Indiana Hospitality

For me, Indiana was all about the people. Well, wait a minute. The scenery was lovely too----more trees than Iowa for sure, and certainly on par with Illinois. There were plenty of corn and bean fields, of course. The roads? FANTASTIC!  My entire route was on hwy 24. Granted, part of that was on the old hwy 24, which was quiet and peaceful, but at least half of the trip was on the new hwy, with its large luxurious expansive shoulders! Lovely. 

HD and I entered Indiana on August 2nd, 2013. The weather suggested storms and I was tired anyway, so instead of adding another 10 miles to get to Indiana Beach, a huge amusement park with a campground next to it, I stopped in Monticello and booked a room at the Monticello Inn, on the west end of town. I spent the evening with Maggie and Vince O’Neal and their two youngest children, Kathleen and Carolyn. Maggie is Peter’s sister and it was a golden opportunity to meet them, as they live only 15 miles or so from Monticello.

I think I mentioned Peter before.

Anyway, Kathleen, an exuberant teenager, was quite thrilled with HD and she asked to take a spin around the parking lot. So, Vince and I brought HD back outside from the motel room and Kathleen cycled around and around---I think she liked him! Then, she insisted that the rest of the family take a turn. So, HD got to share his special skills and received ample compliments. 

We went to The Scoreboard for pizza and man, oh, man, was it good! Being teenagers, Kathleen and Carolyn had their particular “flavahs”---Kathleen wanted pepperoni and Carolyn wanted only cheese. So, 20 minutes later, 2 steaming hot pizzas were served and I must admit I ate my share of pizza smothered in gooey, hot cheese. Yum!

A little about the romance of Maggie and Vince. Maggie was married once before and she had 3 children. She had been a single mom for awhile and her friends were bugging her to date. A girlfriend set her up on a blind date with Vince. They went to dinner and, Voila!-- the romance began. 

He was an avid cyclist, so, instead of an engagement ring, he gave her a bicycle! The kids call it “the engagement bike”. He is from a big family, so the fact that she had 3 children was not a problem. In fact, after they got married, they started the enjoyable task of adding to the family and Vince and Maggie had 3 more children. Vince is “Dad” to all six of them. 

Maggie is a home health nurse and I enjoyed talking shop with her for a few minutes. She appears to be a woman in charge. I like that. She enjoys her works, enjoys her patients, loves her children, and loves to read. She has a sweet, bright smile and that reminds me of Peter. Perfect.

Vince says he loves “to run”. He used to cycle quite a bit but, once the babies came, he became a bit busy to go on long cycling treks. Now he coaches cross country at Carolyn’s middle school. So, he really does love running.

Kathleen loves music and plays the piano and guitar.  She says she can spend hours at a time just listening to her favorite music. 

Carolyn says she loves music, friends, going to summer camp, and giving to others. She showed me her necklace: it has a key pendant with the word “Faith” engraved in the center. When she meets a person who needs faith, she will give him or her that necklace. Carolyn is bright and energetic and is comfortable with adults and kids alike.

Kathleen says that her grandmother gave her some colorful scarves and she has also given them away when someone expressed appreciation for them. In fact, Kathleen gave me a “good luck penny” to help keep me safe. Whatever these parents are doing, they are doing a good job to raise such generous and conscientious daughters. 

I met Johnny and Rob at a little convenience store on the first day. They were on their way to Sturgis for the annual bike gathering. These 2 buddies were riding their motorcycles and had reserved 3 weeks for the trip. Their girlfriends were flying into Rapid City (memories!) and were going to join them for the festivities. Johnny and Rob have enjoyed the Sturgis event numerous times but they don’t do it every year. They both work in construction and they were very interested in Henry David and how he is designed. They both have a passion for the open road and travel. 

On the 2nd day, I rode old hwy 24 to Wabash, Indiana. The road was quiet, winding, and lined with trees. It was a long but relaxing day of cycling. I believe it was in Logansport (maybe in Peru?) that I pulled over to check out the local Farmer’s Market. There, I met Al and Sue Buttice of “Buttice Vegetables”. They were very excited about the cycling trip and plied me with fresh baked zuccini bread for the road. 

Al’s passion is growing things. He started gardening when he was a little boy. He said that, at age 6, he was given the job of harvesting the peas from the garden. Dad was not pleased, telling him he had picked them incorrectly. I didn’t ask him, then, how to pick peas correctly, so I looked it up online and watched a short video. The gardener uses a small knife to cut the pea stem, saying you must leave the calyx intact. Anyway, little Al probably pulled the pea pod off the calyx. That’s my guess. Or picked some at the wrong stage of ripening? Don’t know for sure. Regardless, Al was taught a lesson he has never forgotten. Dad sent him to the shed where he had to eat the whole bucketful of peas. So, he has never forgotten how to harvest correctly. The gardening has been his passion. And he still likes peas!

For those of you who hate peas (sister Shannon!), recognize that if you eat the peas within a few hours of harvest, they will be sweet and tasty. After only 4 hours, they turn starchy.  So, you might consider trying peas that you grow yourself and eat them right there in the garden! When I was a young woman, I had a big garden and I was showing my sister around the veggies. I pulled off some peas from the vine and opened the pod, popping out the sweetest, most succulent peas imaginable. I tried to talk her into tasting them, but she refused. 

Shannon hates peas. Point blank. It’s not negotiable. 

Sue Buttice works in the garden as well. She also bakes some mighty fine zuccini bread---I can attest to that! Her personal passion is traveling and meeting people. She enjoys the farmers’ market as she certainly gets to meet people. But, and here she elbows her husband, she doesn’t do much travel because they can’t leave the garden! 

I understand the dilemma, Sue. Sometimes I yearn for an agrarian life. I want a big old farmhouse, 2 paint horses, chickens, goats, dogs, cats, orchards, a small lake, and a huge garden. But then, I couldn’t leave because the animals can’t be left alone---who would feed them? Who would take care of the garden? And, since I love to travel, I guess that I can’t have it all. 

But, I want it all!

HD and I arrived in Wabash in the early evenining. I checked into the Knights Inn and then walked a few blocks to Point Penguin. This is a fast food joint I have seen in various spots along the way in Indiana. At the Wabash Point Penguin, I met Carla, the manager, and Hayden, her protege.

Carla has worked for Point Penguin for about 17 years. She has been sent to 2 or 3 different spots to get the joints working efficiently as she is a knowledgeable, hard working, tireless woman with an attention to detail. She lives in Wabash and now has the pleasure of working close to home. She knows most of the locals and, while I was visiting with her, folks popped in through the drive-thru, calling out her name to say hello. Carla has taught many young people the Point Penguin trade. In fact, her first son married the girl whose job Carla replaced so they could get married. Her 2nd son worked at the popular restaurant as well.  

Carla is a single woman, divorced after her 2 sons were born. She had a serious romance some years ago, but her boyfriend wanted marriage and kids and she had had her tubes tied by then. So Carla says they had an amicable split. Her former boyfriend then fell in love and married and had 3 kids. Now she has been working with his youngest, Hayden, for the last 2 1/2 years at the restaurant!  He wants to follow in her shoes. Isn’t life so funny?  She couldn’t have more children, but the son of her former boyfriend is like her own! We are all connected!

Carla is a vey slim, energetic ball of fire who loves people. Passions: people, giving good service, organized work flow, seeing things move smoothly. She likes to train the new ones coming in. 

Hayden is a handsome young man with an open, friendly, and talkative manner. He is heading for college and wants to major in restaurant and food management. He would like to work again for Carla during one of his internships. 

On Sunday morning, August 4th, I cycled to the McDonalds to meet some old friends, who live in Michigan. Elina Simonen is a former colleague---I worked with her at Alamogordo Physical Therapy in the 1990’s. Later, when I moved to Carlsbad, after a 2 year period in Santa Barbara, California. Lo and behold, Elina and her family were my virtual neighbors, as they had moved to Artesia, 35 miles from Carlsbad. We both worked for sister companies, with the mother ship in Alamogordo. So, Elina and I go back a ways.

So...Elina, Heikki, and Riikka Simonen met me at the Wabash McDonald’s at 9 am. Elina hasn’t changed a bit. She is now about 51 but looks like she did 20 years ago: very pretty woman who is whipcord slender and with well defined muscles, Elina still has the figure of a young athlete. I can’t believe her children are in their 20’s. How does time pass by so fast? Riikka, Elina and Heikki’s daughter, is a gorgeous young blonde with a peaches and cream complexion and eyes that turn up at the ends, like a mysterious feline. Riikka is a delightful young lady, effervescent, talkative, and open. Heikki is Elina’s wonderful husband. He has been a trucker for decades and knows the USA roads as if he has a photographic memory. He may have just that! He gave us advice on the roads to consider on the trip to Fort Wayne. We decided on following the primary highway 24, with an occasional detour onto the business routes if we should want to go into a town. 

Suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed having Elina and Riikka cycle with me.  It was fun catching up on news with Elina and getting to know Riikka for the first time. I had met Riikka as a child, but she is now an accomplished young woman. She was always friendly, but now she has the grace and intelligence of a world traveler. She really has been all over---did she say 18 countries so far? 

Riikka enjoys travel and art. She was born in Finland but went to school in the USA, primarily in New Mexico and Michigan, with a few years back in Finland. She has done a number of exchange programs all over Europe. She has a degree in fine arts and teaches art to both children and adults in Michigan, where she lives. She does not plan to stay there; this little woman wants to go, go, go. She has a passion for visiting other countries and makes friends in 2 seconds flat. Riikka is fascinated with studying cultures and how they express their art. She is a good teacher and I really enjoyed our time together, talking about art, culture, history, language, and travel.

Riikka gets some of her artisitic talent from her mom, although Elina credits aunts, uncles, and grandparents more than she credits herself.  One of Elina’s passions is scrapbooking. Part of this is due to her utter devotion to family and friends and her attention to recording the memorable and precious moments of life. The other part is due to her natural eye for balance and theme. Elina says she does not sit and carefully think out the patterning and positioning of the photos and design, as if this means she is not “artistic”. Seeing her work in the past, I think this means that she is naturally gifted. She doesn’t have to struggle and stress over it, but immediately sees the potential patterns and the complementary colors and brings them together for an attractive, cohesive theme. I am personally impressed by gifted scrapbookers. It is now a true art form.

Elina is open and direct and has a fantastic sense of humor. She is quite brilliant and is one of the most balanced people I know. She loves her work as a physical therapist, but recognizes the need for family time and she has always been able to draw the line between career needs and the more important family needs. She is not only a devoted mother, but she is a true friend. She keeps track of coworkers and draws us together. She is like the glue, holding friends together. She cares enough to maintain contact and to reach out to others. 

Heikki, Elina’s husband, is also open and friendly. He maintains his close friendships but also relishes his solitary time in the truck, traveling across the country.  He misses home and enjoys the local runs most, so he can be with his family. He and Elina hope that, some day, if Elina should “retire”, she could join him in the truck and they could travel together. Eventually, they may move back to Finland, but it will depend on where their children live. Riikka will likely continue to travel. But their son, Iirro, appears to prefer the USA---so far. 

On our cycling day to Fort Wayne, Heikki kept an eye on us in the car, traveling ahead and sending messages to Elina about the road, Fort Wayne, and the campground where we were headed. At the end of our trip, Heikki was there to greet us with a big smile and words of congratulations. He then treated us to dinner at Olive Garden where I stuffed myself with salad and bread. Then he painstakingly loaded up the bicycles of the two women in his life and cheerfully took the driver’s seat for the 3 hour drive home. He is a very special man. He is consistently friendly and helpful and supportive and I really like that man.

As they drove off, I settled into my tent at the Johnny Appleseed Campground in Fort Wayne. It had been a wonderful day and the company of these friends made this one of my favorite cycling days. It does get a little lonely out there, but not this day. No, not this day. It meant so much to have their loving company.

On the morning of August 5th, I packed up HD and we headed first for the Starbucks in a little shopping center on the corner of State and Coliseum. I ordered blonde roast and settled in to pull up maps on the internet on my MacBook Air. Over the next 2 1/2 hours, I talked to several of the delightful staff members, other customers, and the Little Caesar’s manager from the store next door who had come in for coffee. You want to know about Indiana hospitality? The staff at Starbucks are always the most friendly---that is a hallmark quality of Starbucks. But these young folks were exceptional. They saw Henry David as I cycled up to the store and pretty soon the questions were flying. Staff came by to offer pieces of pumpkin bread, white mocha coffee, and smiles. I took the bread samples but declined the sweet coffee, although “TJ”, one of the barristas, covered my blonde roast refill. Here are a few of the conversations that were shared this special morning.

Lisa is a petite brunette with the biggest, bluest eyes you ever saw. She has a quiet manner but she is friendly and her eyes whisper “hope”. She has an inner strength and courage that could be overlooked by the unobservant, but you see it and hear it as soon as she speaks. She came up to my table and offered me her yard to camp. As I was heading out of town, I didn’t need a place for that night in Fort Wayne, but the offer was touching and generous. She told me about a book called The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is a true story about a man who left the city and went out to the Appalachian wilderness to live “naturally”.  One of the things in the book that meant a lot to Lisa was that this young man said we live in a box, work in a box, think in a box, and are stuck in that box. Perhaps as a way to break free from the “boxed life” herself, Lisa and her husband are taking a driving vacation to California. They don’t have an exact plan in mind, they just want to GO. She is a passionate artist and believes that art is perceived differently by everyone, but the important thing is that the artist puts a bit of his or her soul into it. This makes art worthwhile to view and experience.  

Methinks that Lisa is jumping onto, over, and around the box but is not stuck inside it. She has vision. Some people think that having “vision” means having a life planned out and then working diligently for it to come true. That may be the case for some visions. But a person can be a visionary who wakes up in the morning and sees the beauty in the sunrise; feels the crisp air filling the lungs; savours the taste of the butter stuck in the holes in a bagel; relishes the burst of flavor from a bite of a sweet, vine ripened strawberry; luxuriates in the soft feel of an old t-shirt, and dances through the day to the music in her head---whether she be working at a computer in an office, concocting delights in a Starbucks, teaching children how to read or paint, building roads, and even working in a factory or an assembly line. It is really all about ATTITUDE. It is lovely to travel and to be out in nature. I think every one would benefit from a regular sojourn to the trees or the ocean or the mountains or the desert or to another country. But, in the day to day meandering of our lives, we can step out of the box by simply looking IN and seeing the miracle of just being alive. We let our daily concerns consume us. Being consumed---that, to me, is being stuck in a box. 

Getting out of the box is a vision or goal that each individual can only discover on a deeply personal level. And we need to do it every day. Climb out of the box every day, just like you get out of bed. 

Barbara Nord is a pretty grandma who sat next to me. I say “grandma” but she is actually “mom” to several grandchildren. She had her own set of children and now has actually adopted several of her grandchildren. A few of the children are considered “special needs” kids, whether the diagnosis be Down’s Syndrome or some other medical label. Barb’s passion is the children. She has spent her entire adult life raising kids and said that she did not think she would still be doing it now that she is retirement age, but that is ok and she loves it. She goes to Starbucks for a brief break from time to time, and then befriends the people she meets. She is one of those who DOES relish the quiet moment, the taste of coffee on her tongue, the fresh air. She has become a master gardener and this is something else she does for herself. This is another of her passions. Digging in the dirt and bringing forth color. Sounds like another artist!

I met Lisa when I went outside to pack up and make my Fort Wayne exodus. She is a an effervescent blonde with bright hazel eyes, about my age, who learned to ride a bike only 3 years ago. Well, this lady has taken on cycling with a passion. She rode about 7000 miles last year!! And she doesn’t toodle around town. She cycles FAST! She said she must have an angel on her shoulder because she is amazed she is still alive. A few weeks ago, she was speeding, and I mean SPEEDING, down the highway on her cycle. She came up on a dump truck near a corner and said she did not slow down and look to make sure there wasn’t anyone at the corner. She zipped around the blind side of the truck at 25 mph, which is pretty darn fast on a bicycle, and right in front of her there was a car--stopped at the highway intersection. Lisa pulled on the brakes, leaned over to the right to turn out of the way, and the right pedal hit the ground. The momentum caused her to flip completely over, tail over head, and she landed on the ground behind the car on both wheels, still pedaling. Like Evil Knievel! She didn’t stop to think but rode like the devil herself the last 6 miles to get home. Her heart didn’t stop pounding for the rest of the day. But, about an hour after she got home, the fear turned into euphoria and she said, “WOW! I wanna do that again!”  

So, her passion? Cycling. And anything that can bring the adrenaline rush like a great adventure, pushing herself, and succeeding. 

Then, there was Ken. He is the Little Caesar’s manager, I believe. He brought me a bag of fresh, hot, right-out-of-the-oven bread sticks, smothered in butter and that garlic parmesan stuff they use. I held the bag up to my face and sniffed deeply. Repeatedly. Sometimes the smell is enough!

After talking to Lisa (?), I went into the Little Caesar’s to tell Ken thank you and to take his photo. I asked him about his passions. He said his passion was helping teens to get through those tough years. He then told me the story. 

Ken was an active, dedicated youth pastor for over a decade. He worked extensively with teenagers, both through the religious setting but also in secular settings as well. He said that his first message to young people is just that he cares about them and wants to listen to their own stories. He says he offers counsel, but not always religious counsel. First and foremost, he wants them to know that he just cares about them personally. If they want spiritual guidance, he is very happy and willing to do that. But that is not his push. 

He had 4 children and thought things were going well in life, but his wife had an affair and wanted a divorce. It took a few years to go through, because he wanted to work it out, but she did not. They have joint custody and he adores the kids. 

Now, after a few years divorced, he has met someone from his home town, Grand Rapids. “She thinks I’m the greatest!” he says, in amazement. “I am so in love with her!” He plans to make his way to Grand Rapids and begin a new life with the gal of his dreams. They want to do some sort of missions work. He took a phone photo of himself and I, and then texted it right away to his lady love. What a nice team.

This is an amazing thing: People from all walks of life, reaching out to touch one another. We are Connected.

Meeting the friendly folks at the Starbucks in Fort Wayne was a wonderful way to end my last day in Indiana. The roads had been wonderful and the people welcoming in every way. I have only good memories of this state. Good job, Indiana!