Nappanee, Indiana

Our motorhome was made in Nappanee, Indiana, at the Newmar plant in 2004.  Dean made appointments to get a leaky window worked on at this plant.  They have a RV parking area with full hookups and an overflow area with just electric, all for free.  We stayed in the full hookup area for 9 days.  There were some beautiful rigs that were parked in the RV lot, waiting for service.  We felt like the grandparents of all these newer rigs.  

The Newmar plant  is located next to Amish Acres, an old farm converted to museum, theater, shops, all about the Amish.  I went over on the first day and signed us up for the thresher lunch and the matinee play 'Plain and Fancy". The food was very good and the play very entertaining.

On Sunday we drove to the RV Hall of fame in Elkhart.  It was interesting.  There were historic old recreational vehicles which we enjoyed poking around in.

After the RV Hall of Fame we stopped at Linton's Gardens which is a large nursery plus walking areas and shops.

We never tired of seeing the Amish in there horse drawn carriages.  Also, many were on bicycles.

In the area was a Quilt Gardens driving tour.  The quilt gardens were beautifully landscaped gardens with colorful flowers.  This one was in Nappannee.

On Memorial Day we went to the parade in Nappannee.  The parade consisted of veterans, fire engines, one band, motorcycles, and lots of locals.

On Tuesday,  we had to get up early for our 6 am appointment.  We loaded up Chica and took off for Shipshewana and the biggest flea market in the state.  It reminded us of a nicer, cleaner Quartzsite.  We had lunch at Goshen, which was our least favorite town since there was a lot of traffic and road construction.  When we got back we were told that the rig needed one more day so the next morning we were up very early again for a 6 am pickup.  We walked around the town, went for breakfast, shopped and then came back to the plant and waited for the rig to be finished, which it was that afternoon. 

On Thursday we took a tour of the plant and then I went back to Amish Acres for the farm tour.  I learned a lot about the Amish during this tour.  We rode around on a wagon and then did a tour of the house and outside cooking areas.

This old Tom turkey wanted to join the tour.

On Friday, we took the rig of to have a new cabinet installed in the dining area.  I Love my new cabinet.

Since I broke the handle to our washer/dryer,  we drove to Elkhart to pick up a replacement.  We were so fortunate that Splendide had a distribution center close.

We returned to the Newmar free rv park and stayed until Sunday when we drove to Shipshewana to have new coils installed on the refrigerator.

Then we said goodbye to Indiana, drove into Michigan, stayed one night at fairgrounds in Charlotte, MI.  and drove into Ontario, Canada on our way to Niagara Falls.  Loved the Amish area of northern Indiana with the beautiful farms and horses.

Springfield, Illinois

We drove to Springfield on May 20, and stayed at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.  This is a great place to park - full hookups, access to all the Lincoln sites, great place to walk - all for $20 per night.  The grounds are very pretty and not much going on right now.

We only had one drawback at this campground - on Saturday night there was a concert and our campground is next to the performance arena.  Pretty noisy until around midnight.  Reminded me of our stay in Rocky Point.

During our time in Springfield we saw a lot of historic sites relating to Lincoln.  The first day we walked to Oak Lawn cementary and saw Lincoln's tomb.

This was an easy walk from the campground and the tomb is very impressive.

Day two, we drove to downtown, which was just a short distance from the fairgrounds.  First we toured the Lincoln Museum which Dean and I both enjoyed.  It was very nicely done showcasing different periods of Lincoln's life.  

You can see from the above picture, to the left, a log cabin and to the right, a replica of the White House.

I thought I would have my picture taken with the Lincoln family.

Since this was Saturday, there were two events going on - farmers market and art show.  We wandered through the busy streets and over to Lincoln's neighborhood.  This is a street devoid of car traffic, set up like when Lincoln lived there.  Below is his house.  I wanted to tour the house but I would have had to wait over an hour.  Oh well!

That afternoon, back at the fairgrounds, I walked over to two shows that we're going on at the fairgrounds.  One was a horse show with some very young girls handling some very big beautiful horses.

Next, was a dog show.  There were some very cute dogs but, of course, my favorite was the Shih Tzu.  She did not win but I thought she was the cutest.

Sunday we drove over to see the Dana Thomas house, designed by Frank Loyd Wright and realized that we had seen it before when we came through a few years ago.  

On Tuesday, May 24, we drove to Wabash, Indiana and spent three nights at the Wabash City RV parks.  This campground is run by the city, located close to the water treatment plant.  $15 per night for electricity and water.  Located very close to the campground was a very nice walking path that we used everyday we were there.

There was only one other rig when we stayed there and he left our second day.  Not too many people know about this park.  And the town is very old and charming.  

On the walking path we came upon this rodent looking animal.  I posted it on Facebook and the best guess is a groundhog.  Still don't know for sure.

On Friday we took off for Nappanee, IN, to the Newmar service center for work on our rig.

Atchison to Illnois

The last blog was about Atchinson, Kansas, but a few more events happened during our stay that I want to record.  Our son-in-law, Lorin Affield, is the director of the YMCA and they had a ground breaking ceremony while we were there for the expansion of the facility.  A lot of big wigs were there and Lorin was in his glory.

Lorin is the one on the left.

It was a proud day for Lorin's mom, Linnea, wife Stephanie, and two sons Lane and Landon. 

 

Also during our final few days the youngest grandson preformed in a choir.  You can tell he really enjoyed it.

We left Atchison and went back to Dean's brother's farm for two weeks.  During that time we hiked and biked a Rails to Trails near Allen, KS.

Chica enjoyed her stay by snooping around everywhere, even under the porch.

There were some storms during our stay and to be safe we moved the RV into one of brother Tom's big barns.

We drove to Gardner and saw our granddaughter, Parker, play softball one night.

We stayed through Mother's Day and Dean's mom's 95th birthday.  She slept during most of the celebration but we sang and had a wonderful lunch and cake!

On May 15, we headed to Iowa.  Lorin, Stephenie, and the boys came down to see us off.  Here is Tom, Barb, Stephanie, Lane, and Lorin saying goodbye as we drive out.

We drove north the first night and stayed at the Elks at Cameron, Missouri.  The next day we stayed at a very nice COE campground outside of Iowa City on Coralville Lake.  We took two very nice hikes and did our Costco and Walmart run.

The next day we went to HWH near Moscow, Iowa, to get the RV levelers checked.  We got to spend the night in their lot for free.  The down side was it was raining when we set up. In the morning we had our appointment and did not have to pay anything since we only got a checkup.  Yeah!

The next two nights we stayed at another great COE campground in Hampton, Illinois located alongside the Mississippi River.  We did a couple of hikes and a long bike ride since there was a biking trail right outside the entrance to the campground.

Fishermen alongside the locks of the river.

Bike ride - barge and tourist boat on the Mississippi.

Next stop - Springfield, Illinois and all things Lincoln!