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| First winning car at about 74 MPH. They are shown in order at the Speedway Museum |
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| A colorful look at about 30 years of winners. The 2010 winner averaged 161 MPH.(pole speed 227 MPH) Indianapolis became a testing ground for many auto innovations like the rear view mirror. |
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| A colorful sculpture at the Indianapolis Museum of Art |
From Cincinnati, it’s only a couple hours to the Indiana capitol. Near Indianapolis (pronounced locally as In-din-AP-lis) we had a wonderful stay with Tom’s cousin Chris and Ike in Carmel (CAR-mel). The first highlight was an evening at The Rathskeller—dinner and music by PolkaBoy.
Yes PolkaBoy. If we told you the place was mobbed with mostly young people (not your normal 70+ polka crowd) you might say "not much going on in Indianapolis, eh?" But actually this is a great band with a strong sound only partially connected with polka, and very popular in the area. We sang along with “Beer Barrel Polka” and “That’s Amore” among many others in a wide-ranging repertoire, all with lots of brass and accordion.
A slow lap. The Indianapolis Speedway was our first Saturday stop and of course we did a lap on the track. OK, it was in a tour bus at about 15 MPH, but we started up at the brick starting line to the call of “Drivers Start Your Engines!” The museum has a great display of every winning car in the order of their wins. After Indy we changed gears to spend a couple hours meandering through the very nice Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Through Illinois, quickly. Chris & Ike’s daughter Sarah, and friend Kyle joined us for breakfast Sunday and saw us off for our continuing journey west. We spent some time in Terre Haute and Indiana State University (strolling on Larry Bird Avenue), then on across Illinois, skirting St Louis and ending up in historic Herman on the Missouri River.
Hermann, Missouri, was settled by Germans from Pennsylvania as a totally German town to preserve traditions and language, and named after the legendary warrior Hermann, said to have saved old Germania. Ruth’s mother Audrey spent some her younger years here. It’s now a town with 75 B&Bs, 20 restaurants, and dozens of wineries. We stayed in a practical B&B, the Harbour Haus Inn, with the most friendly, accommodating host anywhere, Frank.
Yes PolkaBoy. If we told you the place was mobbed with mostly young people (not your normal 70+ polka crowd) you might say "not much going on in Indianapolis, eh?" But actually this is a great band with a strong sound only partially connected with polka, and very popular in the area. We sang along with “Beer Barrel Polka” and “That’s Amore” among many others in a wide-ranging repertoire, all with lots of brass and accordion.
A slow lap. The Indianapolis Speedway was our first Saturday stop and of course we did a lap on the track. OK, it was in a tour bus at about 15 MPH, but we started up at the brick starting line to the call of “Drivers Start Your Engines!” The museum has a great display of every winning car in the order of their wins. After Indy we changed gears to spend a couple hours meandering through the very nice Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Through Illinois, quickly. Chris & Ike’s daughter Sarah, and friend Kyle joined us for breakfast Sunday and saw us off for our continuing journey west. We spent some time in Terre Haute and Indiana State University (strolling on Larry Bird Avenue), then on across Illinois, skirting St Louis and ending up in historic Herman on the Missouri River.
Hermann, Missouri, was settled by Germans from Pennsylvania as a totally German town to preserve traditions and language, and named after the legendary warrior Hermann, said to have saved old Germania. Ruth’s mother Audrey spent some her younger years here. It’s now a town with 75 B&Bs, 20 restaurants, and dozens of wineries. We stayed in a practical B&B, the Harbour Haus Inn, with the most friendly, accommodating host anywhere, Frank.
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| Hermann Past and Present |
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| An historic house in historic Hermann--many have been renovated like this one. Some are B&Bs now. |
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| Town of Hermann on the Missouri River (Ruth's grandfather worked on the railroad, seen at the bottom of the bluff) |
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