Michiganders are
Wolverines and Ohio folk are Buckeyes.
We ALL know what a buckeye is and what a wolverine looks like but what
about a Hoosier? In 1833 it was said
that Indiana folks would answer a knock at their cabin with “Who’s Yere?”. Someone else said there was a contractor
named Hoosier and his laborers were referred to as Hoosier’s men. Then there is the rumor that the pugnacious
habits of some early settlers who were enthusiastic fighters would gouge, scratch
and bite off noses and ears. It was so
common an occurrence that a settler coming into a tavern the morning after a
fight might touch it with the toe of his boot and ask “Whose ear?” Whatever its origin, the nickname “Hoosier”
has had a lasting appeal for Indiana folks!
For more than 100 years it has continued to mean friendliness,
neighborliness, an idyllic contentment with the Indiana landscape and
life. We were going there to go find
out!
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| Brown Co. State Park |
Sunday, June 14 we set our course for south central Indiana
and the Brown County State Park, with a brief stop on the way for ice cream at
the historic old canal town of Metamora.
Brown County as a whole is almost as magnificent as the Smoky Mountains
of Appalachia with her hills, valleys, ridges and gorges, babbling brooks and
waterfalls, deer, turkey and even fox that peek out at dawn and dusk! The park is Indiana’s largest state park at
15,000 acres of dense forest, winding roads, 500 campsites and the Abe Martin
Lodge.
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| Nashville, In. |
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| Nashville, In. |
While based at the park we returned to walk the quaint streets of
Nashville and saunter in and out of all the eclectic shops! Out exploring the backroads down off of St
Rt 446, we stumbled upon the Hoosier National Forest campground at the Hardin
Ridge Recreation Area and drove thru with the approval of the folks at the
gatehouse. We picked out our 1st
choice for a campsite and said we would return the next morning! Instead of returning to the state park on
the highway that we now knew – we dared venture off the well-paved and
well-marked road to trek down a “shortcut” to enter the state park from the
other side. Sometimes the “road” was
just a bit wider than a 2-track path.
Sometimes it went east, sometimes north, several times west and even
curved a lot to the south! It seemed
like the mileage, via the GPS, kept growing instead of decreasing! But we finally made it back to the park and
we each released a big sigh.
