Day 114, May 19, Amish country

Three amazing things:  #1- Honeoye Falls, NY. My morning walk through the wee town of Honeoye Falls reminded me of Mayberry USA. I could almost move there it was so dang lovely. Almost. Because their winters are absolutely dreadful. As are their hot humid summers. Nope, I’ll stick to my beloved St George (which I’m missing more each day). But the morning walk was delightful.

Todays adventure took us westward along the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie through Pennsylvania and Ohio into the heart of Amish Country. Bryan and I explored this area many years ago when son Michael lived in Cleveland attending med school. I’ve spoken of Amish country to Aaron, and today had the joy of bringing him here. 

#2- Mesopotamia, Ohio.  We visited the oldest continually operating mercantile in Ohio (est 1830) called End of the Commons in Mesopotamia replete with horses and buggies on the roads. The Amish people congregate in certain regions of the US but live mixed amongst non-Amish as well.  It’s not difficult, however, to tell which homes belong to the brethren and sisters; white parted curtains in windows, no electric wires draped to the houses, laundry unique to their lifestyle hanging outside on lines as they own no electric dryers, and buggies lining driveways as they own no cars. We passed one home where a meeting was taking place with dozens of families gathered under the trees out back, the women wearing bonnets and long plain-colored dresses, the men donning suspenders and unique straw hats. None wear makeup nor colors nor accoutrements of any kind. One has to admire their adherence to what they believe is God’s will. 

#3- Punderson Falls State Park. The next five nights will see us camp on the shores of lovely Punderson Lake about 25 miles outside of Cleveland. It’s just gorgeous here and will be a great launching pad for our visit to Cuyahoga National Park. Green and wooded, quiet and clean, the state park campground with full hookups (lending to luxuriously long hot showers) is the best! We spent our evening biking through the campground looking for fellow Airstreamers and sitting by the fire eating Amish cheese curds and sugary fry pies which they claim “should be world famous.”

Good deeds: I started my day with a thank you and a large container of Costco chocolates for Pastor Jim of Calvary Chapel for letting us stay the night on their grounds.        Better yet, I pulled off what I failed to yesterday in buying a tank of gas for a lovely lady at the gas station. At first she was hesitant and skeptical of what we were trying to do, but Aaron and she got to talking and he persuaded her to let him pay under the ruse of earning him more needed Cabela’s points on his credit card. A lovely elderly woman, she rescues horses as a hobby.                                                            Another good deed at long last presented itself to me this evening, one I’m quite excited about. While in Utah last month, I made these cute painted flamingo rocks to leave on the doorstep of fellow Airstreamers but have not camped among any yet. But tonight, I found three Airstreams to leave my secret little gift at. Ha! Such fun!