As our miniseries approaches its final chapters, local followers may notice all the remaining locations aren’t that far from our house and barely qualify as “road trip” stops. I debated whether to call this miniseries “2020 Vacation Photos” or something similarly bland. Ultimately I sided with what passes for my “brand” and titled it consistently with previous miniseries rather than kowtowing to strict semantics. The indisputably road-tripping days of this week still outnumber the convenient central-Indiana explorations.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Every year since 1999 my wife Anne and I have taken a trip to a different part of the United States and visited attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home in Indianapolis. From 1999 to 2003 we did so as best friends; from 2004 to the present, as husband and wife. Then came 2020 A.D.

Even in an ordinary average year, sometimes you really need to get away from it all. In a year like this, escape is more important than ever if you can find yourself one — no matter how short it lasts, no matter how limited your boundaries are. Anne and I had two choices: either skip our tradition for 2020 and resign ourselves to a week-long staycation that looks and feels exactly like our typical weekend quarantines; or see how much we could accomplish within my prescribed limitations. We decided to expand on that and check out points of interest in multiple Indiana towns in assorted directions. We’d visited many towns over the years, but not all of them yet.

In addition to our usual personal rules, we had two simple additions in light of All This: don’t get killed, and don’t get others killed…

After breakfast at Doughnuts & Dragons, we headed northwest toward Traders Point Creamery, a local dairy in business since 2003, not far from one of the movie theaters we used to frequent. As described in their own press kit:

Traders Point Creamery is a family-owned artisan creamery and organic, 100% grassfed dairy farm located in Zionsville, Indiana. As the first USDA-certified organic dairy farm in Indiana, we believe in “nourishing the land that nourishes us all.” This means preserving the family farm and continuing our grandparents’ legacy of sensible, sustainable agriculture that uses our natural resources wisely, following time-honored farming techniques and bringing you the best in organic, healthy, delicious foods.

They make their own milks, cheeses, yogurts, ice creams, and more more more, and sell them in their own storefront. Self-guided walking tours are available during select hours. As it so happened, we arrived during select hours. For a few measly bucks we tourists were allowed to walk the grounds with a handy paper map and see whatever wasn’t closed off. More was roped off than we would’ve liked, but quite a few things remained accessible, including but not limited to a selection of genuine farm animals. Granted, we just saw farm animals back in October, but this was a different collection. More cows, for one thing.

To be continued!

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[Link enclosed here to handy checklist for other chapters and for our complete road trip history to date. Follow us on Facebook or via email sign-up for new-entry alerts, or over on Twitter if you want to track my faint signs of life between entries. Thanks for reading!]