park... The oldest park in the Hoosier State system. So, sensing we had time to waste, we immediately got lazy in the ole Airstream.

(Ed. Note: We're over 5,000 miles on this trip now and when added to past trips that's over 8,000 in the 9 months we've had her. Indiana makes 22 states we've visited with the Silver Cliche' combo. We will add one more -- Kentucky -- to that total before reaching home. If we book the two trips we are considering for next year (Grand Canyon/Utah in the spring and New England in the summer with a grand lad) we could possibly reach 40 or more states in the first two years of Airstreaming. It gets harder after that with California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan not on our planning list yet. Alaska is a drive-and-a-half and I hear from other Airstreamers that the drive to Hawaii is a beast. Anyway... she's earned the respect of being called "the ole Airstream" even at a young age.)

This marks day 4 in corn country. The corn keeps getting taller and healthier. Here in Indiana it's higher than an elephants eye... maybe closer to a teenaged giraffe's eye... There are visible ears. At points today the corn was shoulder-to-shoulder to the road. For you WW II buffs, it reminded me of stories of the hedgerow country in Normandy where the allied forces traveled low roads with towering fields on either side that made leaving the road impossible and created ambush spots and firing positions for the prepared Germans. If the farmers of Illinois had a plan to stop our progress toward Terre Haute we would have been goners. Fortunately their intel was poor or their initiative low and we faced no opposition. Then, we crossed the Wabash. The Wabash River of song. Specifically, "Back Home Again in Indiana", the state song. Remember... "When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash / 

Then I long for my Indiana home."?

So... why Terre Haute? It's not my home... never was... But it was Mrs. C's birthplace and more importantly, Terre Haute is where her parents were raised, met and married. With the help of Ancestry.com we found census records, home addresses, high school yearbooks, etc. I'm hooked. I've started documenting both her family and mine. Any of you who are family members on either side and want to access that family tree, let me know... I'll send you a link. Even wilder than that, in researching ancestors, I found a well constructed family tree that included Mrs. C's father and grandmother. I contacted the author through Ancestry and discovered that she still lives in Terre Haute. Evidently, Indiana high school civics doesn't highlight that Hoosiers are free to leave. Her name is Becky and she is my wife's first cousin once removed. Until this week I don't believe either knew the other existed. So... plans changed (that's the benefit of having your home on wheels right behind you). It was a hot day in western Indiana. We found a nice little city campground with shade and electricity near downtown Terre Haute. We called from the road to confirm they had space (they had plenty), we hit town, dropped the trailer in a shady spot, tucked the dogs in where they would be safe and cool and headed to town for lunch and a meeting with Becky. Oh, the family facts and stories flew! After that we took a driving tour of the streets where her parents lived (her dad's childhood home is still there... Mom's street is now modern town homes).

We hit a Kroger's for provisions and went back to our home in the woods. The mosquitoes and flies tried to carry off the little dog during the evening walk so we sealed the trailer and stayed in for dinner and microwave s'mores.

 

That's it... Corn, genealogy, lunch on the Wabash... On to the planned agenda and McCormick creek state park tomorrow then Kentucky the next day.

Later! 

SC