day 23

wednesday was cumberland, maryland, to sugarcreek, ohio, in the heart of amish country, 237 miles.
crossed what they call the eastern continental divide this day. couldn't help but laugh when i saw how high it was -- 2,610 feet. i got a little lucky west of cumberland. saw that i could leave the interstate and take some back roads to wheeling, west virginia, so i did. on highway 40, saw a sign for a national historic site called fort necessity. stopped in, partly to take a break, partly to use my nifty annual national parks/monuments/sites/etc. pass. turns out that fort necessity, back in 1754, was the scene of george washington's only military defeat. the french and indians were tough. seeing this washington-related site reminded me of a trip to new york city, where i had the good fortune to go into an old tavern. upstairs, and well-preserved, in the tavern is the room where washington said goodbye to his officers after the revolutionary war. also learned that highway 40 is called "the national highway" because it was the first federally funded road and opened what was then the northwest part of the country to more folks. enough history. farther on down the road, in west virginia, i saw a sign for a "temple of gold." since i have some gold flakes and things from alaska and california and other places, i figured i'd add a little west virginia gold to the mix. after driving four miles down one of the narrower roads i've been on, there it was, the temple of gold. a real temple. with gold thingys on top. don't ask me why, but for some reason the krishnas built a big -- really big -- temple, complete with a lodge and meeting rooms and terraced gardens and other goodies, here on top of a ridge in west virginia. i've seen a number of interesting things on this trip, and the temple ranks among the top 10, partly because of the location. and everyone around the temple was smiling and waving.
the best part of the day came later, when i reached amish country. sugarcreek, home to my aunt ruth and uncle hank, is at the heart of the country's largest amish population. hank grew up amish, just a few miles away from where hey live now. i'd never been to their part of ohio, and it was interesting. shortly after i turned down the road to their house, i was behind a horse and buggy. the kids in the back seat were watching me, probably because i had the top down. i waved but got nothing in response. i later learned that they'll wave if they know you. if not, no wave. many things around sugarcreek have become tourist-oriented as "amish" has become a selling point for many things. it's an interesting area, an interesting way of life. it was paricularly great to see hank and ruth, and their son steve came over for dinner so got to catch up with him as well. i'd seen their oldest son dan and his family in florida earlier on the trip, so the only one of their children i'm going to miss is carol, who is a missionary in africa with her husband john. about 37-38 years ago, i had a great time with these kids when i visited the family in australia. they're grown up now, but there's still a nice connection. good night ruth and hank and steve in ohio, good night dan and tabby and family in florida, good night carol and john in africa...
tomorrow: sugarcreek to somewhere in illinois?