Nothing inspires like Indiana

I was sitting on my hammock the other night, reading my book when there was a knock at the door.

I answer the door and see one of our newspaper kids standing there with her younger brother. We go over a few newspaper items first, but I can tell something is eating at them. They have something to ask and are just waiting for the right moment.

Then it arrived.

Kids: Ian, have you ever been to Indiana before?
Ian: Yes
Kids eyes get really big, and the jaws dropped. (I've never seen a jaw drop quite like this.) They stood there for a moment in awe.
Ian: Why?
Kids: One of the Mormons is from there and talks about how great it is.

Now, I have spent a bit of time in Indiana. Nothing that I have seen in my time in the Crossroads could evoke an awe-inspiring description of the place.

This really makes me wonder what he could have said to generate that type of enthusiasm for something you have to pass through on the way to Chicago. So I decided to make a list of mildly interesting facts about Indiana.

Let me know if you find these mildly interesting, so that I can get a clue as to why these kids were so interested in Indiana.

• Fort Wayne hosts the Johnny Appleseed festival every September at Johnny Appleseed Park.
• Apparently, the most successful goldfish farm in history was in Martinsville.
• Ambrose Burnside, the inspiration behind this, was born in Liberty, Indiana.
• Indiana is also known as "Mother of Vice Presidents" because five vice presidents hail from there.
• I guess the fact that the Jacksons are from Gary doesn't hurt the state's legacy down here. If only the people knew what Gary was like.
• Orville Redenbacher is from Indiana and studied at Purdue.
• There is a plant there called the bearberry.
• Lewis and Clark set out from there on their journey westward.
• One of the world's best violinists, Joshua Bell, was born there.
• Parks County is considered the covered bridge capital of the world with 32 covered bridges.
• Former president Benjamin Harrison is known as the only president from Indiana, but he didn't live there until he was 21.
• James Dean, Vivica A. Fox and the Ultimate Warrior are from Indiana
• Indiana is one of the thirteen states that is divided into more than one time zone.
• Socialist Eugene V. Debs is from Terre Haute
• Cole Porter and Axl Rose are from Indiana. Most likely the first time they were ever mentioned in the same sentence.