Unexpected Moments like Rainbows and "Hill Climbs"

We are continuing our path south, and the 80 miles we traveled this day in the motor home took almost two hours. That is covering some slow country roads into central Indiana to our new campsite at Covered Bridges campground. That campground name is the clue to why we have come to Rockville, Indiana. The first evening we stayed close to town and found two covered bridges easily.

It was a rainy search, but that gave us a beautiful full rainbow to enjoy. What an unexpected blessing as we have wandered into another of God's wonders!

It was hard to get a picture, but a faint second rainbow arch was outlining the first. Doubly unexpected!

The last covered bridge of the day was hidden on the Rockville golf course. It took some searching, but we are honing our bridge-finding skills on this first day, as we have many more to find!

But we also found some unexpected fun. When two different people told us about the "Hill Climb" in Newport, Indiana, we decided we had to go see it for ourselves. We were amazed at the size of the crowd when we parked in a huge meadow that turns into festival central once each year. We walked a half mile to find where the classic cars were lined up for their turn at "the hill."

It's hard to get a picture that shows the incline. But this is our best attempt to show one of those old pickups as it races to the top. That is a 140-foot hill with a 12% grade.

This tradition started back in 1909 when Model A's and T's had a hard time getting to the top of that hill at any speed. As engines got better, suddenly it became a race to see who could go from a standing stop at the courthouse to the top of the hill.

The competition has categories based on year of the vehicle and engine types. Lots of rules are in place, but it is generally limited to stock vehicles manufactured in 1942 or earlier.

As they start in the flatter section of town, we could hear the old engines shifting gears and trying to get up speed. The hill climb joke is that the oldest cars are timed with a sun dial instead of a stop watch.

Besides classic cars and pickups, we also saw that there was a division for non-OHV motorcycles as well, and it includes models through 1953. Spectators were lining the course on both sides. We also found part of the crowd was shopping at the long line of vendors that had taken over the rest of the streets in this small town. We read that between 100,000 and 200,000 people come to The Hill Climb Festival every year. It looks like a beautiful weather weekend helped to make it another successful weekend for the Newport Lion's Club fundraiser.

When we left the motor home this morning, we had no idea we would be watching old cars climb a hill that we didn't even know existed. But that's what we love about our wandering life-style, and having the flexibility to take advantage of the unexpected moments that cross our path.