Mile 886: Shipshewana

It was hard to leave Lou Ann's house, she was such a good conversationalist and we slept so hard. However, we had a long ride ahead of us. We were looking forward to having a host in Elkhart and we had to figure a way to get Sasha on the train back to Cleveland.

So we hopped on our bikes....and then...we realized that Sasha back wheel was slipping. So, once again we decided to stop and since there was a bike shop in Angola, to go ahead and take it in. So after an hour, we were able to have it fixed, and we biked onward!

There were plenty of Amish towns along the way, and interesting landmarks like the LaGrange Phalanx, an intentional community the had failed in times passed, and we we reached Shipshewana, we saw that this was a place where Amish, Mennonites, and modern/english folk all bought goods and interacted with one another. It was a lot to take in, with all the Amish goods, books, buggies racing by, long skirts, different languages spoken. Sasha and I were mesmerized.

Lucky, our host Neil rescued us from our demise, scowering the place for treats and odd things that we didn't need.

We then focused our energies on picking out a meal for the evening and cramming as much things as possible in before we put Sasha on the train.

Neil was a great host, taking us on tours through out owns, let us climb in his gym, checked out the local bike coop, showed us some magic tricks, took us to a bike shop to pick up a box for Sasha's bike... only to name a few things....and before we knew it, it was time to head to the train.

We all sat there tiredly, waiting for the Amtrak to arrive.... and Sasha and I couldn't believe our time had come to an end. We knew it would not be our last adventure but for some reason it's still a little a sad to say good bye to someone that has ventured with you so well, and someone so familiar.

The Amtrak arrived, and naturally Sasha' bike was denied because it had not been checked...it looks like our bike adventures had not ended afterall. I told Sasha to get on the train and I would find a way to ship it the next day....