Um, How Do You Say Kosciusko County?

Yup, we're in Indiana! We found ourselves facing a midwest heat wave, so we flew through Missouri and Illinois, then headed northeast to Kosciusko county in Indiana.  It's good to have relatives who have hookups!

 Crockett is also happy to have cooler weather - and grass!

So, what've we done the past week? Well, we've done a lot of riding,

 and, of course, we grabbed lunch at Penguin Point, a small local chain.

 We also popped over to North Webster for that Hoosier specialty,

 elephant ears!

North Webster's businesses all went for a 'Camelot' theme back in the day. This leftover castle was once the bank. 

Somebody bought this old church and converted it to a residence,

complete with aliens!

This is the Dixie, Indiana's oldest paddleboat. She was launched in 1929 and has been cruising North Webster lake ever since!

We had to check out the well-known Amish bakery, Rise' n Roll. They might be known for their doughnuts, but their sticky buns are insanely good. 

We also walked around Warsaw for a bit. Warsaw's courthouse is gorgeous, 

and of course, it has a marker commemorating Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura 

Digression! Kościuszko was a Polish-Lithuanian who was a friend of Thomas Jefferson, and a military architect who designed defenses for the Continental army.  A few years later, Kościuszko led an unsuccessful Polish revolt against Russia. His will requested his money be used to free and educate U.S. slaves, but sadly, this never happened.

There is a memorial on the courthouse grounds honoring local citizens who made the ultimate sacrifice.

While we were looking at the names, we noticed something heartbreaking in the list of Civil War soldiers. Kirkpatrick was a popular name at the time, but these men were still probably from the same family.

We enjoyed our ride back, winding through the Indiana countryside,

and some great riding roads. Well, they would be great if Indiana would do just a little more maintenance.

Kosciusko County is known for its many lakes, which were formed when the glaciers melted 14,000 years. 

Another digression! Probably the most popular, and hard to catch, fish in this area is a musky (Esox masquinongy), A musky is a large and fairly aggressive fish, and yes, they do bite!

When we were in Syracuse, we made sure to snap a picture of the Down Under Bar and Grill. Well, we took a picture of the bar's location - it's actually underground!

Of course, you can't cruise through small towns without spotting random armaments, 

and a random tank or two!

This is Ligonier, known for its downtown murals,

and  a few assorted statues.

This is the Solomon Mier Bed and Breakfast. Solomon Meir was a Jew who founded many of the town's businesses and who built this esquisite Queen Anne. Did you spot the buggy?

Another statue, This is Oliver Cromwell, standing tall in Cromwell, Indiana. 

We also took a day and went  to Shipshewana,  well known for their Amish businesses and farms.

The Amish do not like to have their photos taken, so we just took pictures of the photos of buggies and farms.

Shipshewana's big claim to fame is it's enormous flea market - 15 acres! It's not free, but parking is only $3.00.

We fortified ourselves with breakfast at the flea market's restaurant, then started shopping. We ended up walking for hours.

Can we talk about how cute this couple is? 

Yoder also has a large meat and cheese store, but lucky for us, we had no more room on the motorcycle!

We did find room after that breakfast for a fried pie, though - delicious!

It's been a fun week!

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Mushroom Rock State Park (Free!)

Rock City is pretty well-known, but Kansas has another rock attraction that's more off the beaten path and free: Mushroom Rock State Park. This is Kansas' smallest state park and is about 20 miles from Salina, off Highway 140.  Yes, first twine and now mushroom rocks - never let it be said we don't have an exciting blog!

Address: Avenue K, Brookville, KS

The tiny park is only 5 acres, and you have to travel over a couple of dirt roads to get there. The mushroom-shaped rocks are a geological phenomen known as a hoodoo, although we like the French name better, demoiselles coiffées,  which means "ladies with hairdos".

The rocks in this park are the remains of the beaches from when Kansas was the bed the of a inland sea in the Cretaceous Period, which was 144 million to 66 million years ago.

  A deep layer of Dakota sandstone, held together with a natural cement made from of calcium and limestone, was laid down over the softer sandstone floor. Over the years, wind and erosion has worn away the softer sandstone, leaving the harder Dakota sandstone. You can still see the odd splits in the rocks where water once washed calcium and limestone from tiny sea creatures into the Dakota sandstone. 

In the 60s, the Ellsworth County Historical Society secured five acres from two individual owners for a park, and the park was officially opened in 1965. 

Today, the park is a wide spot in the road, tucked away in the middle of a couple of farms. It offers a pull-over and a picnic area and bathrooms. It is only a day-use park and is managed by Kanopolis State Park.

This is also a historically significant area. The Fremont Trail passed very near here, and  was used by the Kaw-Santa Fe Freight Company. The trail became the first route for the overland stages to California, until they were forced to take a northern trail by hostile Indians.

Know Before you go: You have to travel down two dirt roads to get to this park, so make sure the weather is dry when you visit. Since we were on a motorcycle, we just parked by the railroad tracks and walked in.

After working up an appetite tromping around, looking at rocks, we zipped over to Ellsworth for lunch. We grabbed a couple of sandwiches as Paden's Place, a popular local hangout. The food was definitely American diner food - good, but a little lacking in seasoning. 

The dessert, though, was very very good  - and yes, the meringue was really that thick.

Ellsworth was found in 1867, and was named after nearby Ellsworth fort (which changed it's name to Harker the same year!) A railroad brought settlers, but the town soon  suffered both a flood and a cholera epidemic. In the 1870s, the town would also weather a couple of devasting fires.

Today, Ellsworth is a sleepy small town, but in the 1870s it was a notorious "cowtown" and considered by some as the "wickedest cowtown in Kansas".

One newspaper is quoted as saying, “As we go to press, hell is still in session in Ellsworth.”  In 1875, the stockyards closed, and the town slowly became more respectable.

While researching this town's history, we discovered Ellsworth is also known as the burial place of Mother Bickerdyke. Mary Bickerdyke must've been an unusual woman; she was born in 1817, and graduated from college as a nurse. Her and her husband moved to Galesburg, Illinois where she became a nurse and then a hospital administrator.  After the war, she became an attorney so she could help veterans with their legal issues. She also secured pensions for 300 women nurses! 

Across the train tracks is Ellsworth's museum, the Hogden House Museum. It was getting late, so we decided to skip the museum but we understand it's well worth the trip. The house built in 1877 by Perry Hogden after fires devastated Ellsworth. The Ellsworth Historical Society established a museum in 1963 and have restored the house, as well as collecting other interesting buildings including a train depot and a one-room school house. Maybe next time we will have time to stop and check it out - or at least find Mother Bickerdyke's gravesite!

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Ball of Twine and The Center of the United States (Free!)

Nope, we aren't ignoring this blog - we just had a major change of plans! We were planning  a slow mosey through the midwest, eventually winding up in North Indiana for the family reunion. But-

After enjoying a few beautiful days at Beloit's Chautauqua Park, a heat wave rolls through! We immediately ditch our plans and check with the relative who  offered us free hookups for the reunion. She doesn't mind us showing up a few days early, so we pack up and head for northern Indiana. Now we're here and much cooler, we can catch the blog back up!

Downtown Beloit is just a short walk from the park, taking the bridge that goes over Solomon River. Back in the 70's, six counties in the area created the SVED (Solomon Valley Economic Development). 

The SVED focuses on economic development, but also consults with local businesses and helps non-profits procure grants.The result is Beloit feels like a bit of a time warp.

There are several banks and newspaper offices, as well as local businesses who seem to be doing a pretty lively business. There's even a laundromat downtown, which makes it easy to catch up on that task!

Another thing unique to Beloit is this memorial to city and public safety employees. We often forget these folks make a lot of sacrifices to ensure the public is taken care of.

Less than an hour away is the the geographic center of the contiguous United States is the center of 48 U.S. states. This roadside stop is free and was listed in both Google Maps and our GPS - so as long as you can type 'contiguous', it's pretty easy to find!

When New Mexico and Arizona were added to the United States map in 1912, this location was selected by U.S. National Geodetic Survey as the center. 

If you are wondering, yes, Alaska and Hawaii have changed the center of the entire United States - that center is in North Dakota!

  Another fun  stop is a half an hour away in Cawker City. This twine ball was started by a local farmer back in the 50's and is now the largest ball of twine in the world, and one of the "eight wonders of Kansas".

We opted to not 'string' our visit out, but if you want to add to the ball you can just follow the directions here - or you can show up in August for the town's Twineathon, where everyone adds to the ball's dimensions!

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