Getting off the interstate and seeing small town Indiana

It's fall in Indiana where we live.  The weather is getting colder, the trees are turning and the fields are being harvested.  For the last two weekends we have traveled to Oxford Ohio for Miami University football and hockey games. 

The first weekend we went we were getting onto I-70 to drive over to Oxford from Indianapolis.  As we were starting our journey we read one of the digital boards over the highway telling us that I-70 was closed at a certain point in our route due to an accident.  We decided to get off of the interstate in Greenfield that day and take Route 40 - The National Highway into Ohio.  We had always talked about doing this but never made the time. 

That weekend the trip was all right until we hit one of the towns near the accident on I-70.  Then we could see that everyone had exited the interstate and had the same idea we did.  Traffic came to a stop and moved at a crawl through all the small towns along 40.  The trip took longer than we anticipated but we finally made it to Centerville and were able to take the back roads to Oxford. 

After that experience we decided to take the same route again the next week.  The next trip was totally different.  Where there was traffic along 40 and all the small towns were backed up with people trying to avoid the accident the week before, this week we enjoyed a leisurely trip with minimal traffic. 

Did you know there is a Cleveland, Indiana or a Dublin Indiana or a Lewisville Indiana?  I did not until we got off the interstate and took Route 40 through all those small towns.  We saw fields being harvested and roadside stands selling pumpkins and gourds.  We stopped at one stand outside Knightstown to try and get a few additional fall mums.  The mums had been killed by the frost the night before but I did score a few pumpkins and gourds. 

It was a beautiful day to get off the interstate and take a much more relaxed drive across Indiana and into Ohio.  We spent last Saturday enjoying football, fall weather and a great hockey game where Miami University beat THE Ohio State University. 

It took me all of Sunday to recover from the festivities and travel.  But, that is another post for another day.