A relatively uneventful day. Once again we left very early in the morning, only this time we didn't get the great sunrise. There was some fog, low clouds and heavy dew on everything and that limited the visibility. We continued east on Interstate 80, skirting Des Moines and the Quad Cities (Bettendorf , IA, Davenport, IA, Moline, IL and Rock Island, IL) where we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. The countryside remained relatively unchanged through Iowa and much of western Illinois with soy beans breaking up the monotony of corn fields (Iowa is the biggest US producer of both).

Once past Peoria, the fields started being replaced by homes and industry. We didn't hit any real traffic until we reached the southern suburbs of Chicago. We had dreaded this area because of the huge traffic jams we had at construction sites southeast of Chicago last year. Well, they have not finished their work. It almost looked like there was no progress, though I'm sure there was. The only thing in our favor was that it was Saturday and the traffic was lighter than the weekdays. Once past the toll plaza on the Tollway (Illinois had to get our money for the last few miles of the journey through the state) the traffic abated. From this point through eastern Ohio, the road is a toll road and they will extract their pound of flesh for taking the truck and trailer through Indiana and Ohio.

The campground for tonight is situated in the Indiana Amish country. We unhooked the truck and took a ride into Shipshewana, one of the major Amish population centers in the state. Most people think of Amish as Pennsylvania Dutch. In fact Ohio has a bigger Amish population than Pennsylvania and Indiana ranks third. We didn't have much time in the town because everything closes up at 5:00 and we didn't get into town until 4:30. With the stores closed up, we took a ride on country roads back to Middlebury and then back to the campground, just north of town. I would say that if we didn't know we were in Indiana, we would think we were in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Similar houses, the buggies and the people in plain clothing would fit right in with what we see in Lancaster. It probably would have been interesting to spend more time in Shipshewana, but that is a luxury we don't have at this point in our travels.