Hopes of Morel Mushroom Dinner Dashed

March 27-30: 

We spent our last 4 travel/vacation days at Brown County State Park in IN, one of our long-time favorite camping destinations.  Needless to say, this is on the way back to Michigan, where we plan to be in a a couple of days.   On a walk yesterday morning, I found a beautiful little early Morel mushroom - because of that, paired with seeing Morel hunters in several areas of the park the day before, we took a long afternoon walk in a low woody area that seemed ideal for mushrooms.  Yes, for those of you who may be familiar with the habits of Morels, this is NOT the right time of year, but this is not a normal spring, so everything 

seems to be moved up a month or more.  Bottom line, we found no other morels, but had a wonderful walk in a beautiful Indiana woods, already rich with multitudes of spring wildflowers as well as dogwood and redbud trees in bloom.  We had to satisfy ourselves with a dinner which did NOT include the Morels that had made our mouths water in anticipation.....sigh.......   This is a lovely park and campground for just "being" and unwinding, which is just what we are doing before heading  back to MI and responsibilities that await us after 6 weeks away from home.  The weather is magnificent - mid-60's and sunny), with rain threatened for tomorrow, but traveling in the little Silver Spirit is like putting our cottage on wheels and taking it with us as we travel - it always feels warm, welcoming, and "at home", regardless of circumstances.

As I was writing this part of the blog entry, butterflies were flitting all about us in our Brown County campsite - the most unusual one, and one neither of us has ever seen but is apparently native to this area, was the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly. (Murphy seemed as intrigued by it as we were, trying to chase it, but soon giving up as it was always quicker than he was).  

The night before we reached Brown County SP, we stayed about 20 miles southwest of  Nashville, TN, at a place called Montgomery Bell State Park, in Burns, TN. This park was pretty, but not exceptional.  However, our site backed onto a lovely little stream; what is it about hearing water move, or watching fires dance that touches the soul so?     


This day we discovered (unfortunately yet again), how misleading the wonderful device - a GPS - can be.  We were searching for a grocery store in the area of the park where we could pick up a few tidbits (fresh vegetables and meat for our dinner).  Using the "find grocery stores"  function of the car's GPS, we traveled some strange little back-country roads to the closest such store (named - misleadingly - Market and Deli) - our local Gull Road Shell Station would put this "deli" to shame!   I left with a can of corn, glad to have found that, and grateful for the canned/dried/jarred foods we carried with us on this trip.  The corn, mixed with canned chicken, mushroom soup, and some fresh herbs as well as seasonings we had with us, served over egg noodles actually made - while far from gourmet - a satisfying meal.