Day 79-August 12, 2016-To Indianapolis, IN and Speedway
Drove 320 miles in 6-1/2 hours.
Hot and humid again, up to 90, rain off and on.
Instead of going around Chicago with toll roads, traffic and construction we went west to route 72, then south on 39 to 74. It was probably over fifty miles more but we didn’t have any toll roads, traffic or construction. When we crossed into Indiana we entered Eastern Time again. We stopped on the side of the road in Waynetown, IN for lunch. A lot of traffic on the street but all of the stores were closed, burned out or abandoned. We’re camping on the Indiana State Fair campgrounds and the fair is going on while we’re here. We are kind of surprised they had room for us and glad we called for reservations, when we got here they said they had to turn away the last three RVs because they’re full. Most of the campers here are people who are showing their animals in the fair. The people next to us and the ones over a bit are pig farmers. Such a different life than what we know. The RVs are really squeezed in, we’re lucky if we can find a spot for the truck. The trailers that hauled the livestock are parked in the front of the campground and a couple had some goats in them. We set up and then drove to Speedway, another section of Indianapolis. One of our neighbors knows people who manage Big Woods Brewery so we went there to say hey. The place was packed, they have seating inside, a patio outside and in the back are lots of picnic tables. We sat at the bar, had some great beer. They had a raspberry beer that was pink and a great hazelnut coffee porter. Ended up ordering a pizza and pulled pork sandwich. The people we wanted to meet had gone for the day but we had a great dinner. Speedway is all about racing. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the 500 is held is right down the street and we saw a racecar going around and around the block. We followed it (we stopped at the stop sign, he didn’t) and it stopped in front of a race car museum where it looked like you could rent it for a lap or two. We also drove through other parts of Indianapolis, the capital and largest city in Indiana, and they have a lot of museums, the Children’s Museum with its huge dinosaurs out front looked like fun) and performing arts stadiums. It’s a big grain, livestock and meat processing center and also has many universities, Purdue and Indiana Univ. among them. Eli Lilly and Angie’s List both have corporate headquarters here. The minor league baseball team, the Indians, won’t be home until the 16th and we’ll be gone by then. Found a gas station where the diesel was $1.89 vs. the usual $2.39 we’ve been paying so we filled up.