OK, fun gravel roads are hard to find north of Indy in the flatlands, but these have been a favorite short drive for me. This uses Scotland Road (gravel), Pumkinvine Road (gravel), and Elizaville Road (fast swoopy pavement). Attached to this post is the Google Earth KMZ file, which also has an additional FUN section.
Start at Kirklin Indiana (google map here), which is basically at the intersection of Indiana 38 and US 421 (U.S. 421 goes northwesterly from the Pyramids in the north-west corner of Indy).
Go west on IN-38 until it bears right, crossing a creek (here) - GO LEFT onto Scotland Road (onto gravel)
Follow Scotland until it T's - go LEFT
(this is where I added a whole new section in the Google Earth KMZ file, not listed here)...
Take the first LEFT (CR E 950)
Take the first RIGHT (CR N 300 E)
Take the T LEFT onto CR E 850 N
Take the first RIGHT onto N 350 E
Take the first LEFT (onto E750 N)
The road will soon bear left (for a cemetery); take the RIGHT at the cemetery - it will immediately go right then 90 left and you'll be on E 750 N
Take the SECOND RIGHT (N 500 E) --OR-- continue past N 500 E, continue past N 550 E, the road will jog, then will do a 90 RIGHT onto N 640 E (HERE is the general area)
T RIGHT onto CR E 675 N (or CR 725N if you took the second option above)
Follow this road as it bears SOUTH, and crosses over SR 47
Bear RIGHT onto Elizaville Road, and follow it as it twists and turns into Lebanon, Indiana
Beware, it makes a turn HERE and HERE
"flat white", "short black", "mocca" - what the heck is all this?
In Sydney, the inhabitants are crazed about their coffee, and to prove it I only saw one Starbucks in the entire city during my 3 week stay (I think it's there just for the Americans). Each cup is brewed as you watch and made to order. I never ever saw a coffee pot, nor was I ever given a cup that was older than 30 seconds. They name their drinks a bit differently than I was used to to, so here's a translation:
Flat White = Simple black coffee with a touch of milk; sort of a latte without the foam, served in a cappuccino size cup. Kind of like a cafe au lait (a "flat black" nixes the milk but I hardly ever saw this featured)
Short Black = single-shot espresso
Mocca = Mocha (Hot Chocolate with an espresso shot)
Takeaway = To Go
While in Oz I took lots of scenery pictures (no shots of coffee lounges tho) - check out the photo gallery HERE.
Who would have thought this existed in the flatlands of Indiana?
Between the two small towns of Wabash (the first electrically lit city) and Peru (the Circus City) is an interesting rural road that follows the side of a ridge that is about a mile or so away from a river (old river bank, maybe?) The road runs generally east and west, with flat farmland extending north to the river, and a curiously large ridge on the south side of the road (well, large for Indiana). Somethimes the road dives between hills, but most of the time it's hugging the side of the ridge. Generally gentle in nature, there are few curves that surprise you if driving briskly :-)
This is old Indian country, near the Francis Slocum Trail, so I would not be surprised if this was an old trading road. US 24 is somewhat nearby - a few miles away on the other side of the river.
To get to the starting point, from downtown Wabash go south on Indiana 13/15, cross over the river, then turn right (west) just at the bridge (before going uphill) - onto Columbus St. Follow Columbus St, then go left on Vernon St for one block, turning right onto Pike - OK, that's the road to follow... Below is a googlemap for the starting few miles of the drive...
From: Pike St, Wabash IN to: West Elliott Rd, Wabash, IN
Follow Pike; eventually it will make a curve to the left (in the cleft of some hills) and turns into a straight - you will need to do a bear right off of the straight road to follow W. Elliott Rd. Follow W. Elliott Rd, making sure to go right at the Y to stay on W Elliott Rd (the Y intersects with S 775 W). Here's a googlemap of that section:
from: west elliott rd, wabash, in to: cr-100 s, peru, in
...or here's the satellite view where you can see the fields on one side and the tree-covered hills on the other...
Continue on the same road, until you come up to a stop sign at the intersection with Indiana 124 - here's the googlemap:
from: cr-100 s, peru, in to: e in-124, Peru, IN 46970
THE END
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