Francis Slocum Gravesite

Only four showed up this past Wednesday. It was a little chilly, which might have kept some away. Merle Combs, Jerry Cole and I rode over to Chism's Corner for lunch. Billy Niverson drove his car over and joined us there. After lunch, the three of us who were riding rode up IN 13 through Swayzee, Meir, Somerset to county road 950 south and turned west until we got to The Indian Cemetery where Francis Slocum is buried. We walked around the cemetery and looked at all the graves. Here's a map where the cemetery is located:

And here is her tombstone:

Here are links to who she was if you haven't heard of her:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Slocum

and

 http://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/trail-lost-sisterfrances-slocum/

She is fairly famous around our area, and we have a school in Marion named after her: Francis Slocum Elementary. A school system near here, Moconoquah (one n) School System, is named after her Indian name, "Mo-con-no-quah" meaning "Young Bear."

Her two daughters are buried with her (the two headstones to the left in the picture.)

We enjoyed the visit to the Indian Cemetery and learned some things.

I rode 56 miles this day, and the temperatures were in the 70s.

I rode home on The Francis Slocum Trail which runs from Somerset, Indiana to near my home, which is north of Marion. A very nice ride today.

Back to Burlington

Merle wanted to ride over to Ugalde's near Bunker Hill for lunch (I objected venomously) as I thought it was someplace we should skip. I read this review online and see I'm not alone:


    Pingback by Ugalde's Family Restaurant, Peru (Bunker Hill), Indiana « All … | Indiana | August 16, 2010 | Reply   

"I tried that restaurant on Valentines Day – 4 years ago – brought my English family there for a SPECIAL dinner. It was special all right. NOT. Salad bar was completely spoiled and disgusting. Had to pay for it even though we pointed out all the spoiled foods to the waitress. Didn’t mind paying the fresh entree we ordered, but threw it up after eating the spoiled salads. No discounts or refunds. I will never eat there again. This is March 23, 2012."

    Comment by Suzanne Taylor | March 23, 2012 | Reply

       From: http://breadedtenderloin.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/ugaldes-family-restaurant-peru-bunker-hill-indiana/
    

Anyway, it turned out not to make any difference for as soon as Larry Burke arrived, he told us they were closed and had moved to Peru.

I suggested we travel to Burlington, Indiana as the Dinner Bell there encourages motorcycle riders to come and eat. So, off we rode.

When we got to Burlington, we found out The Dinner Bell was closed for remodeling so we ate next door at Beck's Pub and Restaurant.

I had the fish (Pollack) sandwich with French fries:

    

I took a bite before I remembered to take a "food porn" picture! We had a great conversation over lunch and then rode home.

Riding today was Merle Combs, John Nave, Jerry Cole, Larry Burke, Billy Niverson, Charles Thomas, and myself...Larry Davis.


The weather was unseasonably cool...64 degrees in the middle (16th) of July.


I rode 101 miles and had a nice time.


Our route:

    

I took some videos with my helmet camera and placed them on my YouTube channel, Mr. Oldandslow. They can be found here:

    https://www.youtube.com/user/MrOldandslow/videos
    

You can click on the "Load More" at the bottom of the page to see videos I've taken back a few years. 

Red Apple

We met at our usual place, Gabriel's, and my daughter Ann brought my wife out there to eat, and to send us off. Merle led us north through Wabash, and then on north to the  junction of St. Rd. 15 and St. Rd. 114, the home of the Red Apple Cafe, where we had lunch.

Getting off our bikes:

At our table:

Larry Burke and I ordered the fish sandwich special:

Leaving the Red Apple:

I laughed out loud a couple of times at lunch, especially when Jerry Cole told me about the flying squirrels in Fairmount. I really enjoyed being out with the guys. I should tell them that more often.

We rode over to North Manchester on St. Rd. 114 and then north on St. Rd. 13 to North Webster and Syracuse where we stopped at McDonald's for coffee and ice cream. After the stop we rode around Lake Wawasee and then south on St. Rd. 105 to St. Rd. 9 and home.

Eight of us road today: Merle Combs, John Nave, Jerry Cole, Larry Miller, Charles Thomas, Larry Burke, Billy Niverson, and myself, Larry Davis.

The weather couldn't have been nicer at 77 degrees, little wind, sunny skies with pretty fluffy clouds ( I was sitting on my bike looking at the clouds thinking what a beautiful day this is!) I rode 152 miles. I left home at 11:00AM and got back home at 5:00PM.

I've been away for a while..

Due to family illness, I've been away for a while. I've only ridden three or four times this year, but I got away for a ride with the gang yesterday. Five of us rode down to Gaston to the Mill Street Inn for lunch. It was hot, 91 degrees, but as long as we were moving it wasn't bad at all. After lunch, Merle lead us over to IN 3 and then north to Eaton. We rode the back roads to Hartford City, then Upland, and home. I road 77 miles total, and enjoyed being back riding with the guys. There were five of us riding today..Merle Combs, Charles Thomas, Larry Burke, Billy Niverson, and myself.

Sorry, no pictures of us. Maybe next rime.

Mill Street Inn: