Beginning our Fall Travels

At the end of our family vacation in Michigan, the kids returned to their busy lives – Bryce getting fully engaged in his SENIOR year at Michigan State --

making art for the walls of his apartment, tailgating, and working on his graduate school plans for the next two years.

Nicolas got back to Virginia just in time to go out on his ship ahead of Hurricane Dorian making landfall just south of Virginia in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

It was a quick trip for them – just a couple of days – and then they returned to the pier for an even quicker stopover before leaving again for their scheduled underway.

For Tom and I, it was time to begin our fall travels and eventual arrival at our winter destination of Florida.

Our first stop was in the familiar area of Elkhart & Shipshewana, Indiana.

We had some appointment scheduled to get some warranty and maintenance work done on the motorhome.  Our first stop was at Elkhart Sales & Service,

where we had several miscellaneous items looked at – adjusting a slide, replacing one of our motorized shades, checking a slide motor, and other odds and ends.

From there, we moved about 1/2 mile down the road to Marv & Tom’s,

where we got our annual engine/chassis maintenance and had the coolant flushed.

With that work accomplished, we spent the weekend shopping in some of our favorite spots.  We met some of my family over in Shipshewana on Saturday to do some shopping and enjoy a delicious dinner at Das Dutchman Essenhaus – YUM!

It was a nice day, and we were glad we got to see everybody one more time before we got back into full travel mode!

Our last stop in Elkhart was at Coach Glass,

where our new windshield from last winter needed to be re-sealed.

We arrived on Monday for our Tuesday appointment, and had the whole parking lot to ourselves, but it soon filled up! 

The guys at the shop basically removed and replaced the entire seal and rain gutter on our windshield, and it looks so much better now – and no leaks!

With all our work complete, we officially got back on the road!  We were headed for Door County, Wisconsin, but we had to get around Chicago first . . . we had no intention of going through the Windy City, so we stayed far south and went far west before turning north and ending up in Rockford, IL.  It made for a longer drive, but well worth it to avoid the big city.  The road wasn’t much better, though – US30 in Indiana and Illinois was pretty awful!

We spent the next couple of days in a little campground on the river in Rockford, IL – resting up and planning our visit to Door County.

It was a nice little park, not much of a beach, though . . .

We were close to a Camping World, so we took a drive to check out a motorhome they had on consignment . . .

LOL!  No, that’s not the one we looked at!  We were reminded of why we don’t deal with Camping World, though . . . oh well, moving on.

We had a big rainstorm the night before we left, and the main road out of the park got pretty washed out – luckily the campground owner was out there first thing in the morning with his tractor filling the ruts with stone!

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We made it out just fine, and waited to hook the Jeep up until we had climbed the steep hill out of the park.  Then we were ready to hit the road.

We made our way north, and in just a short few minutes we had crossed into Wisconsin.

Shameful as it is, this was our first visit to our neighboring state to the west . . . and brings us to 48 of 50 states visited!

We made our way almost to the tip of Door County – to the little community of Bailey’s Harbor on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula – to the Beantown Campground, one of the few that had FHU sites and could accommodate big rigs.

It was a very nice park, and we had a lovely visit in Door County . . . more to come on our adventures!

Two weeks in Elkhart–motorhome maintenance and repairs

So, you may be wondering why we were in Elkhart for two weeks, and what we were getting done on the motorhome . . .

Well, remember a couple of months ago when we were faced with crossing this one lane bridge to get into a campground along the Laurel River in Virginia?

We made it across the bridge ok going into the campground, but leaving was another story!

We had to make a 90 degree right-hand turn onto this bridge, with the mountain to our left, and it was very tight!

We didn’t swing quite wide enough, and ended up getting hung up on the guardrail.  We didn’t realize it at first, and kept creeping forward until we couldn’t move anymore, and once we realized what had happened, we had to disconnect the Jeep so we could back up and try again.

Ugh!  Four baggage doors were damaged, although fortunately they all still opened and closed.  The back two doors had the worst of the damage.

Tom did a lot of calling around when we reached the next campground, but didn’t have much luck finding a place to get it fixed in Virginia.  Since the doors all functioned OK, we decided to wait on the repair until we were able to return to Elkhart, Indiana, where we knew there were shops that could handle the repair.

Fast forward to August . . . our appointment at Pro Custom was on August 6th, but we arrived a few days early to get our oil changed and chassis inspected at Marv & Tom’s Truck Service first.

It’s a small shop, but they were really thorough, and Tom was thrilled that he could go into the pit with the mechanic and see what he was doing and how to check everything.  Tom had a long list of checks he wanted done on the engine and transmission, the chassis, and the air leveling system, and they took care of all of it!  At a very reasonable price!

Added bonus – we had a FHU place to park overnight!

They finished up their last couple checks in the morning and we paid our bill.  Then, after confirming that we could arrive at Pro Custom a couple days early, we drove the 3 miles down the road and settled into a site in their gated lot.  It wasn’t a FHU site, but they had a dump station next to the building that we could use on our way into or out of the building.

After our arrival, PJ went to work looking at the damage and putting together an estimate for the insurance company.  Unfortunately, he determined that it was worse than he had anticipated based on the photos we had sent him, so the job was going to take longer than the 3 days he had planned on, and the cost was going to be considerably higher than first thought.  Good thing we had decided to turn it in to the insurance!

He was saying that we would need to be there for 2-3 weeks, depending on how responsive the insurance company was, and how long it took to get the 2 doors that had to be replaced.  Yikes!  We needed to be in Lansing by the 17th to get Bryce settled in his apartment!

We all got right to work that afternoon – P.J. tracking down doors and us initiating the claim with our insurance company, Nationwide.

As it turned out, our doors are no longer available, so P.J. would have to take the 2 doors apart and have new skins made for them.  The one hinge was also slightly bent, and those were not readily available either, but he thought he could bend it back into position, and repaint it.  We heard from the insurance adjuster early the next morning, and he agreed to accept photos from P.J., rather than sending out a field rep to take pictures (that saved us a few days!).  P.J. took the photos and sent them along with the estimate to the adjuster.  He had us prepared for the worst – several days spent analyzing the quote, and back and forth negotiations before arriving at the price that the insurance company would agree to pay.  We were still discussing this when his phone rang about 20 minutes later.  It was our insurance adjuster, approving the repair for the full amount of the estimate!  To say we were all shocked would be an understatement!

When we recovered, P.J. said, “Close it up and bring it inside – we’ll get those doors removed right now!”

We brought it inside, and they got to work, removing the two doors and taking them apart.

He took measurements for the new skins, and another shop got right to work on fabricating those, with plans to have them back by Tuesday or Wednesday.

That was it for Friday, and were got settled back out in our site for the weekend.

Monday was a full day of repair work, sanding and priming.

It was a time-consuming process, but they got quite a bit done that day.  Tuesday was a waiting day, and nothing happened on our coach, but we were back inside on Wednesday to continue the sanding and priming process.  The new door skins arrive that afternoon, so we were back inside on Thursday to get them installed and primed.

New door skins

Installed and checking the paint match.

Final sanding

Based on paint codes, two of the colors were a good match – the dark brown and the light tan.  The medium tan, though, took quite a bit of work to arrive at a custom recipe to match the existing color.

Friday was an additional day of final prep work, since we had made the decision to not start painting until Monday, so that we would not have to spend the weekend in a hotel.

On Monday, the coach moved into the paint booth, and we moved into a hotel in the afternoon.

We had hoped we wouldn’t have to, but with 3 colors to paint, plus clearcoat, it was a 2-day job.

We didn’t want to rush them at this point, and we were doing well with our schedule, so we just made the best of it.

Taping off the stripes

When we returned on Tuesday, the paint was complete and we were able to stay in it again. 

Looking good!

On Wednesday, they made a few little last minute touch-ups, and P. J. entered the actual labor times into the computer.  In the end, it took slightly less time than he estimated, and he was able to cover most of our deductible.  That was a nice bonus!

We paid our bill, and then got ready to hit the road . . . 2 days ahead of schedule!

We had a great experience in Elkhart – I think we found our regular shop for engine/chassis maintenance!  We were also really pleased with the work done at Pro Custom, but honestly hope we don’t need their service again!

Now we just need to stay away from one lane bridges and guardrails!!

Quilt Gardens and other Amish-country highlights

What can we possibly do for 2 weeks in Elkhart?

That was what we were thinking when we were told our motorhome repair was going to take two weeks, rather than 3 days!  We did a pretty good job of keeping busy, though!

We found several good restaurants, a really good frozen yogurt/coffee shop (where I got my Michigan Cherry coffee that I love!), and managed to stay pretty busy.

We spent one day visiting our favorite shops in and around Shipshewana, and found a few new ones!

I had read on Facebook about a quilt shop down in Rome City, and since that was the furthest point from us, we started there and worked our way backwards.

Caroline’s Cottage Cottons is a lovely little shop – they have beautiful fabrics, and a full room of wool!  It was definitely worth the drive, and I went home with a nice group of fall wools for some projects I’m working on!

The drive was great, too . . . we took all back roads, admiring all the Amish farms along the way!

From Rome City, we went to Topeka.

They had a livestock auction going on, or maybe it had just finished, and the parking lot at the Auction Restaurant was packed with buggies!

(I took the picture below when we left.  When we arrived, there were probably 3X that many buggies in the lot!)

It was lunchtime, and we were hungry, so we stopped in . . . we were definitely in the minority, but we had a great lunch!  Tom had the buffet, which he said was delicious, and I had the special – ham steak with mashed potatoes and peas.  I have to say – those were the absolute best-tasting peas I have ever eaten!  Fresh!  Tom was bummed, though, that the weekday buffet didn’t include pie (only on the weekends), but he didn’t really have room for it anyway!

After lunch, we spotted the Topeka General Store – it’s kindof a combination of bulk foods and homegoods.  We picked up a few things – dried strawberries, which I love, and a bunch of Albenese gummies for Nick . . . and they take credit cards!

From Topeka, we headed back north towards Shipshewana . . . with a quick stop at the Yoder popcorn store.  I had to pick up microwave popcorn for both of the boys, and a few for us, too.

I was on vacation that day, but I said I would call into a meeting at 2pm, so our next stop was the Yoder Dept. Store so Tom could look around while I called into my meeting.

He found some people to talk to . . .

When I was done with work, we headed down to E & S and the Yoder Meat & Cheese Store to stock up – meat, cheese, seasonings, spices, baking supplies . . . lots of stuff that I like to get when we are in town!  I now have a very full freezer and pantry!

With our shopping complete, we made one last stop at Davis Mercantile so I could look around at Lolly’s Fabrics (I hardly ever buy anything there because the store is just so overwhelming!).

Lastly, we had to have an afternoon snack – pretzels from Jo Jo’s!  No trip to Shipshewana is complete without a pretzel from Jo Jo’s!  They were delicious, as usual!

That was a good day!

As we travelled around Amish country, we tried to find as many of the Quilt Gardens as we could . . . when I remembered to look for them!

I missed the one in Nappanee the previous weekend, but we drove through Wakarusa on our way back to Elkhart and I was able to get a picture of both a garden and a mural.

Some of the gardens are easier to photograph than others, depending on how the garden bed is constructed.  Somebody suggesting having a selfie stick to get better photos – that’s a pretty good idea, but I don’t have one . . . or very long arms, either!

We also stopped in at the Wakarusa Dime Store, which is just a big candy store that specializes in candies from our childhoods, and giant jelly beans.  We didn’t buy anything, though.

One afternoon we drove around Elkhart, looking for the quilt gardens.  Some of them were difficult to find . . .the map isn’t completely accurate!

We found them eventually, though . . .

Main Street had a garden,

and a couple of murals, although not quilt murals.

Along the Riverwalk, we found another garden.

Another at the Ruthmere House,

and a garden and mural at the Wellfield Botanic Garden.

One last mural at the Elkhart Visitor Center.

Since Tom did not get his pie the other day, we decided to have an early dinner at home on Thursday, and then go back to the Essenhaus for the cruise-in again, and get pie for dessert.  Sounds like a good idea!

Once again, rain was threatening, and the turnout for the cruise-in was a little light.  We still saw some good cars!

And a different kind of horse power!

More Mustangs and Ford Trucks,

and a rare Falcon.

This was interesting . . . the owner said it does not go in the water!

We went into the restaurant then to get our pie . . . mmm . . . yummy!

Afterwards, we walked it off by wandering around looking for the quilt garden and mural.  Found them!

We come to this area of Indiana pretty much every year . . . but it just never gets old!  We love it!