Small Towns - Indiana

Took a cruise through some of the Amish farmland today, visiting the towns of Benton, Millersburg, Topeka, Ligonier and Syracuse.  Most of these towns are closed up tight for Sunday afternoon, but we had a pleasant 84 mile trip through some of the most well kept farms in the nation, I believe.

Our first intended stop was in Millersburg, at the site of the former Carriage RV Manufacturing facility. Some of you may know that we have had a variety of fifth wheel trailers over the years, and probably would still if we hadn't had structural issues with the last one, a Carriage Cameo.  The Cameo was a well appointed unit, with nice features like a fireplace and comfortable seating.  However, ours developed some structural issues that would have been prohibitive to have repaired, so we sold it and bought our first motorhome. We still have fond memories of "Carlotta" the Cameo, as it was to be our retirement rv, and was outfitted with every convenience known. With that in mind, we located the location of the Carriage plant in Millersburg, knowing that Carriage had gone out of business during the economic meltdown, but still wanting to see where Carlotta had been born.

Articles in the trade magazines tell of the property being subdivided and sold, with the intent to form a business park environment. Let's hope so.  Carriage had an immense facility, with 440,000 sq ft under roof in over eleven buildings. The site included a full service rv park and visitors center with regular tours of the plant. The site has been idle since 2011, and it shows.  Weeds have taken over the rv park, and the "tour" sign hangs by one side.  Sad.

Millersburg also is the home of the Rockwood plant, with many subsidiary businesses in and around the town.  Next we went to Topeka, Indiana.  The farms were neat and clean on the roads leading to Topeka, with a horse drawn buggy clip clopping along every mile or so.  Topeka is the home of several more rv manufacturers, but I didn't get the names because I'm on rv overload.  Everywhere you look there is something rv related.

We passed through Ligonier on the way to Syracuse.  Syracuse is famous for having one of the nicest lakes in Indiana, Lake Wawasee.  As we drifted into town, we started scoping out places for lunch, finding a likely spot with some confusing signs and an interesting roofline.

The lake is very nice and large, with powered boats galore, and is surrounded by luxurious homes, each with it's own private dock.

So, after a nice leisurely drive, we're back home in Nappanee. Nessie goes into the hospital tomorrow morning at 6 am, EDT, and we have to be ready.  Even though she's only traveling a few hundred yards, everything needs to be packed for travel, so our job this evening is to prepare for that.  She is scheduled to be worked on each of the next five days, so we'll get good at this unpack in the evening and repack in the morning thing!

Culture to Clip-Clop

In spite of the fun we had at Nappanee's celebration on the Fourth, we've begun to feel a bit confined.  So, this morning we jumped into the car and headed for Elkhart.  Our destination was the Wellfield Botanic Gardens.  Built on the site of the wells that produce 70% of Elkharts water, the gardens are designed to showcase conservation efforts as well as provide a cool, relaxing location to get away from the concrete and asphalt of the surrounding city.

A meandering path leads around a series of small lakes and rivers.  The Elkhart River provides a pleasant backdrop to most of the inviting views.

A side path led us into the Woodland Conservation Garden, with dense trees and vines providing a quiet place for contemplation.

The Gardens are continually updated and upgraded as funding allows.  They are completely funded through donations, private sources, and admittance fees.  An annual membership provides unlimited admittance and, if you want Fido along, a membership is available for him as well. The Gardens are well kept and artists use the site heavily for their paintings.  Weddings and important family occasions can be scheduled in some of the most beautiful areas of Elkhart.

Having been cultured, we allowed ourselves to relax for a bit and stroll along the Riverwalk.  This is a cool pathway system through an area that was the very starting point for Elkhart. The St. Joseph River and the Elkhart River join in a meandering fashion in this area, and early settlers saw the benefit to having endless sources of water.  Canals were dug, and the waters power was harnessed to produce energy for grain mills, paper and box plants, and any number of business's that required power for manufacturing goods.  Having fallen to ruin a few years ago, the area was renovated with paths, benches, and parks that are a great place for an afternoon walk.  The confluence of the St Joe and Elkhart rivers is now a quiet, lazy place to fish, but was at one time a densely populated, busy, noisy, center of industry.

After a bit of lunch at McCarthys on the river, where we watched a family celebrating a young lady's coming of age occasion against a backdrop of a quilt garden:

We headed a block or so west towards downtown, old town Elkhart.

We still had 1/2 the afternoon to enjoy, so we drove east to the town of Bristol and then south on IN 15 toward Goshen. We drove around Goshen for a bit, refreshing our memories from last years visit.  A tour of an industrial park southeast of town showed that every rv manufacturer and supplier had help wanted signs posted.  Evidently the rv business is on an upswing!

The last part of our journey brought us to US 6, a major highway connecting several small towns.  Heading west toward "home" in Nappanee, we happened upon the Nappanee Race Track, where the track was being groomed for harness racing. It's a small track, only a mile and a quarter, and so only ponies are allowed to race here, ponies being defined as less than 51 1/2 inches at the withers.  The admission was $4 each and the program was $2, so in we went!  No wagering was allowed, so Donna and I picked a horse for each race and had a contest to see who won the most times.  As usual, my superior knowledge of horse flesh stood me in good stead as I whipped her by a score of 7 to 6. The other 9 races ended with a winner that neither of us chose.

A lot of action took place, with a rider being thrown from his buggy in one race and his horse running full tilt around the track 4 times before he could be calmed down.  Another race saw a horse going down while in a tight pack of other horses and overturning the cart.  The horse stayed down for a long time and we all wondered if it had been hurt.  Eventually, with help, the horse got up and walked to the barn area.  We hope all is well.

The races alternate between "trot" and "pace" races, with the difference being in the style of gait. With a pace, both legs on the horses side go forward and backward in unison, while with the trot, both legs alternate, where the front leg is back at the same time that the back leg is forward, and the opposite is occurring on the other side of the horse.

In any case, it was a beautiful thing, and we watched the entire program with interest.

Even some of the little people got involved with miniature horses:

The purses were modest for each race, and the drivers bantered back and forth after the races, so this was a sport among equals that allowed the horses and drivers to hone their skills.  And what could be better than sitting in the middle of a cornfield in Indiana, with hamburgers, hot dogs, and homemade pie, watching some graceful horses strut their stuff and counting millions of fireflies as the sun went down?

Fourth of July, Nappanee style!

The small town of Nappanee, Indiana, had a full schedule of events planned for today, the Fourth of July and the birthday of our country. Happy Birthday, America!  The day started with a charity golf match at the local golf course, but I missed it.  Too early for me.  The golf course is in magnificent shape due to the wet spring, and I surely did miss a good walk!

At eleven, the parade started downtown.  We claimed a good spot on Main St, across from an old bank building, the First National Bank from 1908.

As soon as the parade started, we knew this was not going to be your ordinary parade. The color guard had just turned the first corner when we saw that two cars and a motorhome had somehow gotten into the parade route!

So Mister Policeman (wearing shorts with a uniform shirt and hat) had to stop the parade, escort the offenders from the premises, and start things again.  By this time the color guard was  a 1/4 mile down the street doing their own parade thing! Then the required fire brigade showed up, complete with shiny engines with logos on the doors.

Maybe someone can tell me what a "Smokey Stover" is…

We enjoyed an airplane flyover by two WWII vintage fighters, and an awesome drive by from a Terr-A-Gator.

The parade Queen graced us with her presence and a variety of kids on scooters, lawn mowers and wagons went by.

Just like a Fourth of July Parade!

Later this evening we went to the city park, which is next to the golf course, to watch the Fireworks show. Things had been happening there all day: a scavenger hunt, swimming in the municipal pool, and live music, but we elected to wait until about 10 pm to join the fun.

Yes, it was still light at 10 pm, EDT…..

And then the Fireworks!

My little camera doesn't have the shutter speed to do justice to the show, but let me tell you, it was spectacular!  Each device seemed to explode right over us as we sat on the cool grass on a warm midwestern evening.  The fireflies were doing their thing by the thousands, flying in and around all the people, trying to avoid the children chasing them with outstretched hands. Little kids ohhhing, and ahhhhing, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn filled the air.  What a beautiful celebration for our country!

Nappanee, Day 1

Today was a catch up day.  Laundry and such.  We checked into Newmar this morning and soon two techs were at our coach going over the list of items that needed attention.  Some things were just questions and some others will require knowledgable and tender loving care.  I had an additional list for the techs above and beyond the long list that I had emailed to them, but they took it all in stride, maintaining a professional demeanor throughout.  We made plans for them to pick Nessie up at 6 am (?) on Monday. That's eastern time, three hours earlier than our familiar pacific time, and quite a bit earlier than we would prefer.  Oh well, it's only for five…. long….. consecutive….. one after another……days.

Mid afternoon found us wandering around downtown Nappanee.  This is a small town, without a huge shopping area, but a fair amount of Amish influence.  We stopped at Coppes Commons, a converted industrial building that now houses several unique shops.  The first place we checked was, of course, Rocket Science, the local ice cream shop that makes each order of ice cream right before your eyes using liquid nitrogen.  Then we cruised the small, local, market in the front of the building.

Most of the items featured were of local origin, or certainly from the Amish community.  These two goodies were made in Shipshewana, just a few miles northeast of us.

There was also a quaint woodworking shop in the building with an interesting "Cue Ball Clock".

An electric motor drives an arm that completes exactly one revolution per minute.  At the beginning of each cycle a ball is picked up and deposited on the upper track where it rolls into the group labeled "min 1,2,3,4".  When the fifth ball rolls into that track, the track tips one ball out to drop onto the track labeled min 5,10...etc; the other four balls miss the "dump" and are returned to the stack on the bottom. Same thing for the hours….a ball is dumped from the minute track, and when a 12th ball is added, the last track dumps and we start all over again.  What a concept! And the effort involved to balance all the moving pieces.  Wow!

Back in Amish Country

Moscow, Iowa, had just about run out of interesting things to show us, so we left this morning about 9, heading east on I80.  A few miles down the road we stopped at a truck stop along I80 that we saw last year, but didn't have time to visit.  

The Iowa 80 Truck Stop is billed as the worlds biggest truck stop, and I believe it. There were at least a 100 trucks parked in the parking lot.  There appeared to be 30 or more diesel fueling pumps, not to mention the gas pumps in another area for cars.  There were a dozen designated parking spots for buses, and 50 or so for cars.  The interior of the building was filled with shopping "ideas" for the lonely trucker away from his family, including jewelry, clothes and entertainment options, all displayed in an orderly, clean and professional manner, unlike the truck stop stereotype.

There is a Caribou Coffee shop inside as well as several restaurants.

Next door is the Iowa 80 Truck Museum, with restored trucks of every description.  We didn't visit due to time, but we did get this photo in the entrance.

We're heading east into rv country in Indiana to have a few minor things fixed on Nessie at the factory where she was "born", because they have all the parts and expertise to quickly and efficiently take care of the issues. At least if last year was any indication. We've taken a bit of a different route this year as we got closer to Chicago. Last year we turned off I80 just east of Joliet and took Hwy 30 east, which proved to be a bother as it went through South Chicago, with a stop light at every block for 30 miles.  This year we stayed on I80 through Chicago and Gary, Indiana, along the southern tip of Lake Michigan until we could head south on Hwy 421 and then east on Hwy 6 to our destination of Nappanee, IN.  The only problem with that route is that: 1. The traffic is horrible, I've never seen so many long haul trucks and trailers in one place at one time in my life. The interstate is 3 lanes wide, with the right two devoted to trucks and the left one used by cars.  Guess what kind of mixmaster action happens at every offramp.  2. The roads are in horrible shape, and 3. You have to pay a toll in Illinois for the use of about 2 miles of their road, and then again when you cross the state line into Indiana for the use of their road.  Not a lot of toll, less than $7 total, but maneuvering through toll booths with Nessie is kinda scary.

Glad to be off the interstate, we followed Hwy 6 to our destination.

After 293 miles, we're "camped" in front of the service area at the Newmar factory.  They provide full hookups for about 16 or so rigs, and we were (I guess) fortunate to get the same one that we stayed in last year when we were here.  Deja vu all over again.  There aren't very many people here, possibly 8 or so, so it's nice and quiet.  We notice that the factory appears to be in full production, with new chassis parked across the street ready to have homes built on them!  Help Wanted signs are posted all over the site.  We'll be here a week, so we'll have a chance to Kravitz the situation.

Oh yeah, it's raining again.

Ok, so it's not the end of the rain.  However, it only rained about a 1/2 inch this afternoon, with minimum winds and no lightening.  Gettin' better!

Nessie went into the leveling hospital this morning at 7.  The repairs were completed by 9 and we were back in our parking spot by 10, which left us with most of the day to do as we pleased.  A trip to Costco in Iowa City was soon organized, and it was an experience.  We're all familiar with the huge warehouse atmosphere of Costco and the big crowds.  We started our shopping trip in the huge covered parking structure that is part of the store.

The interior was typical Costco with the exception of the crowds.  Now I realize it's a Tuesday morning, but there probably weren't more that 50 shoppers in the store.  Our checkout was prompt and courteous.  What a difference from our local store where a wait in line to checkout is always expected!  One of the interesting items we saw for sale were lemons from the area where Donna and I grew up.  Shipped to the midwest, the fruit was enticing and reasonably priced.

We talked to an employee of Costco for a few moments and learned that last nights storm had caused major damage to corn crops and significant flooding.  A cruise around the Iowa City area and along I80 east showed some of the damage.

The high straight line winds had caused havoc with the young corn plants.  These photos don't do justice to the situation, but consider that a combination of tender plants with shallow roots and saturated soil, and high winds pretty much flattened large fields of corn.  I'm sure the farmers are praying that the rain is over.  We understand from talking to local people that 4 or 5 days of dry weather will save the crop, but the long range forecast is for some rain every day.

Along the freeway, we had an opportunity to get up close to the Iowa River.  It has receded 2+ feet since cresting early this morning, but still shows that a huge amount of water is moving inexorably downstream. One of the "neighbors" here in the parking lot came in late last night after being stopped by a stream of water crossing I80 just east of Iowa city.  The state troopers were escorting vehicles through one at a time, but two big rig trucks didn't make it and slid off the road into the mud.  We saw one of the trucks this morning with all the wheels on one side buried in the mud, and all the wheels on the road side off the ground.  Scary! Here's the Iowa River:

Some road construction in downtown Iowa City led us into some "not so glamourous" parts of town.  Unfortunately, nature called during the excursion (probably having something to do with the red chili at Village Inn for lunch), and a quick stop yielded a reminder to Iowa citizens:

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