We’re back at it with RoVer Too! After several months off, we hit the road on Monday June 10th to neighboring Indiana. Before I get into the details of our trip, I have to shout out to Mark for his most recent project to enhance our RVing experience. The center section of our theater seating wasn’t serving much of a purpose. We don’t need seating for a 3^rd person and there was no storage in it – just a couple of cupholders when you fold the back down. So, Mark measured and planned, and came up with a center ‘console’ that provides us with tons of storage and makes the space so much more functional…without impacting our beloved recliners. He’s been working at it in our garage off and on for several months, and installation happened just before this trip. 5 stars, for sure!

Our drive on Monday was only about three hours, to the Indianapolis KOA, just a bit east of the city. It’s possibly the nicest KOA we’ve stayed at (at least in the section where we were located) – lots of mature trees for shade and large sites with lots of space in between. And definitely a popular place for families, given all the amenities they have – the pool was like  a small water park. They had a great sense of humor, too, with the “WHOA” sign at the exit…

On Tuesday, our first stop was the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, the former home of our 23^rd president. Going in, we knew very little about him…we learned a lot, and were really impressed by all that he accomplished in his 68 years. He is the only president to hail from Indiana, and he is the only president to have graduated from Miami University where Connor attended. Harrison wanted to help during the Civil War, but had no military background. He didn’t feel that he should encourage others to go to war unless he went himself, so he volunteered to raise a regiment and he hired a drill master to train the men. He was quickly promoted to Colonel, and studied endlessly to learn the tactics of war. He was ultimately named a Brigadier General; he considered it to be his greatest accomplishment even after being elected President. The house is beautifully preserved and filled with interesting artifacts; our tour guide was excellent and shared so much information!

His law career was impressive, arguing five cases before the Supreme Court. He served as a Senator for 6 years before serving as President from 1889-1893. During his term, he set aside 13 million acres of public domain land, opened three of the earliest National Parks (Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon), and he added six states to the Union (more than any other President).

Harrison’s grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was the first President to die in office, and sadly, Harrison’s wife, Caroline, was the first First Lady to die in the White House. He lost re-election shortly after her death, and said he would have resigned if he had won…he couldn’t bear another term without his beloved wife.

From Harrison’s house, we headed south into the city of Indianapolis and enjoyed a nice stroll on the canal walk. The Indiana State Museum is located there, and around the outside, they have artwork and sculptures representing each of the 92 counties in Indiana – a really cool concept that they’ve executed beautifully!

We stopped by the Indiana War Memorial and American Legion Mall, site of several memorials and the Scottish Rite Cathedral, the largest building in the US devoted to Freemasonry.

From there, we visited the Fairbanks Art & Nature Park – it was such a beautiful day to take a walk in the woods there!

Our Tuesday ended with an evening at Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville (northwest of Indy), featuring James Taylor and his All-Star Band. We booked these tickets several months ago and planned the camping trip around his concert – he’s one of our favorites and we’ve probably seen him four or five times now in NY, Massachusetts, and now Indiana. I don’t think we qualify as groupies just yet…but we might be getting close! He’s still a fantastic performer at 76 years old, and even sprinkled a few good jokes into his set.

“A dyslexic walked into a bra…”

“My electric guitar is a huge improvement on the old steam- and coal-powered versions…”

“When I went to Amish Country, I was impressed with their horse-drawn guitars”

On Wednesday, we took a drive south to Columbus, Indiana. It’s a small city (about 50,000 people – smaller than the suburb we live in) that is big on architecture. The Economist called it “a surprising mecca of Modernist design”. Bloomberg labeled it “a citadel of design”. The Saturday Evening Post dubbed it “Athens on the Prairie.” With my love of architecture, it was high on my list to get to Columbus, and I’m so glad we did! Wow! The library was designed by I.M. Pei, who is probably most well-known for the glass pyramid structure at The Louvre. Across the street is the First Christian Church and bell tower, one of the first Modernist designs for a religious structure. There are over 90 projects of architectural significance in this one town…amazing! It’s all thanks to J. Irwin Miller who was head of Cummins diesel-engine company that’s headquartered in Columbus. In order to attract quality employees, he offered to subsidize any new, public, Modernist buildings by paying the architect’s fees.

The highlight of our day in Columbus was a guided tour of Miller House, where the above-mentioned J. Irwin Miller and his wife Xenia lived with their children. After touring so many Frank Lloyd Wright homes, it was fascinating to see such an incredible mid-century modern home. The home was designed by Eero Saarinen; he’s know for many airport terminals and commercial buildings, as well as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. It’s particularly noteworthy that this project also showcases the work of Dan Kiley (landscape architect) and Alexander Girard (interior designer).

The house is beautiful, with its open layout, flat roof, and glass walls. There’s a central space which includes a conversation pit, with bedrooms and other spaces surrounding it. There are no load-bearing walls – everything is supported by 16 free-standing steel columns. The interior designer used many pieces meaningful to the family, and designed many custom pieces for them, including curtains and a rug that is filled with symbols of the family’s history and interests. We were allowed to take photos from one location in the central area…here they are!

The gardens rely on symmetry and geometry, and Kiley didn’t like flowers – he focused on greenery and trees to develop his landscape.

It was a fascinating tour!

We briefly checked out ‘downtown’ Columbus, including Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor…opened in 1900, it’s definitely an “old-timey” place and quite charming! Oh, and a single scoop of ice cream there is more like three scoops anywhere else. It was like a meal, not a snack…and it sure was yummy!

Nearby, we saw the courthouse and Veterans Memorial.

It was a wonderful day in Columbus – an unexpected gem in the midst of corn fields!

Thursday, we packed up at the KOA and headed about 90 minutes West to Turkey Run State Park. It was home to large numbers of turkeys, hence the name, and is still home to many turkey vultures. We had a site booked at their campground which is a bit more rustic than the places we usually stay – just electricity, no water or sewer hookups – so we had to ‘rough it’ for a night LOL! When we arrived around 1pm, there was still someone occupying our assigned campsite. We were a little early, since check-in and check-out are both at 2pm, but these people still had their tent up and there was no sign of them, so we had a feeling they weren’t leaving anytime soon. Fortunately, we were able to move to another site that wasn’t reserved for the night…and it’s a good thing we did, because those people were still there when we left on Friday!

Anyway, after we setup (pretty quick when all you have to do is plug in!), we headed into the park to check out one of their many hiking trails. Glaciers have created some amazing landscapes in this park. We hiked through Rocky Hollow gorge and saw so many sandstone formations.

Thursday night, it rained. All night. Thunder. Lightning. Heavy downpours. No fun for the many people camping in tents! Fortunately, it stopped by about 7am, and it actually made for the most incredible hike Friday morning. The humidity and moisture in the air, combined with the sunlight, created so many gorgeous photo opportunities of the sun’s rays against the fabulous park landscape. We hiked through Turkey Hollow, and with all the rain, it was a fun challenge to find stepping stones and logs to help us traverse the water. The trails were so incredibly lush and green – Mark compared it to a rainforest (the humidity added to the ambience!). We were really glad to get out early, as the day was supposed to get well into the 90s with continued humidity – it would have been unbearable later in the afternoon!

These are a few of my favorite photos from Turkey Run…

Turkey Run is located in Parke County, IN, home to 31 covered bridges and the “Covered Bridge Capital of the World”, so we couldn’t leave without seeing at least one of them…Narrows Covered Bridge is located at the East end of the park, so we took a quick drive over to see the bright-red structure over Sugar Creek.

And then it was time to eat lunch and pack up to head home. If you’ve ever driven through Indiana, you know that it’s mostly flat farmland…but there is an interesting stretch in Northwest Indiana that is filled with wind turbines…there are four industrial wind farms in the area. Fun story…the first time we drove through this area was in 2018, in the dark, and all we could see were red lights…but we couldn’t see the turbines, so we were puzzled about all the red lights in the sky. It wasn’t until a few days later, when we drove through again in daylight and realized what we had seen!

It was a quick and easy trip back home after a fun and varied week in Indiana – and it’s likely we’ll be back to some of these places again, as there is so much more to see and do! For now, RoVer Too is back in storage; we’ll hit the road again in mid-July!