traveling

A nice visit to the Shale Creek Brewing

/ Roadtirementvintage / 28 Comments

Sher and I went on a mission today to see what was up in nearby Franklin, Indiana. We had looked up a couple of brew houses and decided to try out Shale Creek Brewing. It is located in one of Franklin’s oldest building, and offers brews and great food.

Main entrance, downtown Franklin

Main bar

Once we were seated, it was time to decide what brews to get in the flight…

What an inviting list

Catelynn helped us with our flight choices

Here came the flight, really about the best reason to go to a brewery!


The food we picked was very tasty with large portions. The lettuce wedges had lots of toppings, and the breaded fried hamburger was smothered is all kinds of great stuff.

Excellent salad fare

Yes, smothered fried breaded burger

This is the life!

All in all, what a fun time we had. The food was great, the brews were fun to sample and we have found a place we’ll enjoy coming back to. We also bought a growler of Red Headed Squealer, aka Irish Red. Here’s the Shale Creek Brewing website to check out.

Brandywine Creek Winery

/ Roadtirementvintage / 14 Comments

Sher and I visited the Brandywine Creek Winery on our way home from a day of adventure in Greenfield, which is east of Indianapolis. We had seen Brandywine listed, but had never stopped. We are glad we did.

At the tasting bar

Without the sign out front, you’d think that the winery was a private home in Pleasant View, just off of I-74. Walking in the front door reveals a beautiful tasting bar with wine related merchandise displayed. In addition, several hand made jewelry pieces and some kids craft projects are also available.

Out front signage

The wine bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the wine is what’s important. The tastings are done at the wine bar, only $5 for 6 tastes. A wide variety of types of wine are ready for you. We enjoyed the tasting. and since I was driving, our hostess let us share a tasting. (I take sips, but still get a good read of the sample.) We liked what we tried, and purchased three bottles of their sweet wines.

Enjoy wine at a table overlooking the vineyard

The facility has a beautifully constructed porch/veranda out back with tables that overlook the vineyard. Brandywine has over five acres of vineyards in two locations. The first vines were planted in 2014. Check their website for details about their Event Room rental and schedule of weekend live music and Trivia events. We really enjoyed our visit.

This mill opened in 1821

/ Roadtirementvintage / 12 Comments

Red Mills was a functioning grist mill from 1821 until the early 1970’s. Located in Shelby County, Indiana, the mill operated on Sugar Creek north of the little town of Boggstown.

 

 

 

 

For decades the mill had been a magnet to artists who used the mill as the object of countless paintings, both oil and water color. Sher and I had enjoyed lunch at a restaurant in Greenwood, and on the way home decided to take a little drive through the country. The attached photos are the result.

The scale shed received and weighed all of the wagons of grain brought to the mill by the local farmers. Today you can get to Red Mills by exiting on London Road off I-74, (east of Indianapolis) then head south. Soon you will see a brand new bridge on your right. Continue south and about 100 yards later you will make a sharp right hand turn and be at the Red Mills.

Enjoying Harmony Winery wines

/ Roadtirementvintage / 8 Comments

We liked the Indigo wine so much from Harmony Winery that we just had to go back for more.  It has become our new favorite.  It is so refreshing and has a hint of blueberry.

When we had a wine tasting on Thursday, we bought 2 bottles of the Indigo.  We had a wonderful time during our tasting.  Our host was the head winemaker and general manager, Kyle Condra. He was very helpful in selecting our wines to sample.  He even offered suggestions on serving it.  He was also fun to chat with.

The Harmony Winery wines are delicious.  We tried about 5 for our wine tasting.  It was hard to decide which we liked best.  Usually we find one or two we like, but rarely all 5!  We tried Copper Tiger which tastes like you’ve taken a bite of watermelon.

On Sunday as we were leaving the Highway 40 yard sale we decided we should get some more since we now have a new favorite.  This time we met the owner, Josh Adams, another delightful person to talk with.  He told us about some of the plans they are making for the winery and events they are going to have.

Turtle Bay is a fantastic pairing of the natural berry and plum flavors of White Zinfandel with a host of luscious fruits including blackberry, strawberry, passionfruit, and blackcurrant.  We bought a few bottles of this on our return trip on Sunday.

It was a nice ending to our yard sale week.  We were tired and ready to go home and relax.  It was nice taking a long shower and then having a glass of wine.
We are looking forward to returning and tasting some of the other wines.  We also want to attend some of the events they have planned.

Kyle and Josh are super nice and make your visit to the Harmony Winery a most enjoyable way to spend an afternoon in Knightstown. Knightstown is on the Historic Highway US 40 between Indianapolis and Richmond, Indiana.

Local pizza restaurants can be the best

/ Roadtirementvintage / 49 Comments

We had our own meal preparation ingredients in the RV when we were at the Highway 40 yard sale last week. We’d been there since Monday and were enjoying the time in our RV, including the meals we prepared.

However after the rains all day Wednesday and most of Thursday, we were ready for a change in our eating. A search of the web for pizza restaurants near us produced a couple in Knightstown, just a few miles down the road. Jeff’s Pizza looked inviting, and online ordering was quick and easy. Whenever we can we like to patronize local hometown businesses.

Special w/tons of veggies under that thick layer of cheese

The pizzas were very very good! We ordered a veggie special and a meat special. The toppings and cheese portions were most generous. Sher and I both had “leftover” pizza the next day as well. I’d have to say that I heated mine up on day two in the microwave, and it was frankly as good as if not better than the first day.