The Events of Thursday, September 16, 2010

          We awoke late this morning, when Daddy returned from his morning walk. We made the beds up and then sat down to breakfast. We had devotions together and then, while Mom showered, the rest of us dressed and brushed our teeth. When Mom came back, we took down camp and headed out to start our day.

          We spent the majority of our day in the little town of Madison, Indiana. It is right on the Ohio River border between Indiana and Kentucky. Our first stop was at the Visitor’s Center. We watched a short video on the town and its individuality. Madison used to be a busy trading port for goods up and down the river, but the railroad stole their thunder and the town became depressed. However, Madison focused on developing its historic buildings and now has the largest (over 133 blocks) historic district in Indiana. After the video, we looked around at some antiques from the industrial time period. We purchased tickets to have a tour of the Lanier Mansion, the “jewel” of the town and then walked over to the mansion and roamed the gardens before our tour.

          At the entrance of the large peach colored mansion, we were greeted by our tour guide, Bill Lackner. He welcomed us and then began his tour by bringing us back to the time period in which the Lanier Family occupied the mansion in Madison, Indiana. It was the antebellum time period, or before Civil War times. It was also the time of the industrial boom. Bill opened the hugely tall front door and told us that right at the doorstep, in that time, was a bustling street with horses and buggies and pigs. Directly across the street was a huge factory; this was important, because Mr. Lanier was a banker and he needed to be near his clients. Bill explained to us that there was also a pig slaughterhouse down the street, which meant that herds of pigs were always being hustled down the muddy dirt road.

          Then, Bill shut the door, and started describing the interior of the house. Upon first entering the mansion, through the hugely tall front door, the 14 foot tall ceiling and Greek style of the house were meant to impress any guest or client that might visit his house. Also to intimidate clients and inform them of how rich and reliable he was, Mr. Lanier had the exterior walls of the house built of brick, two feet thick and the interior walls, also of brick, were one foot thick. Because back then, the only sources of light were candles and natural light, the windows were huge and the paint on the walls was covered in varnish, which reflected the natural light. Throughout the first floor we learned that there were originally candle chandeliers, but later on, his son changed them to gasoliers. Gasoliers possessed the look of chandeliers, but were fed by gas to provide light. In one room, there was an extremely rare gas lamp with a long, thick cord connecting to a gasolier. This lamp could be moved about, but because of its gas source that fed an open flame, it was extremely dangerous and therefore very rare. So, we were very lucky to see something as rare as that. The two parlors were very elegantly decorated and contained a harp made in 1790 and an old fashioned piano. There were chairs whose cushions were made of horsehair and were apparently very elegant, durable, and very uncomfortable.

          Every room on the first floor was perfectly symmetrical to again impress visitors. For every window, there was a door across the way even if it meant installing a fake door; there was an artistic piece of pottery next to every chair and so on. There were even built in recessed compartments in the walls around the windows; these were used to store the shutters when they were open. Well, Mr. Lanier certainly impressed Caitlin who was very excited about how everything went together perfectly. We viewed the family room and dining room. The dining room was personally my favorite room. It had a very unusual looking wallpaper of tropical birds and trees, which was made using over thirty different wood blocks in over a hundred colors. The dining room table was only used when very refined guests came to call. All of the objects on the table were of the time period, but only the forks belonged to the Lanier family. There was one piece of glass fixture and none of the people on the tour could guess its use.  Then, Bill explained that it was used to hold and show off leafy celery, an expensive food item in that time.

          At the base of the curving staircase, by standing on the air conditioning vent on the floor, one could look all the way up to the top floor of the mansion. By this time, Bill had learned that we were from California and were on a year trip. So, he started to show us some cool things that he said were not what he usually showed tourists. Upon going upstairs, we toured the second floor. The ceilings are only 12 feet here as guest typically did not go upstairs. We viewed Mr. and Mrs. Lanier’s room, where the prime jewel was the stepping stool up to the bed that also served as Mrs. Lanier’s chamber pot. We saw all of their children’s rooms as they might have been in that time, as there were two girls and two boys living with them in the seven years that the Lanier family stayed in the house.

          We moved up the stairway again and saw the third floor, or I should say the second and a half floor. At the top of the stair, in the wide center hall, the ceiling was only 6 foot 4 inches and my 6 foot 4 and a half inch tall Daddy had to bend a little. We saw 2 bedrooms that were used to sleep the children of the guests. One special thing in these rooms was a frame that showed the original wall from that time. On that particular section, there was a hand print of a child about the age of 5. It made the house feel really real, making us remember that people actually lived in that huge mansion. The ceilings in both of those rooms were even lower, so Daddy walked around with his head bent to one side. The rest of us just felt very tall. Because we were from California, Bill showed us the copula, which was a spiral staircase that allowed access to the roof. The rest of the rooms on the half floor were used for storage of other artifacts from the antebellum time period. We walked down the long spiral staircase, thanked our docent, Bill, took some pictures and then walked out to the RV for lunch.

          After a delicious lunch, we slopped on some sunscreen, visited the Visitor’s Center’s restrooms, and then headed out to take “A Riverfront Walking Front Tour of Madison, Indiana.” We saw some original houses, barns, icehouses, and the Jefferson County Courthouse from the 1800s. We had some fun looking at the different colors and styles of the houses. The people we passed were fairly friendly and the streets were very clear and clean. We looked around some antique shops and Caitlin and Daddy purchased some Cliff notes on some high school level books. We walked to the Broadway Fountain that stood near the center of town. A playful splashing game took place, but soon ended after I (Lindsey), got my entire back soaked. I’m not saying any names … ‘cough, cough’ … Caitlin. But, after the walk back to the RV, I was all dry.

          We hopped into Harvey Aardvark and drove across the bridge, over the Ohio River and into Kentucky. We drove and drove and pretty much drove for a couple hours. During our drive, we read and talked and slept. Well, at least I slept. While I slept, the RV stopped and shopped at Costco. I was awoken with the arrival of a full cart and tales of the delicious samples that I missed out on. But, they did bring Mom and me some candy samples. So, having been filled with a sugary treat, we headed out of the parking lot.

          We wanted to stop by a Starbuck’s or Panera Bread to use their free WiFi and get some work done, but they didn’t have enough WiFi and when they did, we were in complete sunshine and boiling. We couldn’t be satisfied with shade AND WiFi, so we continued on our way. When it came to be about dinner time, we stopped at a rest stop in the shade of a huge truck and started to cook up our dinner of rotisserie chicken, salad, and spaghetti squash. We ate all with relish and for those who finished their meal; there were Monster and Cowboy Cookies that we had purchased at an Amish bakery at the Shipshewana Flea Market. The Monster cookies were oatmeal peanut butter cookies with M&Ms and chocolate chips and extremely delicious. The Cowboy cookies were also oatmeal cookies, but with coconut, nuts, and chocolate chips, and simply scrumptious. Well, we ate our delicious dinner and dessert. After cleaning up, Abby and Daddy worked on the computer while the rest of us read some books. Somewhere during this time, there came a wild knocking on the RV door.

          The knocker explained to us that there was a camper and something happened and the news cameras were going to be there any minute. All of us, but me (Lindsey), rushed out, expecting to see a crash or something. Instead, there were a group of male truck drivers explaining that one man, seated on the ground, had won the Powerball lottery and wanted to give away $100 bills. Mom immediately sensed that something was wrong and hustled the kids back to the RV. However, Daddy got caught up in the rush and excitement of getting free money. The man had three cards and if you picked the correct card, you doubled your money. But it was all a scam. Daddy put up $156 and chose the wrong card. Daddy learned a really important lesson and promised to be much more careful in the future.

          A little while later, we went in to the bathrooms and brushed our teeth and used the facilities. After setting up beds and changing into PJs, all of us kids hit the sack and Mom and Dad headed out of the rest stop to find a Wal-Mart where we could boondocks for the night. So, I drifted off to sleep to the bumping and swaying of the RV and to the sound of my beautiful sister, Caitlin snoring beside me.