Our last day of touring (Friday)........................

Today is our final day of the tour, and we were on the bus again, at 9am this morning.
We drove to Jamesport for a day visiting an Amish settlement.
Our first stop was in the main street to pick up our tour guide, who joined our bus to show us around the area. We visited Amish stores and drove past various farms, business' and the local school.
This area has the largest Old Order Amish settlement west of the Mississippi River. There are more than 150 families living here, who first came to the area in 1953.

The Amish live in modest homes of rural farms, and travel by means of horse-drawn vehicles. Their peaceful lifestyles evolve around a close-knit family, the disciplines of their faith and the farming of their land. They forbid the reliance upon modern technology, and do not have electricity. The young and old work side by side, for a common family goal.  (information from the Jamesport Visitors Guide.)

Cars and buggies share the road in Jamesport, which is an iconic mid-west USA town, that we would see on TV in the western movies.

Our first stop was at the North Missouri Produce Auction, and here we saw these buggies, and found the most amazing potted flowers for sale. We could have bought a lot of these to take home, if they could have been taken on the plane!!

Next stop was this Amish store, with lots of goodies to tempt us.

We continued out drive around the area, with the guidance of this man, and sorry I cannot remember his name.

And guess what, we came across this shop, that just happened to sell quilt fabric!!

and even sold quilts and smaller items, made by the Amish women.

These things on the poles, were blue bird houses.

We had a buffet lunch in Jamesport.

and this was followed by a horse and cart ride by our guide, around the town.

I was intrigued by this sign, and is the first one I have seen that gave the capacity!!

A few photos around the town and district......

The school house.

An Amish cemetery.

It was washing day and a perfect day to get it dry.

Michelle was excited to see this shop named Edith Annies, as her nana's name was Edith Annie.

A quilt in the antique shop.

This did not come home with me!

But I would have loved to bring this home with me!

About 3pm it was time to get back on the bus again, and drive to Chillicothe.

And of course, another fabric shop!! I might say we were all watching our spending, and thinking about our luggage weights by now.

And of course, it goes without saying that we had another trip to Walmart, where someone else had to buy another case!!
Again we met in the breakfast room when we got back to the hotel.
Thankyous and gifts were given to our tour leader, Cindy Brick, and Gary, our bus driver for their patience and putting up with us Aussies. Gary said he has never had a group like us before!!!??

And of course we presented Heather with a gift as well, for getting us all together and her planning of the trip. THANKYOU Heather for organising this AMAZING tour.

I did take a couple of photos, but they are a bit blurry.

Blessings, From Jude