Shipshewanna

We have spent so much time driving a day and then stopping a day and then going on the next, or driving two days in a row, that when I spend three nights in one place I feel like something is not quite right.

We made it to Three Rivers and saw our line dancing teacher. We had a very enjoyable visit with him. It would have been better except for the fact that my back was acting up for most of the time we were there. We went over to Shipshewanna, MI and went to a flea market. While I will admit that I have not been to the DonWest flea market down at the tip of Texas while it was in full swing, I have been there a bit off season. The one in Shipshewanna has got to be substantially larger. All we did was walk aroung the outside perimeter and I had all the walking I wanted to do. There was so much stuff there that it was hard to believe. In one of the large buildings an auction was being held. I have been to auctions in the past, but nothing like this. I went to an auto auction sometime back where they had three rows of cars being auctioned at the same time. There was a row for each type of car, "The Good," "The Bad," and "The Ugly." Each row had its own auctioneer. But at Shipshewanna there was at least FIVE auctioneers going at the same time and not much space between any of them. I will not try to tell you how the bidders could tell what they were bidding on because I am not sure. I was amazed at the amount of antique merchandise that was up for auction. The place also had another large building in which they held a livestock auction. If I am not mistaken the livestock auction was to be held the next day.


SOMEWHERE IN THIS CROWD IS AT LEAST FIVE ACTIVE AUCTIONEERS

The area around Shipshewanna is Amish or Anabaptist country. It is difficult to determine which order they ascribe to because there beliefs and customs overlap in great degrees. It seems to me that one of the most notable characteristic is their use of horses to provide transportation and farm motive power. When you drive down the road there seems to be horse pulled buggies all over the place. When we went to the flea market there was one ares that was set aside for horse and buggies. There were more horses in that area than I have ever seen in any one place at one time than I have ever seen except at a rodeo. Every one of the horses was pulling a buggy of some description. Before we got out to the flea market we went by a Marathon Service Station. There were several horse and buggies at the hitching rail. Now I have always heard horses referred to as "Hay-burners." But it looks to me like they either run on kerosene or white gas. Those tires don't look like they would take much more air than a bicycle.


AN AMISH FILLING STATION

The first day that we were in Wisconsin Dells we had a loss. Our friend of nineteen and a half years and travel companion for the past four and a half years passed away. It may be a long life for a cat but we were hoping that he would live for a few more years before the end of his time came. In certain respects he picked a good place to die. It was only a few miles to an animal crematorium. So now we will travel with his cremains until we decide what to do with them. There are dozens of times every day that I look and expect to see him. He is and will be missed for a long time to come.

In a day or two from here we should be in a campground close to Rochester, NY where our daughter lives. We will stay there for a while.

Till Later This Is Uncle Duck