RV CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

Monday, September 12 – We drove five hours in reaching our new one-week home base, Goshen, IN. For every 10 RVs you see, six of them are built in Elkhart County. In fact, 82% of all recreational vehicles are manufactured in northern Indiana. We are here to check out some new MH furniture.

We must have hit a swam of gnats. The front of the MH was splattered with them.

Saw this sign at the BP station.  Diesel fuel for $3.74…WOW!  Pulled in to fill-up. After pumping $100 worth, Paul noticed the price on the pump read $4.06. After inquiring at the desk, he was told that was for tax exempt drivers. When questioned, the grumpy lady behind the desk said it was stated on the sign…..can you see the "fine" print on the sign? Another BP stunt….JEESH!

We are staying at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds. They have 900 sites with 10 dump stations. We opted for full-hook ups. We are in a section with only 12 sites. We are in Site 172 on the end. It is a great spot for Bella. She has all the grassy area to explore.

Looking down our short road.

We took a ride around the city of Goshen. The Quit Gardens Tour is in full swing. The Quilt Gardens along Heritage Trail joins quilting, gardening and art into a one-of-a-kind event.  A colorful patchwork of quilt inspired gardens and quilt-themed murals linked by the roads that form the Heritage Trail.
There are 100,000+ glorious blooms • 18 gigantic gardens • 18 super-sized murals at 12 locations • 36 quilt designs • 7 welcoming communities.

We saw two so far. One at the campground and one at the County Courthouse.

The County Courthouse is a very beautiful building.

We haven't seen much of the next topic but Marsha is on the look out…Elk Art on Parade. Elk Art on Parade will benefit Child And Parent Services (CAPS), Elkhart County’s non-profit child abuse prevention agency. It is a public art exhibition that places life-size fiberglass elk designed and created by local artists in county landscapes for the public to view and interact with. There are 29 life-sized fiberglass creations throughout Elkhart County. We saw our first one today. If Marsha has her way, you will be seeing more of these in future blogs.

"Peace Through  Pieces", Goshen High School Art classes.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

 

TIME TO MOVE ON

Monday, September 12 – With a little sadness in our hearts, it's time to pull out of Canton, Ohio. We've enjoyed spending time with our family and friends and will miss them dearly.....we'll be back soon!

We are heading West to Elkhart, IN, to check out the RV furniture stores and motorhome factories. We have quite a few sights to see in the area and plan on spending about a week in that area.

After Elkhart, we will travel to the Louisville, KY, area again staying about a week. We plan on seeing the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum, Churchill Downs, check out a couple restaurants recommended by our daughter, visit some distilleries on the Bourbon Trail and several other sights.

From Louisville, we'll travel to Augusta, GA, to visit with Paul's brother and our nephew. Our nephew, Ryan, and wife, Holly, recently had twins. We are anxious to see them and big brother, Noah.

From Augusta, we want to spend a week or more at the beach in Bay St.Louis, MS, or Foley, AL. We've stayed at both these beach towns in the past and had enjoyed are stays.

We want to be in Houston, TX, for Thanksgiving at our daughter's house. We'll stay at the Stafford Elks, just south of the city. Marsha will be flying back to Canton, OH, for some eye surgery and to spend the Christmas holidays with family. Paul will remain in Houston until Marsha returns, or like last year, will meet her in Mission, TX. We will spend the winter months of January and February at Hidden Valley Ranch in Mission.

These plans, of course, are etched on our Magic Slate and could easily change several times.

On Friday, we had a wonderful dinner with our daughter, Kelly, and her boyfriend, Dave. This is the last time we will see her on this visit. Thanks you two for a great time. We love you!

Observation from a past blog…
We are aware that many of you are conscientious about buying U.S.A. products. Thanks to our friend, Duane, Duane and Louise's Travels, who reminded us…our new Honda CRV was made in Ohio!!! If possible, buy U.S.A.!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

GETTING THE HONDA INTO TOW MODE

Tuesday, September 6 – Paul took the CRV to Summit Trailer Sales & Service today to have a hitch installed on the back for his bike rack. They did a super job....it looks really nice.

It's a little scary to take a brand new car into the shop and have a multitude of towing equipment installed. Hope it doesn't come out looking like a tank....LOL This is the same welding shop that installed the equipment on our Jeep Liberty over two years ago, so Paul's confident they'll do quality work.

Thursday, September 8 – Today we get the Air Force 1 braking system and Blue Ox tow bar re-installed on our Honda CRV. It will take all day today and a half day on Friday to complete the installation. Most of the tow bar installation is new equipment because taking it off the Jeep, our former toad, would be more expensive than simply buying new. It would also leave the Jeep fairly unsightly for a future buyer.

This installation is being completed by Summit Trailer Sales & Service the company that did the trailer hitch on Tuesday, and the same company that installed the equipment on our Jeep Liberty two years ago.

We closed up the motor home around 3 p.m. and drove up to Summit Trailer in Akron, about a 20 mile drive. We're spending the night in their parking lot so we'll be here and ready to go first thing in the morning. We won't wake up the neighbors by being parked in Marsha's brothers driveway and won't have to battle rush hour traffic driving up here in the morning. We have electric so we should be quite comfy for the night.

Friday, September 9 – We were ready to pull into the shop here at Summit Trailer Sales & Service first thing in the morning.

The Honda installation is complete and looks great.

The guys made the final connections to the MH electrical system. Poor Rick had the job of installing a LED light under the dash that comes on when the Air Force 1 system activates the Honda brakes.

That way you know it's working and also know if the toads brakes would lock-up for some unknown reason.  This is a new addition…we didn't have this light before…..nice!

When hooking the CRV up for towing, the last step is to pull Fuse 34. Instead of pulling this fuse each time, we had them install a switch that automatically turns the fuse off.  With the switch off, we don't have to worry about a dead battery when we arrive at our new destination.

The technicians walked us through the new hookup procedure for the Honda. We were ready to pull-out and head back to Canton and Marsha's brothers driveway for the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!