Days 12-13:  Elkhart, IN to Columbus, OH to Beckley, WV.  The story of the last few days has been color, glorious autumn color.  Though fall had departed in the western part of this trip (Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois), since we entered Indiana, we have seen peak autumn foliage.  We've found a few letterboxes along the way, but mostly we have just been marveling in jaw-dropping wonder over the beauty of the leaf color.  New England has nothing on the Midwest when it comes to autumn leaf peeping opportunities.

  

  

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Tree Huggers at Last.  On behalf of misidentified cedars everywhere, thank you, Ohio!  Ohioans writing letterbox clues actually knew a cedar when they see'd her.  It's still a mystery that in a state with major cities named after the tree (Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Cedar Bluff), Iowa letterboxers can't identify this common tree.

That's a Doozy!  In Auburn, Indiana, yesterday we found a letterbox outside the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum and learned that the American slang word doozy, meaning something excellent originated with this luxury automobile of the 1920s and 30s, which was nicknamed the Duesy.

  

DAILY STATS (2 day totals)

• Started in Elkhart, IN
• Ended in:  Beckley, WV
• Miles driven: 560          (Trip total:  2,670)
• States: 3 (IN, OH, WV )     (Trip total:  12)
• Letterboxes found:  18           (Trip total:  83) 
• Weather: Partly cloudy, 49° to 67°
• Gas:  $3.299 (Elkhart, IN)
• RVs for sale in Elkhart:  11,357
• Ohio windmills next to US-33:  496
• Cornstalks in Indiana:  3,893,207
• Brick pavers in Nelsonville, OH:  124,954
• Oohs:  1,342
• Ahs:  951

Cedar Lakes, OH - Good use of funds?

Best photo of West Virginia capitol captured while passing by at 65 mph