The Little Green Truck's Big Adventure

[85_Ranger4x4]

Just got back from the TRS 20th Anniversary Roundup in Ohio, here are some pics of the trip itself. I think it was something like 800 miles or 13-14 hours each way and pretty much across four states.

All packed and ready to go Wednesday night after work:









First night was in Albia Iowa.



Nicely reassuring...



Hit McDonald's in Osceola for breakfast



Found a sister ship, he must have been running late, he was running faster than I cared to.



First time my truck has been to a Target since I have had it. Much needed break to get out and stretch.



Neat bridge across the Mississippi River.







Stopped at a neat Irish Pub in Peoria for lunch.



Almost to Indiana...



Boom, second state down.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Stopped at Mr Happy Burger in Logansport. Tenderloin is not like what we are used to in Iowa (think school lunch) but my FIL's fish was awesome as was my wife's chicken. Very neat little place.



It has a little train running around inside:



Super 8 in Huntington Indiana for night #2.



Neat sunrise brings in day #3 as I am packing at the hotel:



And we are in Ohio!



The architecture is very neat out here. This is in Van Wert, wife wanted a bagel and I was happy to walk around a little and take some pictures.





This is actually a library.



Went to my first Big Boy ever in Tiffin. Gotta admit although it never crossed my mind before tarter sauce on a burger ain't bad.



And from there it is all stuff from the big event, pics to be found here. Videos will be added as I get them done.

Post your Anniversary Trail Ride photos and videos here

Next time come whether you have a truck to drive or not. It's a great time, and you'll almost certainly be able to ride shotgun in a truck like my son and I did.

www.therangerstation.com

And on one of those top tourist destination things I found Lanterman's Mill in Youngston Ohio. Only 20 miles from the roundup so we had better hit that. 20miles converted into about an hour because it seems every other bridge between where I was and where I wanted to go was out.



They had a neat covered bridge there too. Ours (in Madison County) are fully enclosed, this one was kinda neat in that you could still see out of it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

This is where they bag the flour now, the steel pipe to the right is the main driveshaft that runs from the water wheel on the first level up four floors and powers EVERYTHING



An older set of drive gears on display, now it has mostly steel gears for everything.



Top floor, where they would clean wheat. That shaft is turning but everything is in neutral.







Old wooden cornsheller at left, I think the right thing is some kind of sieve/cleaner.



The construction of the thing is just plain cool.



Dip and pour elevator to get grain upstairs. Combines still use something similar but with rubber paddles.



The big stones that actually grind the grain are in there:



They bag it here, we got a 2# bag of buckwheat, my wife loves to bake and I am excited to see what she makes with it.





I know we had a mill in my hometown by the river, I bet it was a pre-Evans mill because there is no stone around it to buildup much of anything like this one. Mud bank, mud bottom rivers around home.













The big shaft at left is the one that runs all the way upstairs.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The wheel running the main shaft. You can hear it reverberating throughout the building as you work your way down to it. If you click on the next three they are videos.









I thought the clamps holding the wooden parts together at the hub was neat.



My house is probably about 150 years old too... (now anyway, not as old as the mill but the mill was redone in the 80's)









Anyway, it costs a buck to go thru and I found it very interesting.

From there it was Thanos Family Resturant which was really good (I had a Greek burger which was a new one for me) Must be a different Thanos than the guy in the movies, very family friendly place.

Now bring me that horizon...



The churches out there were unreal.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

First time at a Bob Evan's for supper in Van Wert.



Stopped at a Rodeway Inn in Huntington Indiana for our last night on the road.



I couldn't resist...



Neat sunrise as we checked out



Pretty much sums up the three stages of Illinois highways.



Landed on the south end of Peoria for lunch, I think it was kind of a college area. Amidst all these boring clean late model gray cars sits my big green muddy steed.



Good brisket and tater salad. It wasn't smoked but it was roasted so it still had some of the kinda burnt bits which I like. Seasoned very well too, did not need sauce.



Got buzzed by a C-130 on the way out of Peoria.







Unreal sunset the last night. It got better, I had the gopro running to do a timelapse... I haven't gotten to putting it together yet.



Supper at the White Buffalo in Albia.



And then we made it home at about 9:30.

 

[Curious Hound]

That's cool. Thanks for sharing. I've been through a couple smaller Mills here in the Carolinas. I always like to get a bag of fresh yellow corn grits. That mill seems bigger and they've done a great job of preserving it and documenting it for education.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

The location of that mill is a good place to know for when the apocalypse happens..

Cool pics man!

 

[Ranger850]

great pics, thanks for that. I've been following the whole thing between you and Jim on IG.

 

[Josh B]

Awesome trip Mr 85 !! That mill was very interesting. They were more prominent in the hilly east, but most them washed away by time. When I did commercial work in Nashville there were a number of historic renovations I got to participate in, mostly along the river in downtown, where the warehouses were built and the boats could get to. They did some awesome carpentry in those days, and with historic places have to be restored as close to the original as can be done. I really enjoyed working on those
Why didn't yall get a 50# bag???

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Awesome trip Mr 85 !! That mill was very interesting. They were more prominent in the hilly east, but most them washed away by time. When I did commercial work in Nashville there were a number of historic renovations I got to participate in, mostly along the river in downtown, where the warehouses were built and the boats could get to. They did some awesome carpentry in those days, and with historic places have to be restored as close to the original as can be done. I really enjoyed working on those
Why didn't yall get a 50# bag???

I know around here they wouldn't have near as ideal conditions to set up a mill like this one.

They only had little bags... and I didn't have anywhere in the truck to put a fifty pounder.

 

[Josh B]

Are you in the Madison County where they made the Bridges movie?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Are you in the Madison County where they made the Bridges movie?

I am in Montgomery County, a couple counties west and south of Madison (which is actually where John Wayne was born too) We were there for Bridges of Madison County days last fall, it was pretty neat. They even had the truck there from the movie.

 

[Ranger850]

I am in Montgomery County, a couple counties west and south of Madison

Isn't that where the couple from BettleJuice ran off a covered bridge?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Isn't that where the couple from BettleJuice ran off a covered bridge?

Nope

East Corinth

The quaint little town in Vermont where Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice" was filmed.

www.atlasobscura.com

 

[Ranger850]

well played, sir, well played.