Joann Lays an Easter Egg

By Joann M. Ringelstetter

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On Saturday, April 19, 2014, the day before Easter Sunday, Ruth and I left home around 4:30 a.m. on a 9-day photography trip to the beautiful state of Kentucky. This means that we had both gotten out of bed at 2:00 a.m. in order to do last minute packing and food preparation, and for me to finish loading the car, then drive to Ruth’s where we would add her clothes, tons of research materials, and the food she had prepared. As we added her stuff, we had to reorganize the large cargo area, which had to be strategically packed to fit everything in for nine days on the road.

Entrance to Traveler’s Rest, Lincoln County, Kentucky

As I began to write this blog post, Ruth and I discussed the insanity of rising that early to get on the road. We were asking ourselves, “What were we thinking?!” But as we reviewed the photos from that day, we realized that we were on a mission to get to Moonshine, in southern Illinois, locally described as "a wide spot in the road" with a population of 2. For years, the only building in town was an old general store that was built around 1912 (if you don’t count the outhouse and storage sheds, that is). The Moonshine Store is famous for its Moonburger and other grilled sandwiches and the grill is shut off promptly at 12:30. After enjoying a delicious meal there, we headed towards Indiana.

Outhouse at Moonshine Store, Clark County, Illinois

It was 6:30 p.m. by the time we had photographed our way to the Indiana border. Well, actually, it was 7:30 p.m. because, at that point, we left the Central Time Zone and entered the Eastern Time Zone. But we forgot about the time change at first, which would cause an even later arrival at our motel than we were already afraid to admit.

Our first stop in Indiana was the city of Vincennes, which hugs the Wabash River running between the two states. It’s the oldest city in Indiana and is rich in architecture. When we pass through cities like this, we always look for old ghosted advertising signs, which are often on the sides of brick buildings. In this case, we located a very large sign for Holsum Bread, with a Coca Cola sign superimposed on it.

Coca Cola and Holsum Bread Sign, Vincennes, Indiana

We left Vincennes around 9:00 p.m. and still had quite a ways to drive before getting to the motel in Mitchell, Indiana, where we had made a reservation. It was a small mom and pop motel with outside doors, which is our preference. And it was only a few minutes from Spring Mill State Park, which would be our starting point the next day at dawn. On the way, we talked with excitement about all the things we planned to photograph at the park. One of the subjects was the restored pioneer settlement there.

Munson House-Leather Shop, Spring Mill State Park, Mitchell, Indiana

Another was the Hamer Cemetery, a pioneer cemetery located within the park. The land for this cemetery was set aside in 1832 by Colonel Hugh Hamer and his brother, Thomas, who were the owners of the village and its grist mill. According to the park service, the cemetery began out of immediate need when a traveler died in the night near this location. Hugh Hamer instructed his carpenters to build a coffin and bury the man in the woods. He later deeded the area including the grave to serve as a cemetery.

Hamer Cemetery, Spring Mill State Park, Mitchell, Indiana

The Hamer Grist Mill is one of the largest mills in southern Indiana. It operated from 1817 until 1892. During that time, local farmers brought their corn to the mill for grinding. In exchange for this service, the Hamer brothers kept a portion of the corn for use in their distillery, which produced Old Hamer Whiskey.

Hamer Grist Mill, Spring Mill State Park, Mitchell, Indiana

We usually let the motel owners know that we often arrive late, but we decided we’d better make another courtesy call to inform them that it would be REALLY late this time. It was around 10:30 p.m. when we checked in, so we unloaded everything from the car, had a quick bite to eat, and fell into bed knowing that we would still be tired when the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m.

That night, a spring storm passed through the area and it rained heavily for a while. When we got up on Easter morning, we were happy to see that the storm had moved on and we would be able to photograph at first light in Spring Mill State Park. We planned to start at Spring Mill Inn, which was built in 1939. That year, the cost of the most expensive room, which included three meals, was $7.50 a day and admission to the park was 10 cents per person.

Spring Mill Inn, Spring Mill State Park, Mitchell, Indiana

We got ourselves ready for the day and then I went out to the car to start loading my camera equipment and all the other stuff we had dragged into the room. As I unlocked the doors, I realized that when we pulled up to our motel room and unloaded the car after such a long and tiring day, I had left the car windows open. Talk about a sinking feeling, knowing how long it had rained during the night. I opened the driver’s door and looked at the drenched seats and wet floor. And the research materials that Ruth had left on her seat were a sopping mess.

Rainy Morning in Circleville, Ohio

Luckily, nothing else got ruined because we had taken most of our possessions into the room with us. We grabbed some towels from the motel and started sopping up the water. Luckily, my car has leather seats, so they could be dried off to a certain extent. We always try to be at our first location at first light in order to take advantage of the beautiful dawn light before the sun comes up, so we knew we had to hurry with this cleanup effort. After drying things off as much as we could without wasting too much time, we quickly transferred everything back into the car and, after laying the motel room key on the desk, I slammed the door shut and we were off.

Twin Pines Motel, Belmont County, Ohio

But WAIT! Where was my tripod? Oh, no! In my hurry to hit the road and be in the park by first light, I had accidentally left my tripod leaning in the corner of the motel room. What to do? We could go to the park without it and come back in a couple of hours to retrieve it, but it’s an expensive piece of equipment. And it’s necessary in order to take pictures before the sun is up. After some deliberation, I got up the courage to ring the bell at the motel office, knowing that I would be waking up the poor owner in the pre-dawn of Easter morning. Shameful, wouldn’t you say?

The owner was a lovely woman, who responded to the bell in her pajamas with her eyes half closed. She let me back into the room while I thanked her and profusely apologized for my absent-mindedness. As the title says, I laid an egg on that Easter weekend in 2014.

Twin Pines Motel, Belmont County, Ohio

Today is Easter Sunday, but it’s also April Fools Day. So, what do you think? Is any of this true?

I’d like to tell you that I made it all up, but that would be a lie. I did make up the part about it raining all night and the car getting flooded, so I may have fooled you on that. But, unfortunately, the part about our 21-hour day is true. The part about leaving the windows open all night is true (it just happened on a different trip). The part about slamming the motel room door with the key left inside and then realizing that my tripod was still in there is true. And, worst of all, the part about dragging the motel owner out of bed at 6:00 a.m. on Easter morning to open the motel room door in her pajamas is also true.

In case you’re wondering, we did make it to the park in time to capture this dawn view of the restored flume, which carries the water from Hamer's cave to the mill.

Flume at Spring Mill State Park, Mitchell, Indiana

Happy Easter, everybody, and Happy Shunpiking!
Joann

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