Illinois Amish Country

After two days of “hard driving”, we had a light day on Tuesday.  We left the Effingham, IL Walmart at about 8:30am, and drove about 60 miles to Arcola, IL, which is the ‘entry point’ for the Illinois Amish country.  We stopped at the Visitor Center, which is located in an old railroad station.  We out that Arcola is the birthplace of Johnny Gruelle, who is the author of the Raggety Ann books.  It also is the home of a Hippie Memorial!  Here are some pictures……….

 

 

We then headed about 10 miles west to Arthur, IL, which is the center of the Amish community.  We found a spot to park the Bus and unhooked the car and drove about 85 miles touring the area.  Here are some pictures of buggies that we got……

I guess everybody likes a bargain…..

 

While Patsy was shopping in a store, I watched these boys playing in a field…..

We finished up our tour about 3:00pm, and hit the road for Elkhart, IN, where we will stay for about 4 days before driving 60 miles north to Charlotte, MI for the Spartan rally.  We saw this unusual sight along the way…..

 

We got to the Elkhart exit on the toll road at about 8:00pm, and parked in a service plaza for the night.  Tomorrow, we plan to go to the Shipshewana area, near Elkhart, for a few days.