Apr 14, 2013 - Elkhart, The RV Capital

Another travel day to our final destination for a while...Elkhart, Indiana. We need to get our apartment set up and deliver the coach to the paint shop. Hannah will fly off to Ireland for three weeks to visit family and Joe & Foxy will hang out here. We will likely be in this area until the end of May.

Sep 30, 2012 - RV Museum Hall of Fame

Went back to the RV Museum Hall of Fame to finish our tour, they have a very nice display of motor homes and campers dating back to the early nineteen hundreds. After lunch we toured the Ruthmere Mansion, it was built in 1908 by the Beardsley family one of Elkhart's founding families and Miles Laboratories. The mansion was built with all the modern convinces of early 1900 with most of the original furnishings still there but what I thought was the most beautiful part was the woodwork. Another evening of no luck at the bingo hall, Mary was...

Sep 29, 2012 - Marys Happy, Garage Sales & Bingo

We started out early enough to get to the RV Museum Hall (www.rvmhhalloffame.org) of fame but after stopping at a couple of stores and a few garage sales we didn't get there until 11:30 so we only seen a small portion of it before we were to hungry to finish. By the time we found a good cafe and hit a few more garage sales it was too late to go back so I guess we'll go back in the morning to finish. Elkhart is a very old looking town with a lot of industry but there are also a lot of vacant buildings and more houses for sale than we've seen...

Sep 28, 2012 - RV & Seed Corn Capital

I knew that Elkhart is the RV industry capital of America but Doug said it is also the center for seed corn. Stopped by the RV Factory Surplus store and picked up a replacement strut for the electrical power access door. Took me at least an hour to replace, it is amazing how tough it is to compress an 80 lb strut but at least I won't be getting banged on the head when the door comes down unexpectedly. Nothing to serious today, while driving around Elkhart two things stand out the first is how green it is here and the second is how many...

Sep 27, 2012 - Toll Booth Country

From Elgin we drove south to Joliet, Il where we picked up I 80 all the way into Elkhart In.. We went through four toll booths three of them for four dollars one for eight dollars, this stretch if interstate has to have been the most semi's I have ever seen on a freeway. Here we go again jumping from one time zone to another, we just crossed into the eastern time zone. I drove the first two hours before we stopped so Mary could drive. During our stop we got a Starbucks coffee to go, by the time we pulled into Elkhart shortly after 1PM I had...

Aug 19, 2012 - The RV Capital of the World

We rolled out of Mill Creek about 8 o'clock. Joe had pretty much made up his mind we'd just drive through to Elkhart, about 340 miles. We needed fuel too so we topped off our diesel in Gaylord. It was relatively easy going with good roads. Traffic was a little more dense by the time we got to Grand Rapids. We did a couple of rest stops for Foxy and took a nice break for lunch. We arrived at Elkhart Campground about 3 o'clock. We didn't particularly feel like cooking so we went to the first place we saw as we drove around, Perkin's...

Aug 13, 2012 - Elkhart IN

It rained off and on most of the day as we traveled from Mackinaw City down the Lower Peninsula of Michigan to Elkhart IN with stops at a Camping World and a farm stand in Houghton Lake MI. We spent the night in MorRyde’s parking lot. Early the next morning a service technician was waiting outside the trailer to back it into a bay and change the suspension system. Fortunately they were finished in the afternoon. Meanwhile we went to Granma’s for breakfast. The restaurant looks like is belongs in the 1950’s but the food is incredibly good...

Jul 18, 2012 - Motorhome hall of fame

We stayed close to the Eagle and visited this new museum, built in 2007. It has a hall with the history of the motorhome/trailer industry including some of the first trailers. The oldest is the 1913 earl travel trailer. It was interesting to see it pulled by a model t ford. There was a ford aa model that was a truck mounted camper on a long ford truck. There were over 50 vintage vehicles from trailers to the first "motorhomes". The units are displayed in a timeline to show how this industry has evolved. There is a hall to showcase the...

Jul 17, 2012 - Shipshewana

We spent the day in the midst of Amish country. The flea market was in progress, it's the midwest's largest. Although it was warm, there was some cloud cover and we were able to patronize several of the hundreds of vendors. Homemade ice cream was being made by a tractor engine and we tried it out. It was creamy and good. We stopped into Yoder meat and cheese store, a local legend. Then we learned about the history of the Hutterites, Amish and Mennonites at Menno-Hof. This is a multi media presentation that is well done and includes info....

Jul 16, 2012 - Newmar factory tour

We drove through farm and Amish country to the newmar plant. The workers were gone as they had finished the day's work early, partly due to the heat. This is a more hands on plant than fleetwood, it was good to see the contrast. Newmar manufactures 3 motorhomes a day, to order. No spec homes. They have a repair and service facility as well, with sewer and water hookups! We did meet a couple yesterday who were at the plant for service. They weren't allowed to stay in the coach so had to vacate it at 5:45 in the morning. That would discourage...

Jul 15, 2012 - Studebaker museum

We drove to south bend today to see the studebaker museum. They started out in 1852 as a wagon manufacturer and many of those old models are on display. The early cars as well as the last car manufactured in south bend, a 1963 Daytona are on display. Studebaker manufactured trucks during the war, and those are shown too. This is a great museum filled with nostalgia including the Lark and the Avanti, some of the last models produced. The company closed the south bend plant in dec 1963 and closed the Canadian operation in 1966. We then took...

Jul 6, 2012 - Day 7

Our coach is sitting out in the direct sunlight, keeping the AC's going full time during the day. Our excursions today took us to the visitor's center and then to the RV Hall of Fame and Museum. After touring the museum, we drove over to Middlebury to the 'Deutsch Kase Haus', a Guggisberg Cheese Factory, to taste various cheeses and also make a purchase. We then had lunch at 'Das Dutchman Essenhaus' in Middlebury, before heading to the Fruit Hill Winery for some tasting and wine purchase and then returning to the coach. On our way back to...