Part 2- Stop over with friends in Indiana

We broke up our second leg of the trip with a night in the parking lot of a Flying J along I-70.
The first day of our two day drive was great for a long drive; foggy and overcast, but just cool enough to be comfortable. We spent a long evening trying to ignore a guy in a “box” truck next to us idling his engine from 5:00pm until about 10:30pm. We thought he would leave several times but all he did was move the truck or turn it around! Go figure! We turned in early and eventually, he did turn off the truck.
The next days drive to our planned multi-day stop over was much shorter. We are camped about fifteen miles from the home of our friends Darlene and Buzz. They live in the historical town of New Castle, IN. Darlene and Buzz winter in the same campground as Pat and I and Pat’s sister and her husband, Angela and Bill.
Buzz is an avid shuffleboard player. The town has several beautiful parks and one of them has six shuffle board courts. Buzz is a member of the town’s Shuffleboard Club and looks forward to the Monday, Wednesday and Friday 1:00pm games. Pat and I were more than happy to watch but we were invited to play and had a terrific time. Their courts are a bit below the quality of some courts due to the Indiana winters and kids who like the courts for their skateboards but this hearty group make the best of it. We had sixteen players including one very special lady. Eula, is 94 years young, has difficulty seeing, and is as sweet as can be… until she shoots the puck! Eula, will ask team members to point out where the pucks are and then, she launches the puck and “cleans your clock!”
We headed back to Darlene and Buzz’ house for more than a few games of “Sequence” and a fantastic baked lasagna topped off with a dessert “Anniversary/birthday” cake for Pat and I. Yep, we celebrated our 36th Anniversary and Pat’s birthday! Bellies filled and Buzz and I soundly beaten in “Sequence,” we headed back to the campground for a good nights rest. We don’t know what Darlene and Buzz have in store for us tomorrow!
A little conversation about our plans for the day and we headed out for the local county fair. Along the way Buzz gave us a brief history and tour of their home town New Castle. New Castle was once a bustling and vibrant city. The Chrysler plant closed and many residents’ lives were sadly changed forever. The town is rich in history and tradition. It houses the “Worlds largest and finest” high school Gym along with the Basketball hall of fame. It is difficult not to notice the vacant downtown store fronts and many houses is sad decay.
As we headed for the fair, Buzz turned down Wilbur Wright Drive and we were all caught by surprise as we noticed some people flying remote helicopters in a field by an old house. It turns out it is the restored birthplace of Wilbur Wright. The property was restored to its original state. The property also includes a terrific Wright brothers museum, a retired WWII jet and a well conditioned stretch of the field for a remote control airplane club. We were treated to an outstanding display of acrobatic flying by a group of Argentine Remote Control Flyers. They explained to us that they had recently competed in Muncie, IN for a major AMA competition. They told us they were competitive but they were up against some incredible talent. After touring the Wright Brother’s exhibits we headed back to the flying field where a family was flying their RMC planes.
We never did get to the county fair. So what else could we do? Buzz showed us where his mom lived and a beautiful park for picnics and golf that includes horse shows and a host of 4H events. From there we did what we do best, we went to lunch! We ate at the “Iron kettle” in a sleepy town setting and headed back to their house for more games of “Sequence” and sitting on the porch.
Friday is Buzz and Darlene’s anniversary. We let Buzz and Darlene plan the day. Buzz is really into his Mon. Wed. and Fri. routine of playing shuffleboard with the local shuffleboard club so we all headed to the park for a game or three. Darlene tried her hand playing shuffleboard on Wednesday and is hooked! She played really well and now Buzz will be heading to Florida to buy another stick!
Heading for their annual “Anniversary Pizza Dinner,” we passed by Buzz and Darlene’s high school and home to the “Largest and Finest High School Gym,” which turned out to be quite impressive. A short drive later, we were enjoying pizza and some great conversation.
We drove back to their home for a chance for the men to catch up to the women in the game of “Sequence.” For the record, out of the three evenings of playing, the ladies topped the men 17 to 12! Grrrrrr!
We polished off the anniversary/birthday cake they gave Pat and I to lesson the “pain” of loosing and finished off our visit with a few moments on the porch. Three outstanding days, many wonderful memories and we refreshed our winter friendship with Buzz and Darlene in fine fashion. We are looking forward to rejoining them in the south later this year, but for now… we’re heading west.