Horse and Buggy Days
My RV Gladis and I are partners on this trip. Sometimes we travel for me; others we travel for her.
A trip for Gladis is what led me to Middlebury, Indiana. Gladis needed her leveling system repaired and the manufacturer was nearby in White Pigeon, Michigan. We didn’t have to go there – we could have gone to an authorized dealer’s shop – but why not go to the source? I had to be in Illinois, right next door, on June 21, so north we went.
You know you’re not in the South anymore when you sight your first cheese curds
Indiana/Michigan
I didn’t know anything about Northern Indiana. I certainly did not know it was Amish country, which I had always thought of as Pennsylvania. I was surprised to see women in traditional clothing and horses and buggies clopping along the roads.
I had also thought of the Amish as being a small population, but when I went to Target, about half the people inside were Amish.
I HAD to try some Amish food, didn’t I? Peach filling.
Their ways are so foreign to me, and I was suspicious of their dedication to their dress and limited use of technology – what does that have to do with religion, and why do the rules change?
I learned that the rules are made in consideration of what benefits the community as a whole, not necessarily as a religious stricture. They change as the community discusses and modifies to account for their needs. For instance, when it became practically impossible to do business without telephones, they allowed them for limited use, but not for just chatting, because they felt communication should be face-to-face in the community.
Rurality
Being from a coast, I’m always surprised at the giant chunks of completely rural land out there. In that part of northern Indiana, towns were small and far apart. Near me, there was only a gas station and an ice cream stand, where on summer evenings, the line was often 30 people or more long.
It was lovely to stand in the setting sun with teams of Little Leaguers around me, eating their Blizzards and turtle sundaes. It felt like a kind of Americana I rarely get to experience in California.
Yup’s Dairyland is the place to be on a summer evening.
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Suebob's Red Stapler 
When we visit relatives in Des Moines we frequently venture out into the countryside. When we begin to see horse plop along the side of the road we know we’re in Amish country.
Being from Wisconsin cheese curds are a staple for us. They are great fried 🙂 Equally as good is if you buy a bag, throw some on a plate, sprinkle some garlic salt on them, and microwave them for about 30 seconds. They get ooowy gooey and are wonderful. (that was our go to snack in college when we had too much to drink)