A brief respite in quiet Ohio

Dear Faithful Readers, my apologies for shirking my blogging duties on Friday morning. Thursday had been, shall we say, eventful? Despite our best attempts to get out of the Greater Milwaukee area at a decent time, our innocent stop to fill the diesel tank resulted in an unforeseen delay… At a gas station near Elm Grove, WI, I was trying to maneuver the Penske out of the tight space and knicked the gas pump. I was expecting to get out and see a fountain of diesel fuel spouting into the air, but gladly saw only a mildly beat-up pump.

The police came to file a report. The officer was very nice, and filled out the necessary paperwork for the gas station to collect from our Penske insurance (we will be getting our money’s worth, that’s for sure). I was a bit too distraught to photo-document the event, though Rebecca did. Maybe someday those images will make their way here.

After our rather auspicious start to the day, we spent the whole day driving, and didn’t reach Smithville, Ohio until around 10pm. We were all getting VERY tired of the Penske, and looked forward to bed, and to a day of smoother rides.

Friday we spent the day in my old stomping grounds, and toured Amish country around Wayne and Holmes counties.



In between our shopping for locally-made cheese and trail bologna, we took time to see the world’s largest cuckoo clock.



From here we went to visit the world’s largest Amish buggy, a.k.a. the Amish version of the Penske.



As we enjoyed the idyllic landscape and its slower pace of life, we tried not to think about our fate the next day—the return to the highway in the great yellow beast.