It was a beautiful ride through Amish land in eastern Indiana. The farms and the people were very nice, and the weather was perfect. The only minor downside was all the horse #%^# on the roads. I talked to a guy who rides this ride every year and i asked him what do you do if it is raining.He said they still ride but are covered in horse $^&* after the ride. I thought no way. The other problem was the roads were not very well marked,as in updated. Look like they tried to get by on previous years marks.

I bet you had fun though cuz it's TIME2RIDE~

I hate it when the Amish are too busy texting on their iPhones and they swerve their horse and buggies all over the road.

I was in PA amish country when I was young and still would go for a run now and then. After works one day, I decided to go for a run for some stress relief. It was dusk\dark, and there was lots of rocks on the side of the road. I remember thinking to my self to be extra careful not to step on one of the rock, a twisted\sprained\broken ankle would be bad.
The next morning as I drove to work on that same road, I realised that the 'rocks' weren't really 'rocks' at all.
Still didn't want to step on them.

How was the food?

Awesome.

I did see a buggie pull out on the road with a horse in tow, other buggie was behind ,the horse in tow started acting up, then the buggie behind came up and i heard the crack of the whip. problem solved.

We euphemistically refer to these as horse apples.

The wife & I also did the Amishland & Lakes tour - our third. Marcy's not much of a rider. In fact, this was actually her first time in the saddle all year. She's recovering from a bout of shingles (hey everyone - get vaccinated if you can - you don't want SHINGLES!!), and we almost cancelled, but everything turned out fine.

I have to admit that I'm not used to riding with her - we took about 4 hours to do 25 miles!! We skipped the tour for Sunday (which is nicer country, but more hills) and instead spent Sunday and Monday exploring the Pumpkinvine nature trail - Goshen to Middlebury (where we stayed) on Sunday, then Middlebury to Shipshewana on Monday.

Altogether we got in about 65 miles - not bad for her first time out this year...

Oh, and fair warning - this part of the country pretty much shuts down on Sundays (I even saw a Burger King and a Wendy's that were closed!!), and you might have to drive a few miles to find a cold beer!!

Did you stay at the Das Essen Haus Steve?

Nope - the Hampton Inn just east of there and around the corner on Route 13

Oh, ok. some nice people took me over their for dinner.

I know you meant this as a joke, but it might be truer than you think. I grew up in old order Mennonite country, and I have relatives that still travel by horse and buggy. (You will see my surname on lots of mailboxes in Lancaster County Pa where my ancestors emigrated from.)When I go back home these days, I do see them on their buggies working their smart phones.
Many of them run businesses and can't afford not to be connected.

When we first visited this area, I was surprised how many Amish women work at the flea markets, restaurants, gift and antique shops, grocery stores, etc. The whole area is peppered with these immaculate beautiful farms, some being worked very successfully in whole or in part by horse-drawn equipment. With this in mind, I got a real chuckle about a plaque on sale in one of the gift shops that read "Behind every successful ranch is a wife who works in town..."

A night, after the tourists are long gone, the local boys come to those Amish farms and run modern equipment-- paid by the Amish to do so. I'd go by a place with three rows plowed by sundown and the next morning, the field is fully plowed. A couple of my friends used to ride the equipment for them. The horse-drawn stuff is more for the tourists these days.

Smart folks!

Not much working going on during the weekend, but I saw one Amish farmer on a tractor, and another using a horse-drawn mower on what looked to be some pasture. The mower was pretty slick and was probably getting the job done as fast (or maybe even a little faster) than a powered machine. The horse was prancing across that field right smartly!

We call it Amish exhaust!

A good application for fenders!

Even so, still would not do it in the rain.