Turkey Run - August 11

Headed out to hike a little later than yesterday.  We slept in.  We decided to take a trail that went east to an old coal mine, followed the banks of Sugar Creek and ended at the Lusk House before turning back west to the suspension bridge.

This trail was requested by Keegan because he wanted to see the coal mine.  This coal mine was used by the Lusk Family to provide coal for their use.  The mine opening can be seen behind the boys.  It is closed now and only occupied by bats (we didn't see any!)

The trail weaved its way through heavy foliage along the river.  We spotted this beautiful butterfly.

 

Seeing this snake was a first for us.  We have hiked the trails for many years and never seen a snake.  This morning Keegan spotted a snake on the trail.  He always hikes ahead of us.  The snake may look small in this picture but, believe me, it was long and black and we were glad that it disappeared into the rocks and woods off the trail.

This is the Narrows Covered  Bridge.   It is one of the many covered bridges in Parke County, Indiana but the only one in the park itself.

This is the Lusk House. The original owner,  Captain Lusk, served in the military with William Henry Harrison and fought at the battle of Tippecanoe.  Captain Lusk was awarded the acreage this house sits on because he had served and fought with President Harrison.  The house was built completed in 1841. The family donated the land on which Turkey Run sits.

The hikers decided to "sit a spell" on the porch.  It felt good to rest and cool off before hiking the trail back to the suspension bridge.

As we were climbing the final hill up from the river, we met an old man with a cane walking down toward the river.  I told the man that there was a bench on which he could rest when he reached the bottom.  He told me he was 95 years old and had walked this hill many years.  We talked to him a few minutes.  He had a very interesting life.  He told us we needed to travel the western part of the United States for some beautiful scenery and hikes.  We definitely agree with him.  We returned to camp for lunch and rested awhile before going to Rockville for ice cream.  The ice cream tasted very good on this hot day.  We ended the day with the traditional s'mores, games and a couple of chess games for Hunter and papaw.

 

Turkey Run - August 13

 Woke up to a sunny day.  Packed up and headed west toward Decatur, Illinois. We arrived home around 11:00 a.m. CDT.  Carol was anxious to get unpacked so he could mow.  I did laundry and the boys enjoyed good internet service while waiting for their dad to pick them up.

It was a good week.  We had a good time despite the hot and humid temps.  More memories made.  I will wrap up with a couple of miscellaneous pictures.

Keegan had $10 to spend and he purchased this ranger hat.  He says he may want to be a park ranger when he grows up. I hope he does that.

I took this picture because it represents life in a motorhome with four people.....lots of shoes!

  At times, there were even more shoes on these rugs.  

The end of this trip represents the end of summer.  The boys return to school on Wednesday of the next week.  Five weeks from today, we plan to leave on our fall trip.  With the craziness of the last 17 months nothing is certain but we can hope and we do hope school will begin and we will travel.

Turkey Run - August 12

Thursday we drove into Indianapolis to the Children's Museum.  Originally, we had planned to go to the Indianapolis Zoo but the hot and humid temps made us decide that someplace with air conditioning would be a better choice.  Keegan had never been to the museum so it was all new to him.

The boys were impressed with this Bumblebee Transformer.  It was used in one of the transformer movies.  As you can see, masks were required for all under age 12 which was only Keegan but Hunter supported Keegan by wearing his mask as well.  However, about 30 minutes into the museum and we discovered that no one else of any age was wearing a mask so we all demasked.

These are the Terra Cotta Warriors.  In 1974 Chinese farmers discovered in a pit 6,000 life-sized terra cotta soldiers along with horses and chariots.  They were buried in order to protect the emperors in the afterlife.

Both of the boys enjoyed using the controllers to do docking procedures with spacecraft.

Keegan and papaw are farming.

After leaving the museum we stopped in Danville, Indiana for supper at the Mayberry Cafe.  We ate here last year but it was the restaurant of choice of both the boys.

Andy Taylor's car.

As we left Danville, the skies darkened and ominous clouds filled the skies.  We rushed to beat the storms that we could see were coming  We didn't make it.  About Bellmore the clouds opened and we drove through heavy rain for about 15 minutes and then it stopped.  We made it back to camp before it began to rain again but it was a more gentle rain.  We heard on the radio that Gibson City, Illinois was completely flooded as a result of this same storm.

No s'more tonight because of the rain.  It was nearly four o'clock when we got back so we stayed inside playing games.  Hunter and papaw played a couple of game of chess.  Tomorrow we head for home. 

 

Turkey Run - August 10

We were at the Turkey Run Visitor's Center by 9:00 a.m.  Most of the trails begin on the other side of Sugar Creek.  Sugar Creek is reached by taking a path down a hill to 70 steps which lead to a suspension bridge which crosses Sugar Creek.  The last time we camped here, we did not hike because Carol's knee would not cooperate; but, now he has an artificial knee and we have been walking two miles a day to prepare for our fall trip, so we decided to give it a try.  We made it... not only the 70 steps but 3.7 miles of trail.  Yes, it was hot and we got tired but we made it!

Sugar Creek

The walkway to Trail #10.

Three of the four hikers looking forward to the hike.

The humidity caused the canyons to be misty.  

 

The guys opted to hike to the Punch Bowl but I stayed on top.

The Punch Bowl

I was still able to see the Punch Bowl from the rim of the canyon.

An unusual stairway out of a canyon.

After the hike, we needed to refresh ourselves with a late lunch so we went to Crawfordsville for lunch.

The nightly game of chess (sometimes more).

This little guy was completely worn out after a morning of hiking.

It was a hot day but we managed to hike nearly four miles, have s'mores from a campfire, play our usual card games, eat popcorn, and have the nightly chess game.  Day was successful.

 

Turkey Run State Park Here We Come - August 9

Taking Hunter and Keegan camping at Turkey Run State Park has been a tradition since Hunter was four years old.   So today, 12 years later, we are set up at site #227 in Turkey Run.  We like this site because it is on a small-circle road, under tall trees, close to the restrooms/showers.  This has been a busy summer for everyone so this week before the boys return to school was the only available date.  Unfortunately, it will be the hottest week of the summer...90's everyday and humid.  Thankfully, we have air conditioning so we can, at least, get cool when we need to.

We left Decatur around 11:00 a.m. for the two-hour drive.  The boys rode in the motorhome and I followed in the car.  We stopped at the last rest area on Highway 36 before crossing into Indiana for a sandwich lunch before arriving at Turkey Run at 2:00 EDT.  Our plan for the week was to hike in the morning when it would be cooler and swim in the afternoon.  We found out that the pool is closed because the college kids who lifeguard and staff the pool have gone back to school.  It would have been great to cool off at the pool but that wasn't to be.

Today was supposed to be the coolest of the five days, so we decided to be true campers and have a wiener roast and make s'mores before the daily heat keeps us inside for supper.  It wasn't too bad and nothing tastes better than a roasted hot dog and s'mores.  When it got dark, we went inside and played games like Uno and Old Maid while eating popcorn.  Hunter and Papaw played a couple games of chess.  That ended our day.

No pictures today; just the written diary.  Tomorrow will be better.