Shopping, Washer & Dryer

Saturday

It rained through the night and we woke to more rain. We had a lazy morning. Took quick showers and headed out. We thought this was a good day for a trip to the market.  We headed back to Shipshewana.  First stop was for lunch at the Blue Gate Restaurant. What a neat place. Now, I know we seem to be around alot of food lately but I am trying to go light. I had soup and half a sandwich and opted out of dessert. We then did some shopping.  It’s a good thing I no longer have a stick and bricks or I would be in trouble. Such beautiful handcrafted work the Amish do.  We went on to our next stop for meat. So much, of just about any kind of meat you can imagine. With meat, fresh bread, veggies  and of course a pie in hand we headed home.   Sorry, no pictures of our outing today, forgot the camera.

Dinner tonight was a slice of pie!  So delicious…

 

Sunday….

It rained through the night but the sun was shining when we got up. Not much planned for today.  I did make a Walmart run.  We have been craving italian food, so I made a sauce, cooked up some cutlets and eggplant and boiled up some spaghetti.  It was very tasty.  Now we have leftovers.  The rest of the day, just watching our Red Sox, and computering.

Monday…

Today we had errands to run.  First stop was down the road a bit to the RV Surplus store, to purchase our washer and dryer… I am so excited about this.   We were then off to find a place to do the laundry. Hopefully it will be the last time for that.   Back at the lovely parking lot campground, they were working on our RV. They took the gray water tank out and indeed it is bad. When we were in Rockport, Ron Hoover patched it and that only lasted 2 weeks. We have been told by several dealers that doesn’t work. Why do dealerships do this. They get paid for a job that won’t last. So today the new tank gets ordered. It is going to take 7-10 days to arrive.  Hmmm, no showers for 10 days..That won’t work.  Well, the good news is.. they just connected a pipe, so we can take showers and let the water run out the pipe on the ground. Whew!! They redid all the slide seals. They said the seals that were on there were done with tape that cracks. Not good.  They were replaced at the dealership where we purchased in Knoxville, 2 days after we bought it.  They used the good stuff today. At least we hope so.. They also installed new day/night shades on the two that were broken.  So now the waiting game continues. Waiting on Lippert to send over two new rear stabilizers, ignitor parts for the stove, the holding  tank and then installing the washer & dryer… We have no idea when we will get out of here.  We have reservations in Illinois Aug 6th but not sure we’ll make it by then.

This is a picture of the holding tank. The front black pipe has cracks all around it.  The last dealer just put gunk on it to try to seal it…

Food, Notre Dame and More Food

This morning we were up early, having the RV ready for the tech to pull into the bay at 8am.   Our first stop was…

Yummy donuts!!  They also sell their homemade goods..

We see so many of these carriages….

 

We then headed for South Bend and Notre Dame….

 

The campus was very busy with lots of things going on.   We were hoping to get in to see the football stadium but it was being worked on, so just got some pictures of the outside…

Statue of Lou Holtz, one of the all time greatest college football coaches.. and motivational speakers…

 

This mosaic on the wall of the library can be seen from the stadium… It is called Touchdown Jesus…

Go IRISH!!!!!

We enjoyed driving around and exploring this beautiful campus.

 

We headed back to Goshen and stopped for a sandwich at…..

 

Oh my, so many desserts!!

 

It was almost time to head back to the shop to see how much progress they made on the RV today, but a quick stop at a surplus shop where we found a washer and dryer.  It is sooooo much cheaper than the price we got quoted at the shop. Only problem is, where do we put it until we can get it installed… Have to sleep on this one, lol.   Back at the shop we found our RV being brought back to our spot. They had taken off the underbelly and found the very large leak. Somehow they got taken off this job and put onto another, so no more done for the day on ours.  Come Monday morning we hope they will get back to it.  Of course if it’s the tank, like we told them it is, I suppose they then have to order a new one. In the meantime we have several other things on order including new insulation.  We are also waiting for Lippert to come take a look at our back stabilizers that buckled.  We just have to sit tight and “take time to smell the roses”.

Amish Country

We arrived in Elkhart Indiana Tuesday after driving through rows and rows of corn fields.  Our gps brought us in the back door and we were in and out of every road in Goshen and Elkhart!

We checked into the Elkhart Campground. We were put in the “new” section. I guess they just opened it up. It is just a field of grass. Our water is rusty and it even stained the toilet. This park doesn’t have the “it” factor for us, at least not this section,  but there is not much to choose from in the area.  Wednesday morning we arrived at RV Capital with our Big Horn and went over our list with them. They explained to us that it takes time to get all the work approved by Heartland and that it may take several days to get things accomplished. So now we are parked in their parking lot right next to 3 other Big Horns. One of them has been here for a month!!!  I guess they had a very long list of like 5o things to be fixed, before their warranty ran out. Yikes!  So here we sit while we are paying for a campground. Think we will head over and talk to them today.  Very nice people, by the way. I would also like to know when we come back, if we can be in another area of the park.

 

After dropping our RV off yesterday, we headed to Shipshewana. They have a very large flea market and auction held Tuesday and Wednesdays. We are in Amish country and the area is lovely. We took in the sites, had lunch and did a little shopping.  (save your penny’s Lynette, lots of pendants,  jewelry!)   Fortunately I had already eaten lunch before heading into the Red Barn. What a country store this is.  Everything looked wonderful and a trip back here is a sure thing.

On our way in to town on Tuesday we stopped at a farm stand and picked up some corn and fruit.  We both agree this is the best corn we have ever eaten. We have had it at dinner the last few nights.

Today has been a busy day here at the RV. Once guy came and went over everything that needs to be done.  Then a tech arrived and started working on things.  We need to be out by 8am tomorrow as they are pulling it inside and dropping the underbelly.   We did take a ride over to Elkhart Campgrounds and I explained our situation here, they were kind enough to credit the 5 nights I had paid for to use next time we pull back in.  Not sure if that will be next week or next month. All depends on how long our service takes here. Things are on order and you know how that goes…

All in all we are very happy with the people we have met here in Elkhart. The campground owners are really nice and the folks here at RV Capital are fabulous. They seem to really care and from what it sounds like are thorough.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but we will find something to keep ourselves busy.

P.S. This is a restaurant I heard good things about that serves family style meals. I think we should put this on the list of things to do when the gang all arrives next month.

The Last Days of the Rally

Thursday  night we enjoyed our potluck dinner along with the other 250 folks.  Heartland provided the burgers, dogs and chicken.  The members provided the sides. Oh my, so many to choose from.  We sat at the lucky table and were the first called to eat. We got to pick from the best.. I am told by the end there were not many sides left at all. We had a few announcements and then retired for the night.

Friday morning I spent the entire morning listening to seminars.  Late afternoon Mac and Netters came over to our place for a bite to eat. At 5:30 we all boarded busses for the Grand Ole Opry.  Since the flood in this area , the Opry Hall has been closed, so the show has been moved to the original Ryman Auditorium.  It was neat to see the show in this old place. Although we are not strong country music fans, we enjoyed the show.

Saturday  started out with a discussion on full timing.  The moderators for this talk were  Mac and Netters and Marv and Karen. They had a great turnout and this could have gone on and on but after 2 hrs, they were cut off due to scheduling.  Lots of discussion and questions.

The rest of the day we just relaxed. I actually got a tip at that discussion about insurance. I had to check it out and I’m am excited to say it paid off.  By switching company’s we are going to save over $1,000 a year.  This is a military thing and didn’t know changes had been made to make us eligible.  Saturday night was the catered dinner by Heartland.  We actually picked the right table again and were the first to go up. Unfortunately we were not to impressed with our dinner. After dinner the door prizes were held. Every rig received a gift! That was 120 prizes. Some better than others such as 32” tv’s.  However none of us for these.. We won a collapsible bucket, lol.. The highlight of the night was the entertainment. Steve Hall and the Shotgun Red Trio.  What a fabulous show. I haven’t laughed so much in a very long time!

This morning I headed up to the hall for a small bite to eat and to say my goodbye’s.  Shortly after that, our neighbors and good friends had to move on out.

It was sad but we will be meeting up again next month.   Kevin and I had chores to do. We had a ton of laundry to do, so headed out to get that done. We also fueled up and picked up grocery’s.

Tomorrow we will be saying our goodbye to…

Our destination is Elkhart, Indiana. We have an early morning appointment for service on our Big Horn for Wednesday morning.

Heartland Rally Nashville, Tn

Tuesday was the first get together with the group. It was an early arrival dinner at the Caney Fork Fish Camp. We were seated with Mac and Netters and Marv and Karen.  We picked the wrong table…we were the last to be served, in fact most people were done and already heading out when ours arrived.. We had a choice of fish, ribs or steak. Kevin had the ribs and I had the steak. It was pretty good.

The group….

Jim Beletti and his wife. Jim runs the Heartland Owners Group and is the one responsible for putting the rally together…

Our table…

For those in the chatroom with me, this is Marv aka Smokey Bear and his wife…

After dinner sunset…

Wednesday morning I woke to some commotion outside. They were pulling these new cabins in and placing them across from us…

This KOA is still recovering from the terrible floods that took place several months ago in Nashville.  They lost quite a few cabins and still have sites without power as yet. Lucky for us they did get the Music Hall opened up just in time for our use.  Good thing, because it is nice and cool in there and boy oh boy is it every hot outside.

Around 3pm ourselves and another couple gathered at Mac and Netters for a cookout.

Mac doing his job…. he is a good cook!

Time to eat…

 

Thanks Mac and Netters, it was yummy…

Last night was the 50’s show in the Music Barn. It is put on by the campground every Wednesday night. Kenny and the Krooners performed for us.   Hey, I was only a kid in the 50’s but did know all but two of the songs they performed. We had a good time and alot of laughs from Mac..

The official rally kicks off today. The vendors are set up and the seminars have started. This is a very light rally on seminars. From what I understand, every other year they hold it in Elkhart, In and that is larger on seminars . Of course Elkhart is the home of Heartland.    Tonight we will have our potluck dinner. Heartland will supply the meat and we will all bring the sides. Should be great!

What We Have Been Up To

We pulled out of Topsail in Florida on July 1st. We decided to head to the Escapees Park in Summerdale Alabama.  I called to be sure they had room for us and they said “come on down”.  It was empty.  We actually needed to find a safe place to park so that we could head to Houston. Our daughter needed our help for the week.  Before we left though, we checked out the area and of course had to eat at Lamberts, home of the thrown rolls.  We have always heard about this place but never eaten there, so this was a first.  It was everything it had been built up to be. We left with tummy’s full and left over’s in hand.

Saturday morning we drove to Mobile and boarded our flight to Houston.  We spent the week at our daughter’s.  It was great to spend some time with the grandsons. Glad we could help out with the babysitting. 

Here is Brady practicing his golf swing:

Grampy reading to Logan:

Sorry Joey, didn’t get one of you this time..

This past Saturday we headed back to Alabama and to our home on wheels. It was just in time to hitch up and head out on Sunday. We got off to a late start on Sunday after getting a call from our realtor in Florida. She had a  contract on the way and was emailing to us. In turn, we had to print, sign and get it back to her asap.  After faxing and picking up a few grocery’s we were on our way.   Our destination for the night was a passport park near Birmingham, Al.  We pulled in about 5ish and thought we would have a nice quiet night of rest. NOT.. After spending some frustrating time trying to get tv reception which we never did get, we put in a movie. Around 9:15 I heard a big boom outside and everything went black. We looked outside and it was dark everywhere.  Someone near us said probably a transformer blew. Not good. It was VERY warm and it didn’t take long for the RV to heat up. By 11:15 we both decided we would never get any sleep. We had very little fuel left and knew we couldn’t run the truck for long before getting some. So, we made the decision to pull out. We fueled up, drove for about an hour and then pulled into a truck stop and just stayed in the truck to stay cool and try to sleep a bit. By 4:30am we once again hit the road. We found a Cracker Barrel pulled in and waited for them to open. We had breakfast about 6:30.  We then continued our treck to  Nashville.  We arrived at the campground about 10am and we were lucky enough that our site was available.

This was not the kind of travel day we had planned but hey,  things happen.  Now on to some fun at the Heartland Rally!

Friends Lynette (Netters) and Greg (Mac) arrived early afternoon. It was so great to see them again. They are parked next to us. Although we haven’t seem them since end of March, it was like we had never been apart. How lucky to have friends like this.  We all headed to an early dinner down the street. We turned in early to get rested up for the week ahead.

Here they are arriving:

 

Almost forgot. We got our rig weighed when we arrived.  I was so nervous about having this done.  Got good news..we are good. I can actually get a washer and dryer now!!! I have been waiting to find out about our weight before doing so..Yeah!!  Now to find room for all the stuff that’s in the closet….