Wednesday

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Early morning, I drove and made the 1st mistake of not stopping for breakfast. We only had to drive for about an hour before we stopped and got a bite, but it was a LONG hour. We drove an hour and 45 mins east to Arcola, IL, we were going to spend the day with the Amish. I had scheduled lunch in an Amish home, a dairy farm tour and a home tour.

We got to the Amish Interpretive center to check in with about 30 mins to spare. We were able to watch a short film on their Amish community, I wanted Ty to see this so that he would have a better understanding of what Amish life was about. As they "creeped" him out. I too learned that all Amish communities are different. For instance, this community allows the men to wear buttons instead of the hook and eye. Whereas in Windsor, Mo or Jamesport, MO this might not be the case. If they want to change something,, they must bring it to the elders of the church to decide if it's acceptable or if it would make them too worldly.

We are getting our map and daily instructions from the lady behind the counter. She has highlighted for us the directions on the map. All numbered country road OR we could just follow the tour bus with the umpteen old people in it. (What's with all these tour buses anyway?!) It took about a half hour to get to the home we were having lunch at. Nobody came out to greet us and all the old people were looking at me for direction - so I just went on into the house! I first saw the husband who motioned for me to come on it. I found a spot at one of the tables down on the end and settled in. Everyone followed suit. A guest had said a real nice prayer and lunch was immediately served, starting off at our end. Fried chicken, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, noodles, fresh green beans, salad, homemade bread with homemade strawberry jam. And to finish it off, peanut butter pie & strawberry pie. There was nearly 40 people attending for lunch so I took small portions of almost everything. The unfriendly old woman at my right had her left arm on the table keeping guard of her plate like someone was going to take it from her - so I tried to give her more room as I was crowed by her display of actions. And as I scooted left Brian was eating with his right hand and his elbow was up in my space. So I had to scoot back. This woman must had not ate weeks, as she tilted her plate up to make sure she could get it all!!! Tyler was excited when seconds were served - he too was shoveling it in! I didn't even finish my first plate, I was leaving it for Brian and gave my dad the ham I had taken. I was saving room for dessert. I wanted a piece of strawberry pie! They served it from the other end so we waited patiently. By the time I was handed the pie from the old fart of a woman and served myself - her piece was gone! I saw her sitting there eyeing another piece. - And which she finally inhaled. Tyler was miserable by the time he finished his peanut butter pie. The man of the house was getting a kick out of Tyler enjoying all the food. He asked Ty if he wanted another piece but Ty declined. I was surprised by the fact that the family didn't sit down and eat with us - as this is what I was expecting. Instead the husband served us while the ladies, wife, daughter and grandma were in the kitchen cleaning up. As we were leaving Susan and dad headed over to pet the horses. Poor Susan got smacked up side the head by one with his head. She was ok, but it gave me an instant headache - ouch! I did see an "iron horse" in the barn too. I'm wondering if it belonged to the teenage son. Rumspringa means running around. It begins around the age of sixteen and ends when a youth chooses baptism within the Amish church or instead leaves the community. Most join the church.

From there we headed to the dairy farm tour, the cousin of the home we just left from. Oh and might I add there was a lady and her granddaughter that wanted to follow us over there as she weren't good with directions. However, she left in front of us following another vehicle with MO plates! Another 20-30 mins of travel. We took a wrong turn and got lost. But made it a couple of mins late - but were the first to arrive. There were 3 other car loads of people who came from the lunch to the farm as well. This farmer was too funny. 38 years old with 6 kid, oldest is 17 youngest is 2. When we arrived all the kids would come out to stare or would watch us from the window. Now I know what animals feel like at a zoo. Brian wore KC Royals hat and tee. The farmer came out asking Bri, "So how are they doing this year? I keep up with the Cubs and Cardinals. We get the paper you know." (Um um um um! Rule breaker, rule breaker!!!) :) So what do you want to know about the dairy farm, other than every farmer does it different and every farmer is right! We got to see the barn, how they milk - twice a day 5am & 5pm. Everyone in the family helps. It's not by hand either, it's automatic powered by diesel fuel. There are approx 48 cows in the barn, 24 on each side with their back sides facing the middle of the barn. Tyler would tell you the pooped and peed a lot when we were there. Eww! We got to see the buggy horses and also the draft horses. How those are big animals. I can also tell you this Amish family along with others in the area are in it for money just as much as the average Joe. - At least that was my opinion when we left there. Thank goodness the weather was so nice to, that storm that came through had dropped the temp for the day to 75. And since the Amish do not have air conditioning it was nice.

Another thing. Amish do not use addresses either, their first and last names are on the mailbox. Our last tour was the home tour (each tour takes about 90 mins). There were almost 20 of us. Mary Yoder (almost every one's last name was Yoder) gave us a tour of her home. Her washing machine is powered by diesel fuel, the lighting is powered by propane. They are allowed nothing on the walls expect for calendars and spiritual sayings. Children only go to school until the 8th grade. Because I kept inquiring about school - I did find out - they have phones!!! But if I understand this right, they don't talk on them. One will call and leave a message and then they listen to the message. Such as school closings. That's what I asked about - "How do you know when school closes?" - "Well, the Amish school calls - we have phones." I kinda felt bad because when she answered she didn't make eye contact and looked at the floor. She irons her clothes with an antique iron heated up from her gas stove. She cans a lot of food and even makes homemade bologna in cans. We saw her huge garden of popcorn, sweet corn, cabbage, green beans, strawberries, candy onions, etc. Along with her herb garden. They also raise chickens and had pet bunnies. We saw a couple of her buggies and Ty even got to sit in one. By the end of the tour I was pooped. And speaking of poop, how come the Amish don't have to pick up after their horses, but we are expected to pick up after our dogs? (can you tell I'm against this)

We drove back to the Amish center in Arcola so that we could use the restroom and make a purchase. Dad and Susan bought a cookbook that had the peanut butter pie in it so that I could make it for him. Ahh - how thoughtful!!! :)

Then we drove another 10 miles to Tuscola to our hotel - Holiday Inn Express. Finally a place with a free hot breakfast. What a dump. Beds were hard, toilet didn't flush and the tub didn't drain. They didn't have any extra rooms to change with so they knocked $25 off our bill. The hotel was also under construction for renovations. I asked the gal working the front desk who was actually eating McD's in the lobby with her friend where the best place in town was to eat. Tuscany she answered immediately. My dad wasn't impressed at first since we had pasta the night before and it only took an hour to get after placing our order. But the food and service were divine. We were still full from lunch and the orders were huge!!! Ty only ate a piece of his pizza and said he was full. I ate all the shrimp out of mine leaving most of the pasta.

Oh and they had a weather channel using that eerie mans voice when warning of tornadoes and etc. But instead of bad weather, it was just reporting regular weather. So imagine a creep voice saying it was clear skies and 78. It freaked Ty out so we couldn't watch it when Ty was in the room. I have to agree with Ty - that voice usually means something bad.

I woke up ill, I'll spare you the details by saying I was a perfect Pepto Bismol commercial. I felt bad as we had to cut the trip short. Our day was planned to go at our leisure and shop the Amish shops. We did go to a woodworking shop which was really cool. But then I stayed in the car when it came to stopping at the bakery and meat market. Ty did see some Amish lady cut the leg off of some kind of animal. It was a long ride home, I tried to sleep most of the way. When they stopped for lunch I tried eating by spoon a Sonic slushy but even that couldn't be contained. Ty spent the night with my parents that night and it was 9:30 by the time we got home and I was sporting 101 fever. I laid low the next day and when we picked Ty up late that afternoon we learned he too was sick. It only last a day and a half. What a way to end vacation huh?

I will say spending the day with the Amish made me think how nice it could be. Even living in a small town like Arcola was very inviting. They even still have brick streets. I think I could get used to that very easily. But then, things aren't always what they seem either...