Buggyland will never be Buggyland again. The New Order Amish bishop has lifted the ban on bicycles and a wave of motion has washed over us all.
For a hundred years, both the Old Order Amish, the more conservative sect, and the New Order Amish, the more liberal, shunned cars and trucks, sticking solely to their horses and buggies. The Amish drove two-seater and four-seater buggies, one horse or two. They also drove carts with plexiglass enclosures during the bitterly cold winter months. Often, they rode bareback down the road.
Many of the Amish horses were retired harness racing Standardbreds with sleek musculature. They rounded curves with speed and finesse. The horses came to Buggyland with names like Electrify, Speed Demon, and Devil in the Details, soon to take on more Amish horse names like Toby, Stormy, or Harley, adapting to the slower pace of life around here.
The Buggyland Amish also have small tractors and riding lawnmowers. They are not against technology. They are just against technology that will strain family bonds. So, they take the rubber off the wheels of these vehicles and drive on the rims. That way their teenage sons can’t skip chores and drive their tractors to town to hang out with their friends.
And as nostalgic as we might find buggies, you do have to feed and care for the horses, take the time to hitch up your rig, and often take your life in your hands at night when you hope that cars will see your lights and your slow-moving vehicle sign. Lights? Lights, you ask? How do lights work without an electrical system? The Amish often place a solar panel on the roof of the buggy, running a wire to a battery, providing power to red flashing lights.
“In Indiana, they can just hop on their bikes and zip down the road,” my Amish neighbors have complained over and over again through the years. “And all the roads are black-topped there. Here, we have to just ride in our buggies and choke down the dust on the gravel roads.”
In the Amish world, Indiana is the equivalent of California. Shipshewanna might as well be Berkeley, a progressive place where the rules are looser and the living is easier. On a drive through Elkhart County, Indiana, you might see Amish with gas grills and boats parked in the yard. Men might work in a factory instead of on a farm and wear running shoes instead of work boots. And, of course, they all ride bikes.
So, the New Order moved themselves a little closer to Indiana by allowing bicycles. And the Old Order was left to try to enforce the old rules. A couple of years ago, I watched those New Order bicycles begin to roll down the road, baskets and carriers hitched to the back, holding everything from groceries to babies. The Old Order bounced along in their buggies. About six months later, the bikes picked up speed. Wow, look at them pedaling now! They’re moving. Then I realized they weren’t pedaling. They were now riding e-bikes!
