US50 Phase 1: Across southern Indiana

Oct 6 Back on, and off US50

I started the day by going a few miles south along the river on US56 to the town of Rising Sun where I spent some time walking the waterfront. This is an interesting town with some visible history and a very nicely redone riverside area (Which is actually where one side of the busy main street used to be before it fell into the river!)

I left there and got tangled up in a detour around a closure of US56 west of the river-side hamlet of Vevay. After following the detour up and away from the river on SR129 I turned left and did a long, gentle slide back down to the river along Big Doe Run Rd (I really like having an electronic map where I can see all the roads and sometimes even long driveways!) and finally worked my way along US56 into Madison. Madison seems like a nice older town with some interesting architecture and, judging by the people and traffic, the town center is still a happening place.

 

I left Madison by climbing SR7 away from the river up through a steep ravine  (No trucks allowed) to get back to US50 at Vernon.

Back on US50 I headed west again. Shortly after crossing under I65 I went through Seymour with the railroad paralleling the highway through town which, you guessed it, was having some sort of street festival.

I'd barely covered 100 miles to this point but it was time to get right back off of US50 and head for Nashville, Indiana. This town just made the top 10 list for good small towns to live in so I had to check it out.

I took SR135 north from US50 to get there. That was another adventure in twists and turns and ups and downs as I seem to have found another area of hills-n-hollows! But, although the terrain might have been very much like West Virginia, the road was definitely less of a road than what I was on in West Virginia a couple weeks ago! I guess it’s the difference between a federal and a state road.

The campground I was headed for wasn’t where it was supposed to be, not only did the map have it in the wrong place but The Book did too! While looking for it I ended up going past a different campground, also in my book, and it was where the book said it was, but this one kind of strung out right alongside the road, the busy road, so I turned around and with a little hunting found the one I was looking for. Because I am going to do some looking around in the area, I've planted myself here for a couple nights.

 

I only covered 130 or so miles today, so maybe I'm starting to get into the 'kick back and take it easy' mode of travel! I can tell I've been wandering a bit when I have to add lots of 'waypoints' on my map to get it to draw the route I've actually traveled rather than the 'direct' route.

In only a few weeks this campground will be shutting down for the season and now I’m really starting to wonder about making it across the western mountains. I’m beginning to suspect that in the higher elevations campgrounds, museums, etc. might be shutting down on me since I am running 2 or 3 weeks behind my original planned schedule. (So I could be in Michigan at the same time as Pablo.)