Hiking "Brooks" style

After a late start (around 1:30) Ron and I headed to Indiana University to hike around the hilly campus. Turns out Kate is a graduate--she didn't even tell us! What a modest pup! The campus is vast and filled with forested walkways that thread among massive limestone classrooms and dorms. Students walked purposely down the paths, every one of them looking down at their cellphones as they marched along. Quite a few were on bikes, however, and they were generally hooked up via headphones, listening to class lectures no doubt.

 We love to meander around campus settings, of course, Kent State University is our favorite haunt and we try not to focus on the fact that we are long past the time of belonging to a collegiate group! At one point, we got a bit lost and Ariel, a college freshman, cheerfully led us to our desired stop. What a sweetie. She wants to be a dentist and take over her dad's practice someday. I asked her how many students were on campus and she thought maybe 20,000, then decided that might be the number of freshmen! Actually, there are about 40,000 total students at IU.

This had been the home of the university president for many years. It is now used for special occasions and it is situated in the center of the campus. Come to think of it, that might be why it is no longer used by the person in charge. ha.

I had a great time taking photos of the campus, then discovered after 2 hours of walking around that I had forgotten to put the SD disk back in the camera! Ron was game to walk around all over again so that I could recapture the photos. You could say that we were walking around in circles.  Speaking of which, it was a beautiful drive between Nashville and Bloomington. We plan to visit the T.C. Steele home and art studio tomorrow which is located between the two towns.

You are looking at the largest and oldest covered bridge in Indiana and the only one of 4 in the country that is a two lane covered bridge! Built in 1835, it was moved to the Brown County State Park entrance.

One of the many barns of the area captured my attention on Old 46, on the way to the T.C. Steele enclave.

At the old age of 60, renown artist, T. C. Steele, started an art colony in Brown County. First a successful portrait painter, he discovered Brown County and painted landscapes with his artist wife and encouraged painters to visit and live the artist colony.

We enjoyed the tour and history of the enclave. I am inspired to try watercolor painting again, maybe try oils for the first time. Fiber arts has been my focus for many years, but, I started out with watercolors in high school and again years later. I'm eager to give it a try!

Our last evening in Brown County was a bit chilly. Let's just say it was a three dog night! Little did we know that you need your LP tank (liquid propane) full in order to run the furnace in the RV.  We had emptied the tank (who knew you had to monitor such a thing) and when we got up , I was sure the furnace was BROKEN. Our generous camp owner, Frank, informed us that, yes, you need propane to create heat. I say, I was willing to learn to fill the tank and he tactfully mentioned that you need to be licensed for the task and he would do it as long as I agreed not to touch any of the valves. No problem! Ron and stood clear of the process and voila! We had filled the tank and had heat again.

Heading home to Sandusky in record time and only one near death experience, we "docked" Nina back at our home campground. We quickly decamped and are preparing for our first duo camping with Bob and Paulette. Yes, they have a similar camper and we anticipate many many happy camping adventures ahead with them. Anna, their camper, and Nina, will get acquainted this weekend at East Harbor State Park. Wish us god speed!