When I was growing up in central Pennsylvania, there were Amish settlements nearby, so you never had to travel far for some Lebanon bologna (Pennsylvania Dutch-style beef sausage) or a jar of “chow-chow” corn relish. But I never saw those technology-averse folks riding bicycles until I took a recent train-and-bike trip to the Amish country of northern Indiana.
I pedaled to Chicago’s Millennium Station early one Saturday morning and rolled my bike onto the South Shore platform, where a conductor cheerfully showed me to the two bike cars. Half of the seats had been removed to make room for the bike racks, with space for a total of 40 bicycles.
Soon I crossed paths with two teenage girls riding cruisers and wearing long, colorful dresses and bonnets. They didn’t return my greeting.
Saturday evening I attended a free wine tasting (while some Amish drink occasionally, the guy who served me was an “English” Vietnam vet). I also indulged in a “thresher’s dinner,” the traditional feast served to workers after a hard day of literally separating wheat from chaff. The massive spread included fresh-baked bread, apple butter, pickles, sweet-and-sour cabbage, ham and bean soup, homemade noodles with beef, green beans, mashed potatoes, sage dressing, country ham, “broasted” (pressure-fried) chicken, sassafras iced tea, and the archetypal Amish dessert, a gooey slice of molasses-based “shoofly pie.” I was soon pleasantly stuffed.
I asked if he felt that the Nappanee area was a safe place to ride a bike. “Yeah, this is a pretty good place,” he replied. “Most of the drivers around here are used to bikes, although some of them get a little bit speedy sometimes.”
