Day 64 -- Purdue University, gas powered golf cart and onward to the factory

Travel

  From: Goodland, IN
  To: Jackson Center, OH
  Distance: 285 mi (458 km)
  Travel time w/brks: 4 hr 20

  Distance since start: 14,191 mi (22,819 km)
Goodland IN to Jackson Center OH

Wednesday 8/23/2006

The plan for today is to do some college hunting for Isabella by visiting Purdue University in nearby West Lafayette. The university is about 1 hour to the south east from Goodland. So you'd think you need only one hour to make the morning appointment with them? Wrong. A recent election has ensured that Indiana runs in TWO time zones and we have to cross the boundary during this short drive. So we actually had to start two hours ahead as seen with our local time. I do not recall, but think the issue is that some counties of the state use Daylight Savings Time while other parts do not. It would seem like Goodland uses it, but West Lafayette does not.

42 miles within Indiana and we're in a different timezone!

42 miles within Indiana and we're in a different time zone!

I did not want to bring Erik and Karl with us because I was concerned that not only would they be a distraction, but they would also have needs that it would be hard for me to take care of. The boys grumbled about being left alone for most of they day at the trailer. I hoped that they would find things to do. Isabella and I hurried down to Purdue. It took a while to get the truck parked in town. They have a parking garage but the ceiling is very low. I had to duck in the truck as I drove in there, afraid that the roof of it would scrape somewhere. But it did not. We listened to a presentation about the university and then took a guided walk around the campus. It was quite informative. This place certainly has a rural feel to it. We're not really in a big city and the buildings are not tall. Yet there is plenty of stuff here. It is a quite big university that even has its own runways for airplanes.

A model of West Lafayette and Purdue University

A model of West Lafayette and Purdue University gives you an idea how rural it is. You can even see farm fields nearby.

A walking tour of the Purdue campus gave us a feel for the general layout

A walking tour of the Purdue campus gave us a feel for the general layout

The guided tour also took us inside Purdue

The guided tour also took us inside Purdue

After the organized part we try to get a drop-in appointment with counseler from Eng admissions

After the organized part we try to get a drop-in appointment with counselor from Eng admissions

All in all the trip to the university was worthwhile. It is hard to fully appreciate the scope and feel of a university by just looking at pictures. At this point we were a bit hungry and wanted to head back to the camper. We still had towing to do and I was a bit worried about the boys. When we got back we quickly discovered that the boys had not been very busy. The hosts had lent them a gas powered golf-cart which they drove around like crazy on their lawn. Both of them had huge smiles on their faces. Isabella quickly got swept up in this and rode around with the boys.

Gas powered golf cart + corn field = big smiles!!

Gas powered golf cart + corn field = big smiles!!

Erik had even gotten a chance to drive the bigger farm tractor. Can you top this off? Yes. They had let the boys be inside their air conditioned house to watch movies and play games. And, get this, they even cooked a late lunch for us as we were getting ready to leave. I hooked us up and we said farewell to our hosts. We then hit the road towards the small Ohio town of Jackson Center.

The kids posing with our hosts: the Goyke's

The kids posing with our hosts: the Goyke's

We drove on smaller roads for the entire trip. Mostly crop fields. One of the down sides with the smaller roads in this part of the country is that you end up going 3 miles at 65mph and then 1 mile at 30-40mph as you go through a local town. But you do get a sense of how a lot of people live in rural America. By the time we arrived in Jackson Center, it was dark outside. They have a couple of full hookup loops beside the service area of the factory where you can camp for free. We pulled into one of them. The place was pretty much full. There were about 20-30 Airstreams there. We ended up parking next to a "Squarestream". With a drink in hand I walked around the "campground" and chatted with a few others who were there. It was quite comfortable outside. We ate dinner in the trailer and then went to bed. Everyone was tired. It had been a long day. We also knew we'd have to get up early the next morning.

Campground

  Name: Airstream Factory, Jackson Center, OH
  Our hookups: 30 amp, water, sewer
  WiFi: Yes
  GSM service: Yes

  TV Channels: Don't know
  Cost: FREE!!
  Reservation mode: Drop in
Savage River campground

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features the Yukon Sky.