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.

Happy birthday, Chris! Monday, September 17, 2012

Did a few chores for Mom, ate some breakfast, visited a bit, and then headed away from Admire.

We didn't have any plans for the day, just mainly driving east on I-70.

Lunch was in Concordia, Missouri, at Topsy's Restaurant. They serve breakfast all-day (hear that, Maribeth?), so Kathy had a very good veggie omelet and Chris tried the salisbury steak special.

The only actual other time we did something other than drive was stopping in Greenup, Illinois, to do a small amount of grocery shopping (need bread!) and picked up a few odds and ends at the local Dollar General.

Our campground was in Indiana at the Terre Haute KOA. It was dark when we arrived, but we still had plenty of evening. We're in Eastern Daylight Time now, so we actually stopped later than we thought!

Today was Chris' birthday, probably the first one in years when we didn't, at least,  go out to eat! Well, unless you count eating there in Concordia, or eating in the camper van in Indiana!

On the Road Again! Sunday, September 16, 2012

Well, it's time for the two us to have another vacation for just us...

Once again, vacation has come sooner than we expected and we weren't mentally or physically ready for it. Since we know we need to be in Raleigh, North Carolina, for a conference in a week and a half, we are heading East. The only other plan we made was that we would head for Maryland and Delaware because we haven't yet been there in the camper van. Actually, neither of us have ever been to Delaware at all.

We did most of our packing on Saturday, although the food had to be packed on Sunday morning. Before leaving Great Bend, we went to Perkins for brunch with Ben. Saturday was his birthday (and Jason's!!) and Monday is Chris' birthday, so we went for a "birthday brunch."

We then headed out for Admire, Kansas! First stop was south of town at the farm of Joyce Theier and Ann Birney, also know as Ride into History. Joyce was the principal entertainment for the evening and did a performance as a woman who had settled in Kansas as a child and later served in the U. S. Army during the Civil War. There are several hundred cases of women serving in the War on both sides of the conflict, disguising themselves as men. The composite character that Joyce has created later returns to Kansas and secures a homestead.

The well-attended performance was both entertaining and informative and the audience seems very attentive. Later, we were served an outdoor meal that was very good! Ann gave me the recipe of the black bean/corn/avocado, etc. salad. It was great and should be a dish that I'll be taking to potlucks in the future!

We drove in to Admire after the festivities to spend the night with Kathy's mom, Dee Reid. We had a good visit and then headed to bed.