A Mystery Solved, Works of Art, and Junk

Downtown Nappanee is home to the Nappanee Center, which is a collection of items of historical and anecdotal interest to the town of Nappanee.  It also is a stop on the Quilt Gardens/Heritage Trail.  This is a series of flower gardens planted in the patterns used in quilts.

This Schoolhouse Quilt Garden is a well tended example of the many quilt gardens in the area.

Inside the center, handmade quilts are displayed, some of them over 100 years old.

Also inside was the answer to a mystery that surfaced during the Fourth of July parade in Nappanee.  The local fire apparatus had a picture on the sides that referred to "Smokey Stovers".  I didn't know what that referred to, and finally today the mystery was solved.

The cartoonist Bill Holman created a comic strip in 1935 that featured a two wheeled fire truck, ofttimes driven by "Smokey Stover", the strips' fire chief.  The "Foo Mobile" was one of the central things in the strip, as was the eccentric chief, Smokey Stover.  A local man, Pete Schlatter, figured out how to build a working replica of the Foo Mobile, bringing the comic strip to life, with the help of the Nappanee Fire Department…..the Smokey Stovers!

The real Foo Mobile is, or was, a completely working automobile with a small engine, lights, and steering.  

After lunch at the South Side Diner in Goshen, IN,

we continued into White Pidgeon, Michigan, to visit Bontragers RV Salvage Store.  Normally we don't shop at salvage yards, but we had heard that this location was amazing.  And it was!

Nuts, bolts, aluminum and wood.  Screws, cabinets, windows and doors.  Lights, electrical panels and fittings.  You name it, they have it, and want to sell it.  Wheeling and dealing is the name of the game and it is a free for all with all participants thoroughly enjoying themselves!  What a place!