After the hugs and farewells, the first order of business before leaving Blount County, Alabama, for our return to the Hoosier State was to find the other two covered bridges in/near Oneonta. That’s Susie, always looking for something to experience.

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Okay, so, Blount County Covered Bridges covered? Check. Ha!

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Hey. It’s Tennessee. What’s the first thing you think of? Woods and stills, right? It is so history. 🙂 In the spirit of learning, we secured tickets for the last “Angel’s Share Tour” of the afternoon.

Interesting tidbit: The so called “Angel’s Share” refers to the volume of liquid that evaporates during production and heck even during the aging process, right through the pores of the barrel! Ah, as the legend states, that’s where the angels drink their share, straight from the air. Unfortunately, other things also enjoy those vapors, namely whiskey fungus. It thrives on the ethanol vapors, and while the fungus isn’t harmful to any one or thing, it attaches itself to many of the surfaces near the distillery, resulting in the blackness on the buildings, trees, rocks, heck everything! (photos below).

You know the rule, “Don’t drink and drive” – whether it’s boats or cars. So, we went straight to an overnight stop. Actually, number one on the eight ‘ish-hour drive back to Indiana.

The next morning, now educated in whiskey-making, rested and refreshed, we continued north, planning to visit Louisville, Kentucky along the way. Scenic route? Of course.

Unfortunately, said route became very much less than “scenic” in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The driver griped and questioned the navigator regarding the snarky traffic heightened by slight showers. We’ll quote, “An hour for what? 10 miles?” Or, “This is scenic? I like the other states!” One too many of those quips, and the navigator thinks, “Time for a ‘natural’ attitude adjustment all around.” Less than 30-minutes north of Murfreesboro we pass the Cedars of Lebanon State Park, as luck would have it, ON the current scenic route. Whew.

After stretching our legs on the Cedar Glade Trail, we headed over to check out the Nature Center and Butterfly/Native Plant Garden. Score!

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Had the rain, that seemed to follow us, not chased us away, we could have stayed all afternoon, happily listening to the cicadas and chasing butterflies and such.

This one’s for you, Brenda! 😉

As all good things must come to an end, we reluctantly left the park to grab really late lunch before either party could get hangry and undo our mutual newly restored good humor.

We spent so much time in the Cedars of Lebanon State Park though that we’d now arrive in Louisville too late to do anything there, hence overnight stop number two on the eight’ ish hour drive back to Indiana. Geez… we must be retired and old!

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Next up? Louisville! Horses? Bourbon? Stay tuned…

*Oh, and Hoosier? Do you know what it means or where it came from? Good luck. Anyone who finds out and sends reasonable evidence, wins the prize! Not to worry; we’ll figure it out and get back to you (perhaps…)

Realizing we hadn’t seen our Alabama friends Louis and Lisa since June 2022, and that we’d not yet seen the lake house they purchased last year, we decided to jump from lake to lake by heading straight south, through Kentucky and Tennessee, to Pell City, Alabama. Good reason for a road trip (we even took the interstate!), but you know we had to find stuff along the way.

During the two-hour tour of the cave, guess what we discovered? Mammoth Cave is, well, HUGE. As a cave, it’s also really, well, dark. It’s difficult to quickly get good pictures in the dark while trying to keep up with the group of “strangers, underground, in the middle of nowhere Kentucky,” as our guide so eloquently put it. Our little two-mile tour showed only a smidgen of the more than 420 miles of passages, in which we did not want to be left behind.

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The next day, after having successfully taken a cold walk in an absolutely dark cave, then sleeping in Cave City, we continued on “down the highway.” We zipped along through Kentucky and Tennessee, until Susie decided she had no desire to go through Birmingham proper – apparently seven years of commuting there was enough – so she mapped another route to Pell City, getting us off the interstate and returning to our M.O. of taking the backroads.

Along the way we passed through Blount County, the “Covered Bridge Capital of Alabama,” where three of the state’s thirteen covered bridges are located. One was very near our route. EEERRRRR! Short detour! Gee, does anyone believe Susie didn’t know it was there? Ha!

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We finally arrived to join Louis and Lisa at their fantastic lake house.

Hugs all around. Tour of the house and grounds. And then the catch-up time was on!

When he learned how close we were, our eldest son, Tate, drove over from Atlanta, making a pleasant weekend even better!

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Louis and Lisa, thanks again for the friendship, hospitality, good food, and all-around great time! Oh, and for whooping us at the new card game you taught us, Kings in the Corner. We’ll have to practice up for next time!

Per Google, today is World Donkey Day. Okay. Seems kind of random, but let’s see what we can do with that.

We’ve truly been enjoying the myriads of birds at the lake (even some hummers!) and have been getting some good shots of the wildlife literally right outside our windows.

The red chairs make for a great backdrop. You have to clean them before you can sit in them – [Yuck] – but they provide good contrast for the photos. For some reason, we haven’t taken pictures of the cardinals, the catbirds, at least five(?) different finches, and so many others. Just these silly squirrels and, oh the lovely bluebird boys!

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Not to be outdone, Prince still makes his daily appearances, stopping by to pose. And nibble weeds, of course.

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A few mornings back, we awoke to find a red fox and her three kits in our side yard and the driveway next door.

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Whilst sitting on our dead-end road, she was rejoined by one of the smaller ones. Success! Albeit temporary.

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After that morning, Jasper’s cat food started disappearing really fast.

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Aww. Right?

All’s well and good, and then this morning, a Red-Shouldered Hawk showed up right outside the kitchen window. Umm, OVER the driveway.

We are pleased to report that no small foxes were harmed in the making of this post. Whew.

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To circle around and wrap up today’s nonsense, we take you to Indianapolis, where one day last week, we enjoyed lunch at the Aristocrat Pub & Restaurant, established in 1933. There’s a sign near the bar that reads:

So, tongue in cheek, today, we would remind everyone that no matter how you choose to celebrate World Donkey Day, don’t be an… well, you know. 🙂

I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream. Right?

It was clearly time for a short road trip to nearby Columbus, Indiana for lunch and an old-fashioned treat.

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With our bellies full of fountain soda, GOM (see the menu for details), and freshly made ice cream, we contentedly strolled along the downtown street returning to the car. As in most small towns, there’s a row of quaint shoppes and… WAIT… is that…

What? Cummins has a s-t-o-r-e? Right next to a lady’s frills boutique?

No, one cannot purchase a diesel engine, but how about a new outfit? This place is chock full of Cummins-branded apparel and accessories (think water bottles, trinkets, hats, etc.). Huh? Still, kinda weird. In Columbus!?

Now, here’s the part where our fellow boaters must try to contain themselves. We were told by the friendly clerk – between snickers – that of course there’s a store here in Columbus (the one and only brick-and-mortar presence). Why? One might, and did, ask! In 1919 Clessie Cummins founded Cummins Engine Company in… you guessed it… Columbus, Indiana. In fact, the headquarters and museum are right around the corner. Say what!?!

Columbus, Indiana. Who knew?? Apparently, most of the approximate 3,000 employees who are working from home these days. Still, the museum was interesting and educational. It was cool to read about how they raced in the Indy 500 in 1931 with a diesel Duesenberg that never needed a pitstop. Placed 13th but only burned 31 gallons!

Now, our cruising friends, you may commence with the laughing! Because, again, who knew? Not us.

After a few days at Top of the Rock, we headed for the lake house rental, utilizing the smaller roads for the 85’ish-mile drive. You know, the little ones wiggling their way through the countryside. Just beautiful in the spring!

Lo and behold, much to our surprise, we drove right past a ROUND barn. Who knew! The well-kept and preserved, Stuckwish Round Barn, one of just 36 in Indiana. Hey, does your state have a round barn? Ever seen one? But 36!?! Oh, these crazy folks! Ha!

Well, not to be outdone, the navigator spots, in tiny print in the road atlas (thanks, Michael!), “Covered Bridge.” Intrigued and calculating the distance at only four miles, or so… (distances not being her strongest skillset) out of the way, we went for it. After all, that’s why we’re out here – in search of the elusive, roadside “world’s largest ball of twine” and all that, right? Heck, we just saw a round barn!

Utilizing some even smaller roads, we managed to find The Medora Covered Bridge, the longest historical covered bridge in the nation. Built in 1875, it spans 431 feet between abutments plus another 16-foot weather protection extension on each end. The impressively built bridge carried local traffic across the East Fork of the White River until 1972. What’s funny is that there is an argument as to whether this one is the longest. Apparently, the claim is important when you are a covered bridge. Todd researched the argument and thinks it’s silly, so we’re sticking with this one.

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To add to the homey feel, the property includes a friendly cat, Jasper. And for entertainment, a groundhog we’ve dubbed “Prince.” (We know, not very original. But look at him!)

Now that we’ve caught up with the blog, we’re ready to get back to that relaxing-playing games-exploring thing, and oh yeah, the ever-important planning of the next destination. Vagabonds must plan…