Roaming Northern Indiana

What's to do in Elkhart, Indiana, you say! Even with all our years in this state, we found last week that there are many entertaining sites we've yet to see. Our main reason for coming was repairs for the motorhome, but that fortunately turned out to be unnecessary. Lucky for us, though, the nice folks at the Coach Care repair facility offered to let us use their nicely appointed parking spot for a few days. Well we couldn't turn that down. We decided to stick around and explore.

First on our list to investigate was the RV Hall of Fame. Sounds a little cheesey, huh? Not at all. We had a very interesting afternoon. The museum leads you through the industry's history with actual retired campers, trailers and motorhomes. It's a show-and-tell with lots of fun examples. The parade starts with the oldest travel trailer in the world pulled by a Model T (pictured in the first photo above). And, yes, the blue and black paint is authentic. That's the year before Henry Ford decided to offer only black. There were fabulous examples of ingenuity and craftsmanship in these preserved RV creations. But here are just a few of our favorites.

The next, very futuristic looking, invention is the 1937 Hunt Housecar. Built by Hollywood movie producer, Roy Hunt, this unit was named "The Star."

And in 1931 Paramount Studios enticed Mae West away from Vaudeville to make movies using this housecar equipped with a hot plate stove, an icebox and a small table for having her tea. What a gig!

One of Jerry's picks was this tiny little 1950s travel trailer that was almost the exact replica of the one his parents used for weekend getaways for many years. Does that bring back any memories for any of you??? It was a blast walking through this chapter in history.

Since, after all, Elkhart is the RV builders capitol of th world, we had to take a day to scour the RV surplus and salvage stores in the area. There's everything imaginable to be found, doors and drawers, blinds and bolts. We were able to locate a handle for our tv antenna and the rubber gromates for the grates on our stove. What an experience to roam through those places.

From the buggys of yesterday's RVland we ventured a few miles east to share a day or two listening to the comforting cloppity-clop of the horse-drawn black buggys of today. A visit to this area of the country wouldn't be complete without passing through Shipshewana's Amish byways. As we discussed the lifestyle of the Amish and Mennonite people, we realized we had lots of unanswered questions. Guess what? There is a well-presented museum called the Menne Hof in Shipshewana that did a fabulous job of answering those questions. Of course, we added a few calories at one of the local bakeries at an Amish home along the highway as well. The yummy cinnamon caramel donuts were melt-in-your-mouth. And on our way over we stopped in Middlebury, a quaint, tiny town, to check out the Hoosier Meat Market. It's a small building that's at least 100 years old, still making their own sausages, etc. From the conversations, it was obviously a local favorite. Jerry discovered that he loves their pfefferwurst. Made his trip complete!

Enjoying Samples of Irish and German

Our travels over the past week have led us from Indianapolis east to Cleveland, Ohio, for the Irish Festival. We spent three days last weekend with good friends, Mike and Suzanne Flynn, smilin' and singin'. We all soaked up the haunting ballads, gorgeous tenors, raucous rebel songs, red hair, sexy kilts, drums and pipes, and beautiful dancing children. And, of course, the Guinness and Harp were flowing. Just an overwhelming good time!!!

Since we had our home on wheels, we could park right on the festival grounds at the Berea County Fairgrounds. No fighting for parking spaces or using the crowded restrooms. There was so much fantastic entertainment, we all had a difficult time choosing our favorites. We always feel partial to the bagpipes, and the Westside Irish American Club was really super! But on the last day we found a new group of three energetic young men, The Kreelers, who ended our festival event by bringing everyone to their feet, clapping and stomping and singing along to their songs. It's a fun way to spend a few days, even if you are not of Irish descent, or if you are IRB (Irish By Marriage), like I am.
After the days in Cleveland we took to the road again, going west for about 250 miles to Elkhart, Indiana. This area is the home of many RV manufacturers. But the distinctive aspect is the abundance of signs of the German heritage, many good restaurants and bakeries, the skilled Amish woodworkers and farmers, etc. We are busy sampling and exploring. I'll share more later.....

Celebrating Freedom and Friends

Hope you all had a happy Independence Day! In the past two weeks we've had some exceptional times visiting friends. First we traveled about 250 miles north of Indianapolis to meet my old friend, Karen, at her daughter's in Fenton, Michigan. It was nice to have some time to share with Karen and to see the local area with much hospitable input from her family. Here's Karen with her grandaughter, Ellen, building-a-bear at the balloon festival in Howell, Michigan, a picturesque town about 50 miles northwest of Detroit. The little towns in this area, north of Detroit and south of Flint, would probably not have been on our normal path, but for this invitation. We were glad to have the chance to explore a part of Holly, Howell, Fenton and Hartland, and mostly, to do it with special people.

We were on our way back to Indianapolis from the trip to Michigan when we stopped in Marion, Indiana, to visit some other friends. Our 4th of July was a slice of a joyful all-American experience. Mike and Suzanne took us downtown to the street fair. We shot photos as their children, Lauren and Sean, took rides on the horses and jumped in the huge blowup tiger. Then we all decided not to wait in line to ride the fire truck, shopped for corn on the cob at the farmers' market, ate yummy fried catfish and just watched people. As dusk drew near we pulled out our folding chairs, found a good spot in the parking lot to listen to the local symphony play patriotic music and watched the spectacular fire works.

It don't get much better than that!