Every now and then I am asked by my
Amish friends to drive them places. I do
this as a friend. They pay the gasoline. One time I drove them to a funeral. This time it was more of a pleasure
trip. They wanted to attend a wedding
and make a few stops along the way.
We started off on a Tuesday morning and traveled about 12
hours the first day to a place in Oklahoma.
The man was an historian so my friends were interested in what he had to
say. They ended up finding out that they
were related distantly. I like to
experience new things so I go along whenever I can. He took us all around his area pointing out
important things and telling us facts.
We also went to a nearby grave yard or cemetery. My friend asked me the difference in a grave
yard and a cemetery and I don’t know.
We stayed at these
peoples home and they provided supper for us.
It was very good. All the ladies
helped clean up. I washed the dishes. We left early the next morning before our
hosts woke up.
The second day we
traveled to Kansas to look for a cemetery that was near my mother’s farm. We stopped by my mom’s house and introduced
everyone. We were unable to find the cemetery. I will find it next time I go. I have been there before but for some reason
I couldn’t find it. My friend then
treated us to a buffet breakfast at a local restaurant.
Next we traveled to
Phillipsburg Kansas where we toured a fiber factory. The Shepherds Mill was an interesting
place. They take in raw fibers and
through a process it is made into yarn.
After the fiber mill
tour we traveled to Bethany Missouri where we stayed the night. Breakfast was at 5:30 the next morning with
27 people at the table. 17 being
children. I was seated smack dab in the
middle and was able to learn what is expected at meal times by observing those
around me and doing what they did. We
had biscuits and gravy, friend eggs, cold cereal, milk and water. We left right after breakfast. I hope to go back someday and have the time
to visit with these people.
That was a Thursday
morning, Wedding day. We traveled to Carrolton Missouri and arrived
there by 8 am. In plenty of time for
the wedding since they used standard time.
My friend told me I was free until 3 pm so I took off and went to the
nearest town where I had already arranged to meet a facebook friend. We enjoyed each other’s company until she had
to return home. It was sure good to
finally meet her in person. I arrived
back at the wedding site in time to watch all the Amish leave the big barn
where the wedding had been held. It was
interesting watching all the children come out and then older children and
finally the adults.
I was offered a tray
of food by some Amish young men but I had already eaten. Later some Amish ladies brought around pie
which I of course accepted.
After the wedding was
over we left one of our passengers there who had plans to head to Wisconsin to
her grandmothers wedding. I knew that
the empty place would be filled with something as Amish want to make the most
of all opportunities and sure enough, the next day the van was filled to
capacity again. This time with boxes of
potatoes and 50 pound bags of flour.
Anyway, after the
wedding we headed south to southern Missouri where we surprised one of the
girls with us by taking her to stay at her parents house. She didn’t recognize where she was because
her parents had just moved to a new place two weeks previous so she was quite surprised. We then drove a couple of miles to another
Amish farm where we asked if they had any beds.
They said yes and quickly made them up for us. It was already dark when we arrived so we
went to bed soon after arriving. In the
Amish culture hospitality is part of their religion so it is very common to
have company stay the night on their travels.
Apparently not many divers like to stay in Amish homes so they were
pleased that I was staying with them. I
wanted to learn all I could so I went everywhere I was allowed and was able to
eat and sleep in their homes. I really
enjoyed that.
The next morning
breakfast was again at 5:30 am. Oh and
sleeping with the windows open makes for a wonderful night of sleep. BUT, the roosters all crow beginning at 4:15
am. It was fun and easy to get up early
for some reason. I do miss sleeping with
a nice breeze coming through the windows.
Here in south Texas I don’t think there would be a nice breeze. Maybe a hot one.
I forgot to mention
that each place we stayed they asked us all to sign their guest book. I am going to bring along a notebook if I
ever do this again so I can write down the people’s names so I can send thank
you cards. As it is I have to wait for
my friend to get the names and addresses to me.
Friday we headed out
after breakfast and went to an Amish bulk food store, this was the second one
we went to. I forgot to mention that we
went to one a couple of miles from the wedding site after the wedding. This time is where we loaded up on the potatoes
and flour. Next we picked up the girl we
had dropped off at her parents.
We then traveled
home. This was the longest day of
driving. I arrived home at 11:30 pm on
Friday. It was a great trip but as with
any trip I go on its always good to get home.
As Dorothy says in the Wizzard of Oz, there’s no place like home.
There were three ladies at the end of the trip including me and we had ended up meeting each others mothers. We found that a fun fact of our trip.
Edited to add a couple of pictures.
The first one is an Amish lawn mower. The Amish man stands atop the platform above the mower and drives the horse. They go round and round and it works quite nicely.
The second picture is of the bed I slept in the last night on the road. I found it interesting that in two of the places I slept they only used a fitted sheet and blankets, no top sheet. I slept very well every night with them.
