At the crossroads... Tuesday, September 18, 2012.

Chris grabbed a breakfast right there at the KOA in the morning before we began our day.

Last night we had decided to do a couple of "touristy" things in Terre Haute. The first place we went was not open yet, so we walked along part of Indiana State University's campus to the business district. There we visited the Clabber Girl Museum. The familiar label of Clabber Girl Baking Powder caught our eyes, although neither of us pretends to actually bake that often!

The museum illustrates not only the history of the company, but also explains about the "Baking Powder Wars". (3-minute Video) Many companies were making baking powder. The Royal Baking Company convince many that alum, an ingredient used by other companies, was poisonous. This started the war. It appears competition was fierce for awhile until companies folded or many were purchased by competitors. Clabber Girl weathered these storms and is still produced.

After visiting Clabber Girl, Kathy and I purchased a number of items from an oriental grocery included some quite delicious Armenian string cheese.

On the corner near the grocery store was the "Crossroads of America". US-40 traces the National Road route early pioneers traveled from Maryland into the mid-West starting in the early 1800s. US-41 travels north and south along the border of the early frontier. These two highways became part of the national highway system in 1926. The two highways cross at 7th and Wabash in Terre Haute, a corner that became known as the "Crossroads of America".

Behind Kathy and to her right is a bronze Max Ehrmann sitting on a park bench. Ehrmann is the author of the popular 1960's poem Desiderata, falsely claimed to have been found in Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore, dated A.D. 1692. This is rubbish. Ehrmann published this poem in 1927. In the picture, Chris is showing Max the stuff purchased in the oriental grocery store.





We left Max sitting on the bench and walked to Eugene V. Debs' house. Debs was a union leader and Socialist in the early 20th Century. He was the Socialist Party candidate for president 5 times from 1900 to 1920. (Short biography) Today, Socialism is frowned upon by those ignorant of the history of worker abuse by early capitalists. Many of the conditions that make working for someone else tolerable, e.g., 8-hour work day,were promoted by unionists like Debs until finally adopted by some companies and US Congress legislation.

After Debs' house we drove east. Along the way we purchased some Firehouse subs, rated #1 on Consumer Reports list of best sub and sandwich chains. (The paper version of the same report lists Firehouse as #2 behind Jason's deli.) Chris had a New York Steamer. Kathy had a Veggie.

We are now camping in Buck Creek State Park between Dayton and Columbus, Ohio.