Day 15 - Bluffton, IN to West Branch State Park, OH

Departed Bluffton at 9:15 and 69°. We took highway 30 across Ohio; really nice because the truck speed limit was 55 and cars was 65. And, it is a mostly smooth divided highway.

The AAA information on our GPS indicated we should stop in Mansfield, OH to see the Richland Carousel Park; we thought it would be a good lunch stop. After all, it is a park. However, the "park" was a building on a street corner that housed the merry-go-round. Didn't look that special, anyway, so we moved on to Kingwood Center, also in Mansfield. This is the estate of Charles King ( http://www.kingwoodcenter.org/our_history.html). It is 47 acres of landscaped gardens, trails, and ponds. Lot's of pretty flowers, but it was probably best early in the Spring because they have one of the country's largest displays of tulips and daffodils. Pictures have been uploaded to SmugMug. We enjoyed our lunch under a shade tree by the parking lot!!!

We were tired of hiway 30, very little to see on the way, so on AAA recommendation, we headed down highway 39 through Amish Country (BTW, Berlin is very crowded with tourists at the "Amish" stores) towards Dover to visit the Warther Carving Museum (http://www.warthers.com/). Everybody should visit this place!! "Mooney" Warther found a pocket knife when he was 5 years old, began to carve, and continued until he was 85. There are amazing displays of locomotives in ivory, ebony, and walnut. You have to see it to believe it. His early works were multiple pliers made from one piece of wood (see pictures on SmugMug). While he carved, his wife collected buttons. Over 73,000 of them! She made elaborate framed displays - again, you have to see it to believe it. He also collected great quantities of native american arrow heads (Don, take note!). I'll upload as many pictures as I think needed to show the collection. The staff was very nice and offered us free camping in their parking lot. However, it was too early to stop, so we moved on to ----

West Branch State Park near Ravenna, OH. One of the nicest State Park camping grounds we've seen. It cost $25, but it's work it. The bird of the evening is the Grey Catbird.

Tomorrow - Pennsylvania

Distance Traveled: 300 miles

Driving Time: 7.2 hours

MPG: 22.7

Camping Cost: $25

Fuel: $49.94 (19.3 gal at $2.49/gal)