AMISH COUNTRY TO CHICAGO

The past 5 days (Monday22-Friday 25) seem to have been mainly behind the wheel of a car. We picked up our Chevvy on Monday from National in New York and managed to manoeuvre our way out of the city with not too much difficulty and of course with great navigational skill on my part. We drove about 180 miles south west of NYC to the town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And booked into a HOJO for 2 nights.T he reason ?- well this is the heart of Amish Country and having seen the film Witness I have always been curious about their way of life. We spent a fascinating day driving round the area to small towns with names like Intercourse, Bird In Hand, and Lititz. We bought some of their produce including Shoofly Pie which was good but calorific, visited an Amish village and had a buggy ride round the Amish farms. We learnt a lot about their lifestyle but only really met or spoke to them if they were selling something. They keep to themselves as much as possible. There are about 25,000 in this part of the USA but other communities exist in many other States. They are very religious and try to live a simple and god-fearing life. They don't believe in electricity, don't have TV or radio, they travel by buggy and cart but avoid travelling anywhere if they can help it. If they want to travel anywhere they would ask someone to drive them there. Many of them are farmers but they don't use tractors in the fields but horses. They wear very traditional clothes - a bit like a uniform - they don't believe in bright colours and the men always wear a hat and the ladies a bonnet. All married men must have a beard. I could go on for hours but I'd better move on

On Wednesday we drove from Lancaster to Wheeling, West Virginia about 300 miles and the following day did another 300 miles to Franklin, Indiana. Driving on American roads is fairly easy and so far it has been difficult to get lost. You get a bit fed up with all the lorries and it was a pity to be driving in such glorious weather but cant really complain. Petrol is about $3.60 per gallon which is expensive by American standards but approx. half the price of the UK. The only eventful thing that happened was driving over a squirrel. It made a sort of crunchy sound as it ran under my front wheel. On Friday we drove another 200 miles and arrived in Chicago Friday afternoon. We are now in Central Eastern time which is 6 hours behind the UK. We have been in the USA for almost 2 weeks now and every day has been hot and sunny !