Motorhome Day 8 - Berlin, Ohio

Berlin, Ohio is a beautiful place.  It is a couple of hours drive south of Cleveland, and is in the midst of rolling hills and fertile farm land.  Berlin has a population of 6,000, (and Brian has chatted individually to each one of them). It is the heart of the Amish community in Ohio.

The rolling hills surrounding Berlin

Beautiful views in every direction

Everywhere you look there are Amish people in their traditional clothing - the men in jeans with braces, check shirts and straw hats or with the more traditional long black coats and black hats.  All the men wear Abraham Lincoln beards of various lengths.  The women are dressed in very plain long dresses, and wear bonnets.  Photographs of the people are strongly discouraged.

The Amish people do not use electricity, and all their homes are powered by other means. Their mode of transport is by bicycle or horse drawn carriages, which run in small lanes on the shoulder of the roads, which they share with cars and trucks. We even saw a carriage today with a safe'n sound car seat strapped in the back. Apart from the clothing and the transport, the town of Berlin operates as any other small town.  The major focus is on tourism, with a staggering six million visitors a year to the region.

Shopping is great - lots of interesting market style stores

Berlin's Main Street

Quaint shops are the order of the day

A 1hp Amish muscle car

Apple Pie in the Diner for afternoon tea

We spent the entire day wandering around the town, looking at the shops which are full of craft works made by the locals.  There are dozens of shops selling all manner of goods.  Quilts are particularly prevalent. We had a great apple pie for afternoon tea before heading back to the RV park for a quiet evening around the campfire and a home cooked meal.

Grilled Chicken, Cabbage & Bacon & Roast Spuds - Yum Yum 

The campfire is a great way to end the day

We visited a "flea market" and were amazed at the quality and cheapness of the goods on offer. Everyone did some shopping, and Rod ordered some magnetic vehicle signs for the camper trailer hire business getting them for a fraction of the price in Australia.  We are picking them up on Friday morning before we leave town.

The other development today concerns the RV.  Persistence and constant complaining has paid off.  El Monte have now conceded to replace the RV we currently have, saying they would rather give us a new one than spend money repairing the one we have now, so we have arranged to pick up the new one in Denver on Monday. 

So we now have a focus for the next few days - we have four days to drive to Denver. This fits in well with our plans revised because of the Mississippi floods.  We will take off on Friday morning heading for St Louis, and the plan is to head west into the Rocky Mountains and on to Denver over the weekend.

Sounds like a cunning plan.