Searching again for Fall

Jordan Lake courtesy Flickr

You may recall our search for fall colors last year. My ordinarily lovely maple trees went straight to brown last fall. We'd had flooding from hurricanes last year. This year, it is wicked drought. It's a little early for fall color at home but many trees are just brown. It's disconcerting.

Ironton Bridge

Last weekend, I booked a campsite at Crosswind Point at Jordan Lake. I was hoping to catch up with the Randolph Ramblers club. Apparently, no one but me booked for the meetup so folks went their different ways. I don't regret the weekend, though. On Friday night, I paddled at sunset with my friend, Cathy who lives nearby. Ruthie joined us after dark for supper. And Ruthie and I hiked and paddled on Saturday. Ruthie is in the middle of moving, Cathy was just off traveling and then having company for a week, and I have been dealing with contractors and we were all three exhausted. The peace of the woods and the water is always healing, something we depend on. It was painful seeing the woods around us so

Near West Union, OH

stressed by the tremendous heat and dry weather this late into the fall.

This past Thursday, Ruthie and I headed up to the Fiberglass RV Rally we'd attended last year in Brown County State Park. We left town on the heels of Hurricane Matthew last year. This year we arrived in Indiana in gentle rain, but the drought has affected the midwest, too. Despite the rain, the fire risk remained elevated. That

Rural Ohio church

said, we are seeing the beginnings of fall here.

We raced up to Huntington WV to spend the first night. The trip really began for us when we crossed the Ironton-Russell Bridge at Ironton, OH on the Ohio River. My favorite route to Indiana is on US 52 which runs along the Ohio River through old river towns from near Huntington into Cincinnati. In addition to the river views, the towns are full of historic buildings

Grant's Birthplace

and old homes we so enjoy. This year, there was a lengthy detour which took us away from the river but through other old communities we'd not visited before. It also took us past the entrance to Edge of Appalachia, a private nature preserve of 20,000 acres protecting  the biodiversity of fragile ecosystems at the base of the Appalachian escarpment. And we passed President Grant's birthplace.

Grant Memorial Bridge

We had lunch at a Frisch's Big Boy, a memory from childhood. The rain started after that and continued into the night. We had a small panic at the camp site. The electricity did not come on when we plugged in. It was after 5p and getting dark and expected to drop into the 30s. Kudos to the Indiana State Park system. We called the ranger station and an electrician appeared and replaced the circuit breakers in the park's electrical box serving our site. Our relief at having heat was considerable. To celebrate, instead of cooking,

Guess who?

we headed up to the Abe Martin Lodge for their fried chicken buffet and amazing cobblers. We slept warm and well last night.

We did see some fall color. Brown County's moniker is "The Little Smokys" and they do resemble our Appalachian mountains back home. Most of Indiana is flat--a gateway to The Great Plains, but the glaciers stopped here in southern Indiana, leaving this ridge of hills with impressive vistas and intimate winding roads. There are lots of log cabins--old and new--including old barns and newer vacation homes. The town of Nashville, IN is a resort and artist's community. We poked around Nashville in the morning. After lunch we enjoyed an engaging visit with some of the

Abe Martin Lodge

fiberglass campers gathered here for their small, annual rally.

There rally organizers planned a pot luck supper at 5p which left us just enough time to go hunt down a couple of covered bridges. Indiana is home to 98 covered bridges, including 14 built before 1870. There is an unusual two lane covered bridge at the entrance to the park (RVs go in through another entrance). We located that, then set out to find the

The Little Smokys

1808 Bean Blossom Covered Bridge. I was glad for the practice driving Lemhi Pass last month, the road was steep and narrow. We made it just fine, though I wondered at the effort a horse would require pulling a wagon. And I guess those old Model Ts were pretty tough, but I was glad for a modern truck and did use the 4WD down the grade.

You may recall Decision Point on the Lewis & Clark Trail. It's a national historic site where the Marias River joins the

Log barn

Missouri, so named because the boys had to make a decision which way to go (apparently a common problem throughout their trip whenever a new river joined up with the Missouri). Many of our stops on the Lewis & Clark trail were these river confluences with historic markers playing up the drama. Somehow, our intrepid heroes always figured which way to go. So we were tickled to see a sign to Hesitation Point inside

Door to the Nashville Arts Guild

Brown County State Park and had to see where it went. It's actually a trailhead to a vista on Kin Hubbard Ridge which we may hike tomorrow. Kin Hubbard was a humorist who created cartoons and sayings based on his old mountain man character, Abe Martin. Brown County State Park and the Abe Martin Lodge were dedicated to the memory of Kin Hubbard whose dry wit entertained Hoosiers for years. I have enjoyed my grandfather's old Kin Hubbard books and though it's been a while since I read them, I vaguely recall Hesitation Point being the vista where a fella took his girlfriend to propose. We can only hope their success matched that of Meri & Bill.

The pot luck was great. TOO much good food, lots of friendly folks, including a

Sidewalk at the Arts Guild

woman who reminded me last year she wanted to buy my Scamp when I was ready to sell and made sure I had her phone number again. The heat is on, the trailer is cozy and we have had our bit of fall color.

Tomorrow we head down to Cincinnati via Metamora, IN. We'll poke around the old shops and viaduct in Metamora, set up camp in North Bend, OH and spend Monday exploring the Underground Railroad Museum in Cincy. Levi Coffin, a member of New Garden Friends Meeting in Greensboro, just up the street (Friendly Avenue, no less) from First Friends, where I now attend, was called the President of the Underground Railroad. The museum in

Brown County State Park North Entrance

Cincinnati is located near where slaves crossed the Ohio River to freedom until laws were tightened and the Canadian border became their goal. I know a little of the history but am looking to learn more. Max Carter of Guilford College gives walks and talks through the New Garden Meeting and Guilford College campuses pointing out where the railroad passed through there and how escaping slaves were hidden and directed on to the next safe place. We'll make the trip home from

1808 Bean Blossom Bridge

Cincy to Greensboro in the course of a day and be grateful we don't have to make it by dark and on foot. That said, I look forward to reporting on what more we learn on Monday.

Hesitation Point