Sunday, August 07, 2011
That’s When Groovin’ was Groovin’
The Hoosier National Forest
Last night strong thunderstorms went through our area. The lightening and rain were pretty intense for a couple of hours. We were fine, dry as a bone, but I worried about some of the tent campers near us…must have been a crazy night for them. We were up and out of the campground early so we didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone.
The reason we were out early – 7:45 ish – was because we wanted to make the 8:30 Mass at the nearest Catholic Church, St. Mary of the Annunciation in Floyds Knobs. We had no idea where Floyds Knobs was (who was Floyd and why did he have knobs?), but trusted Dora…the GPS Lady to get us there. She did except it took much longer than we anticipated. We traveled past lovely farms down picturesque back roads, which we normally would have really enjoyed except that it was taking way too long and we really hate to be late for church.
We pulled into the church parking lot at 8:28…lucky for us, it is a well known fact that at least half of the parishioners in every Catholic Church, walk into the church just as the bells stop ringing. We really don’t like walking into a strange Church late. As we got out of the van we noticed that people were not going into the main front doors of the beautiful white church on the property…instead, they were walking into what appeared to be the adjacent Parish Hall. Good thing we noticed…..we hurried after a man who seemed to know which door to go in….we walked in and found ourselves right up front …close to the alter where a Lector was already welcoming everyone. Center of attention….making ourselves as small possible….we hurried to seats. We found out later that the main Church is being renovated so the services are being held in the Parish Hall till the church is ready. The parishioners were very friendly and welcoming.
After Mass, we drove through the farming community of Floyds Knobs and on to our first destination of the day. We wanted to be in the proper mood so we plugged our “Ted’s Picks” flash drive and tuned in a little ditty about Jack and Diane; singing loud ….know’n all the words ….we flaunted Authority….and kept singing till we reach the Small Town of Seymour, Indiana; where we cruised the streets looking for Cherry Bomb and a red Cougar. We Rode Around The Little Country Town, where there are a lot of Pink Houses but we never did see a Cougar guess it was Just Another Day in Seymour. Did you guess it? Seymour, Indiana is John Cougar Mellencamp’s hometown! Ted and I love Mellencamp’s music…always have…especially loved him back in the 70’s when he was Johnny Cougar. As his fame grew, he bravely added his real last name, Mellencamp, which his agents had told him would never sell records.
Seymour, Indiana is also known as the Crossroads of America because it is here in the center of town that the Main North-South and East-West Rail lines cross. A little known fact that Ted somehow knew. Being Sunday, there wasn’t much open in town so we stopped at the Visitor’s Center that is located in the original-refurbished Seymour Depot.
Our visit to the Visitor’s Center was fun. The nice gentleman manning the Center today happened to be the former Mayor of Seymour. He was very polite and informative…at least he tried to be polite because one of the only other people in the Visitor’s Center besides us was a local man who took exception to almost everything the former Mayor had to say. The other man was a colorful 83-year-old native who proclaimed himself a righteous Republican in a town full of liberal Democrats (the former Mayor is a Democrat). When we inquired about our idol JCM, the older gentleman had some not-so-nice things to say about the whole family (draft-dodging liberals), which the former Mayor really didn’t appreciate. (my appologies to those of you who were born too late to recognize the music of the 70′s and 80′s)
In the midst of all this, I wanted to buy a 50-cent Mellencamp postcard to send to Jilly and Grace. When I went to pay for the card I handed it to the Mayor. He asked me my name and reached into a drawer to wrestle out a hard-bound 11×14 receipt book. I said, “you need my name to sell me a post card?”. He replied, “Yep, you know how government is…this place is run by the town”. I laughed, and then spelled my name for him and watched as he very carefully wrote it in on the “received from” line. He went on to write a description of the postcard; the date and time; and then signed his name with a flourish. I’m saving that receipt at least until we are out of Indiana just in case we’re stopped and questioned about the purchase. When we left the depot, the other man followed us out and continued to tell us all of the problems with the town…except when the door opened…he’d get very quiet so the former Mayor couldn’t hear him. Funny. By-the-way, Seymour is also the home of Katie Stam – the 2009 Miss America. Must be a lot of good blood in Seymour.
Before leaving Seymour (never did catch a glimpse of JCM) we studied the local map and saw that we were very close to the Longest Historic Covered Bridge in America. Who knows when we’ll be this close again…we decided to find it. The weather was perfect today, about 85 and sunny, and we were driving through beautiful fields of corn and soybeans –a picture-perfect Indiana scene.
Wasn’t long before we found the newly renovated Medora Covered Bridge.
We parked on the side of the road and walked through. The bridge was built in 1875 and carried local traffic across the East Fork of the White River for about 40-years. It was the main road – route 50 – through this part of Indiana until the highway system was improved and Route 50 bypassed the bridge.
The span between the abutment faces is 431-feet; shed extensions for weather protection extend 16 feet on each end beyond the bridge span. The Medora Bridge is the last remaining three-span covered bridge in Indiana. Inside is really unique. There are three timber arches with stiffening trusses. This photo shows the center arch. If you look really close, you’ll see a little black line at the other end ….that’s me.
When we walked out of the bridge at the other end we were met by a very enthusiastic, young man who is a member of the Medora Covered Bridge Preservation Committee. He seems to spend all of his spare time here at the bridge welcoming visitors. He handed us a brochure and answered all of our questions about the history of the bridge. He is a self described “starving artist” and life time resident of Medora who decided that the bridge is an important part of the towns history and needs to be preserved. We really enjoyed talking with him.
The day was quickly getting away from us so we decided to head to our destination for the night – The Hoosier National Forest where we knew we could find a (half-price Golden Age Pass) National Park Campground. Wasn’t long before we were sitting in a gorgeous hardwood forest sipp’in coffee. We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking a moderate to strenuous trail through the forest and down to Lake Monroe. A good workout!
Tomorrow: The Indian State Fair!
Thanks For Riding Along!
