September 19, 2008 - Today the caravan moved to Sugarcreek from Marietta, Ohio, some 95 miles to the north. We couldn't have ordered more perfect weather - clear skies, cool temperature. We arrived at Winklepleck Park about 10:00am, the site of the 46th Annual Swiss Festival Rally. This is the oldest national rally in Airstream's Wally Byam Caravan Club. This rally is sponsored and run by the Land-O-Lakes of Ohio Unit of WBCCI. They're expecting over 200 RV units to come in.
Since we arrived as a caravan we were parked a day earlier than most - and we were assigned to some of the more convenient sites. With the rest of the day on our hands we chose to do some necessary chores like laundry. Later in the day our caravan folks met for some five o'clock socializing. It was mostly a time to relax after a pretty hectic few days in Marietta.
September 20, 2008 - Trailers and motorhomes continued to arrive all day. We spent the day with the Strongs and Lackmans (with Bernie driving) visiting a few choice spots around the area. We first went to my favorite hardware and exotic wood supply store in the little town of Charm. This store is huge - probably larger than two Home Depots - and its amazing that its in such a small town. Charm has fewer than 150 residents.
Across the street there in Charm is Grandma's Homestead Restaurant where we ate a delicious lunch. The next stop was the Guggisberg Cheese plant and gift shop. There was too much of a crowd to enjoy it. It was of more interest to visit with an Amish family across the road selling baskets and woodcraft. Our next stop was at the Herschberger Country Store where they were bringing in fresh bread and other bakery goods - doughnuts, fried pies, cakes, pies, etc. Then came the huge flea market in Walnut Grove. Open only on Fridays and Saturdays, this is a hugely popular place. The Mud Valley Creamery was next. By then we had worked up an appetite for ice cream. With a visit to a bulk foods store in Sugarcreek, that ended the days touring.
Back in camp, we were in time to register for our own flea market and hobby show. We also registered for the 2009 International Rally in Madison, Wisconsin. Our first general rally meeting here was that evening in the pavilion. First there were announcements and a description of the tours to come, then entertainment by a couple of guitar players who sang gospel songs. John Schrock was a former Amishman who related some of his experiences when he was Amish and when he left the Amish way of life.
September 21, 2008 - Not much happens in the Amish country on Sunday. After church this morning, since few restaurants were open we cranked up our little charcoal grill and cooked some pork chops for lunch, Fred and Sara joined us for the meal. Flies are sort of bad outside so we ate inside the coach. The weather continues to cooperate. Sunny days, cool at night and warm at midday.
Special entertainment - the Cambridge Band - came to the park in mid afternoon and played good music for an hour. Then we stood in line at the band stand for Amish dinner tickets. We'll be eating at Maudie Raber's home on Tuesday evening. Evening entertainment in the pavilion was the Walker family playing and singing gospel and bluegrass music. It was three girls and two boys playing with their Dad.
September 22, 2008 - This was the first of three tour days. Five tours
were offered each day with 4 or 5 stops on each. The tours left the park at ten minute intervals beginning at 8:30am. We chose to take tour #3 first which included the Warther Museum, P. Graham Dunn Wood Engravings, SmuCkers, Cats Meow Village, and Lehman Hardware.
The Warther Museum is a favorite, one of the few museums that we don't mind visiting over and over. This was our 10th visit. Displays include the most fantastic wood carvings done by Ernest Warther. It's impossible to adequately describe this place. He was a master. The pictures don't even do it justice, but do show some of the detail he put into the steam engines. There's the Lincoln Funeral Train, the driving of the golden spike and many more.
There are other incredible things in the museum too. A pliers tree with over 500 pairs of pliers whittled out of one piece of walnut. A walking cane with Lincoln's head and a cage containing a ball which itself is a cage that contains another ball, all carved from one piece of walnut.
Our next stop was at P.Graham Dunn's place. This is a manufacturing plant that produces computer controlled engravings on wood, all featuring scripture passages. The automation is amazing, yet much of the operation is still by hand. We saw this last year, but they moved into a new and larger building just this year.
Following lunch at Das Dutch Kitchen we made three more stops. Smuckers, Cats Meow, and Lehmans. Smuckers was in a new building featuring products made by all their subsidiary companies. It was in reality a giant sales room, interesting inasmuch as many of the subsidiaries were once prominent companies on their own - Pillsbury for an example. Most of the products offered for sale could be purchased in markets back home, so there were not many purchases made.
Cats Meow Village was unusual only in the fact that it was amazing that something like this could exist and prosper. They make little wooden models of all sorts of things - just flat 3/4" boards painted with designs all of which included a black cat. High prices too,
Lehmans Hardware is an old Amish hardware store that has become a high priced country store primarily catering to tourists. They too were enlarged in a new building. We didn't stay there long.
Entertainment during the evening was a group of four young sisters who called themselves the Maidens IV. They played and sang Celtic music. They were talented, energetic, and well coordinated, playing and singing some lively tunes, but so high pitched the words were difficult to understand. Two of the girls played violins, one an unusual drum, and the other a guitar. It was different.
September 23, 2008 - Today we took tour #2 which included the Stoney Point School, Erb's Caskets, Jacob's Show Horses, and the Alpine Hills Museum. A visit to an Amish school is always a treat. There were 32 children - grades 1 thru 8 - in a little one room school building. The teacher was a beautiful 20 year old Amish girl who met us outside. She explained the school's procedure and answered questions. We then filed into the room where the pupils were busily working at their desks. The kids then sang two songs and introduced themselves by grade. The predominant family name was Miller, with a few Yoders and Rabers. Then we introduced ourselves and told where we were from. All that took about 20 minutes, then the children went back to their studies, and we filed out. No pictures - that's against their Amish beliefs.
Abe Erb met us outside the shop building near his home. He said a few things about how the family earned their livelihood - milking their cows, raising Belgian horses, growing oats and corn, and making caskets. His caskets are made of cypress wood, shaped much like an Egyptian mummy case, but plain. Erb not only builds the caskets, but takes the body from the undertaker to the home for viewing and then to the cemetery. His shop was fairly crude and unkempt, but he was an interesting fellow to listen to. He talked about his family, taxes, the differing practices of the various Amish orders, the Amish exemption from Social Security, and his upcoming travel to Mackinac Island in Michigan. He had an opinion about most everything.
Jacob's Show Horses is at the top of a hill with views stretching fifteen miles or more in the distance. Jacob boards show horses for remote owners who pay him $950 per month per horse for the service. The horses are groomed daily, exercised for fifteen minutes a day, fed a strict regimen of oats and vitamin supplements, and housed in a temperature controlled environment. Some of the horses are worth $250,000. Jacob also transports the horses to shows around the country. The more championships a horse can claim, the higher its value. He also has a business that packages and sells food supplements for animals. It's obvious that he is doing very well. All the facilities are neat and clean. Jacob and his wife and two children live in a beautiful house right on the property.
At 4:30pm some 50 of our folks carpooled to Maudi Raber's home for dinner. And what a dinner it was! Country fried steak, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, noodles, fresh bread, cole slaw, and all kinds of pie for dessert. Maudi kept bringing out the bowls of food until we were all stuffed. She's been cooking for English tourists for 28 years. She and her husband have eight children - "all of them boys except seven," she says. They do well with all their pursuits. She had a collection of cups and plates from all the places they've been on their travels - all the states but Hawaii. They have a natural gas well on their property which provides them free fuel. They have a spring which provides their water. No electric bill. No insurance premiums. No gasoline to buy. They grow their own vegetables and have beef and dairy cattle. Mr. Raber has a saw mill. Maudi writes for two magazines - Taste of Home and Country. Fifty meals at $13.00 each every night during the tourist season. They're doing well.
The Alpine Hills Museum is in downtown Sugarcreek - a small storefront with a lot of stuff that depicts Amish and Swiss life around this countryside. The video we watched even included a clip about the Airstreamers that came every year to the Swiss Festival.
This night's entertainment was another family musical group - The Stockdale Family Band. This was three brothers and their dad, each playing a different stringed instrument. The brother playing the violin seemed to be a little shy, but was fantastic with his fiddle. 'The oldest brother played the mandolin and was the most energetic of the group. The bass fiddle was played by the youngest brother, a 12 year old. His instrument was bigger than he was. The father played the guitar. They played bluegrass and gospel. At the door prize drawing after, we won a $20 gift certificate to an antique shop in Berlin. They had some very nice things that were given away as door prizes,
September 24, 2008 - We claimed our door prize at the Berlin Village Antique Mall, picking out a small
Fenton Glass candy dish. Then, with Fred and Sara, made another visit to the village of Charm, first to
eat at Grandma's Homestead, then to Keim Lumber Co. On the way home we stopped at Herschbergers
market for bread, fried pies, and ice cream. We barely got home in time to pick up Jerry and Joan Larson
for dinner at Beachy's Amish Restaurant in Sugarcreek.
Evening entertainment was a last minute replacement for the scheduled folks who had reported in too sick
to come. Thomas Shelton was the replacement and did a great job singing gospel songs for 45 minutes.
September 25, 2008 - This was the day to relax in the park after three days of tours. Those who play
golf headed out at 8:00am to the golf course next door. The hobby show and flea market began at
9:30am. I won a first place ribbon for my display of bowls, then sold a few Joker boards at the flea market.
One of Maudie Raber's daughters came to make putt-putt icecream for every-
one. One of her grandchildren cooked up a batch of apple sauce over an open
fire. The picture was taken with the permission of her mother. An Amishman
with his horse and buggy came to give rides around the park. This picture
shows the horse and buggy beside our International President Jerry Larson
and his Airstream motorhome.
An Amish lady brought baked goods for sale at the band stand, and the cooks
fired up six black iron wash kettles to cook beans and ham for supper in the
evening. We also did a little roaming around the country roads. These
pictures are typical scenes along the backroads of Holmes County. The
pictures though are taken off postcards.
This was the last night of rally entertainment since the festival downtown
began on Friday. The six-man band was called the Warren Brothers Combo.
They played big band style music with horns and saxaphone prominent.
