Indiana | The Beauty Around Us

Posts from the ‘Indiana’ category

VROC Reunion Rally 2015: Getting There – Greenfield IN to Central City KY

Today is Day 3 of our 13-day vacation. We are traveling to Eureka Springs, AR to attend the annual Vulcan Riders and Owners Club (VROC) Reunion rally.

Bob awakened at 4:30 this morning, which is normal for him as this is the time he awakens in the morning to get ready for work. I stayed in bed until 5:45 am. I was showered and dressed by 6:30 am. We ate breakfast at 7:00 am. We each had a cheese omelet, one waffle and a Danish pastry. In addition I had an orange juice and a banana. Bob drank coffee, and I drank hot tea.

It was a chilly morning. It was only 46 degrees in Greenfield IN at 7:30 this morning. I checked the weather in Central City, KY – what will be today’s final destination. The high temperature will be in the low 70s. Bob said he is happy that he has chaps to wear, while riding.

We met up with some VROC friends at the Speedway gas station at Exit 96 on I-70 (one exit west of Greenfield IN) for a 3-day group ride to Eureka Springs, AR .

Bob, Jim T., Bradley T., and Tim and Dee W. at Speedway gas station

We departed the Speedway gas station at 9:45 am, en route Central City, KY via New Salisbury, IN. We would pick up two more riders in New Salisbury, IN.

En route New Salisbury, IN
There are 4 motorcycles and 5 riders.

We made one fuel stop on the way to New Salisbury, IN.

Fuel stop in Brownstown, IN

We arrived at Jim and Katie A.’s house around 12:45 pm.

Jim and Katie’s house

We were back on the road about 30 minutes later, with Jim and Katie riding with us. Not quite 3 weeks ago, Jim had a heart attack. It was wonderful that Jim and Katie could ride with us!

Back on the road again
There are now 5 motorcycles and 7 riders.

We crossed over the Ohio River from Indiana to Kentucky around 1:45 pm.

We stopped for lunch at Subway in Brandenburg, KY.

Brandenburg, KY
Lunch stop at Subway

Before leaving Brandenburg, we made a fuel stop at a gas station near Subway.

We made a rest stop at the Dollar General in Fordsville, KY.

Bradley made good use of the rest stop!

From Fordsville we rode to Central City, KY, arriving there around 5:00 pm Central time.

Today’s route is displayed in the map shown below.

We drove 263 miles today.

We checked into the Best Western Plus Venture Inn. We have a two queen room. It is spacious and nicely furnished. The bathroom is larger than the ones we have had the past two nights.

We ate dinner at El Bracero, a Mexican restaurant located next door to the hotel. Bob and I ordered taco salads, with beef.

The taco salad was uniquely shaped,
like an over-sized taco.

Dinner was delicious!

VROC Reunion Rally 2015: Getting There – Hudson OH to Greenfield IN

Today is Day 2 of our 13-day vacation. We are traveling to Eureka Springs, AR to attend the annual Vulcan Riders and Owners Club (VROC) Reunion rally.

We left Hudson, OH at 7:15 am. It wasn’t a bad travel day, although it was a chilly day and rained for the first couple hours.

Storm clouds breaking prior to reaching U.S. Route 30 rest area

We made a rest stop at a rest area in Ohio, along U.S. Route 30. The first thing I noticed, as we pulled into the rest area, was a truck pulling four homes on wheels.

I like the gray home on wheels with the red window!

We crossed over the Ohio-Indiana border at approximately 12:30 pm.

This is the state border along I-70, leaving Ohio and going into Indiana.

We arrived in Greenfield, IN at 1:30 pm. The majority of today’s driving was on routes I-271, US 30, I-75 and I-70 as seen in the map shown below. We drove 315 miles today.

We are staying at the Quality Inn in Greenfield. This is a Choice Privileges free night accommodation. We had enough points (8,000) to buy a free night. Our room is spacious. The furnishings include two Queen-sized beds separated by a nightstand, an arm chair with footrest and small round table, a desk and chair, a large chest of drawers and TV, a refrigerator and microwave. The bathroom is clean and generously sized.

Greenfield is the county seat of Hancock County. We drove downtown to take a look at the courthouse. The Hancock County Courthouse sits inside the Courthouse Square Historic District. Opposite the Courthouse Square is the Hancock County Veterans Park. I took several pictures of those two areas.

Hancock County Courthouse

Hancock County Veterans Park

Hancock County Courthouse

James Whitcomb Riley statue
the “Hoosier” Poet

After checking out downtown Greenfield, we stopped for dinner at Montana Mike’s Steakhouse. According to its website, “Montana Mike’s is a full-service steakhouse…Our steaks are naturally aged, USDA steaks, hand-cut at the restaurant and grilled to your liking. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a mountain lodge and our service is first class.” When we arrived at the restaurant, a waitress accompanied us inside. She said “I will wait on you; I’m a good waitress.” She seated us and took our order.

Bob, at Montana Mike’s
He is anticipating a good steak dinner.

Shortly after our dinner orders were taken, another waitress came to our table and asked for our drink orders. She said that our waitress walked out. I asked if she had placed our dinner order before she walked out. I was told “yes”. Our new waitress brought water to our table. Another waitress placed two small bread plates on our table. A little later our waitress brought a sirloin steak dinner to our table. The sirloin steak dinner was the only order placed by the waitress who had walked out. I ordered sirloin steak and a fully loaded baked potato. The baked potato was not fully loaded. I told the waitress that my husband ordered a steak dinner as well and that we had not received our salads or dinner rolls. The waitress said “let’s forget this ever happened and start over”. She took our orders. A woman and then a man came separately to our table to apologize and to let know us that our dinners would be taken care of. We learned that the waitress walked out because she was “frazzled”. After “starting over”, all was good. It was a crazy time, but the food was good. Our new waitress took very good care of us. We rewarded her with a $10.00 tip.

After dinner we went to Walmart, where Bob picked up a couple pair of jeans. We returned to the hotel, where we spent rest of the evening. We found two more reasons to like this hotel. They provide complimentary popcorn from 3:00-11:00 pm (approximate time) and coffee/hot tea 24 hours a day.