August 8th and 9th, Brown County Indiana

Tuesday and Wednesday, August 8th and 9th, 2006
Days 44 and 45
Drive to Brown County State Park, IN and Visit with Mike and Dayna Zook

Wow, I actually missed a day of journaling for the first time. I was sitting by the campfire all night last night because it turned out to be such a great, hot burning, long lasting fire and it was a nice evening too. Anyway, we arrived at Brown County State Park in Indiana. This park is in the southern part of Indiana, a little south of Indianapolis. The drive from Missouri was pleasant, even though there was steady drizzle for most of the morning. Rod drove through St. Louis and I drove most of the rest of the way, until right before we got here, then I switched back to navigation mode to get us here easily.

Brown County State Park is quite nice, and rather large. We like our campsite, and I would say, based on the two different Indiana State Parks that we have stayed at on this trip, that Indiana’s State Parks are very nice! Clean, open, spacious, lots of wildlife, and “user friendly”.

Today we drove about 45 miles or so to my friends’ house in Greenwood, Indiana. Dayna and Mike are both friends from college, and I haven’t seen them in almost 16 years! Wow, that’s a long time. We’ve stayed in touch over the years and it was great to see them. Mike had to work, but Dayna was home with their two lovely children, Mitchell and Oleg. It was great to meet the children, and Brianna and Sheldon enjoyed playing with both of them even though they are a bit younger. Mitchell is 6 and Oleg is around 2 years old. We ate lunch and chatted for quite a while and Mike made it home from work before we had to leave. Unfortunately we had to leave to come back to check on the dog and take her out, but it was a lovely afternoon. Despite the rain.

Speaking of rain, I just need to mention that it did not really rain more than just thunderstorms that quickly cleared since we left the “east” in June! The last real rain we saw was in Ohio, and now we are back in Indiana and it rained for most of two days. Hmmm, coincidence? Maybe, or maybe it is just wet in the east! Anyway, my hair is not happy about the humidity again, but the rest of me is so used to it that I think I like it better than the “dry” heat of the high deserts that we were in. I kind of liked the “dry” heat, but it was just weird for me. I wasn’t all sticky and sweaty, but I didn’t really feel well in that hot, hot heat! It was just HOT! I guess it was more “comfortable”, but I truly felt baked in the sun, with no real shade anywhere in most of those areas. I think I just like trees.

Anyway, enough about the weather. Brianna is talking to Nina AGAIN. And it has been a long conversation. They miss each other, and it won’t be too long ‘til they see each other again! We’ll be home within two weeks now! I am kind of looking forward to getting home now, in a way, but I have enjoyed this trip and can’t complain one little bit. The majority of the trip has gone off without a hitch, and we’re all still happy. Tomorrow we are driving to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and we’ll be there a day early, but for three days, most likely, because we also plan on going to the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, which is near there.