Saturday Night Races in Senoia

From Warm Springs, we made our way north to the little town of Senoia – and it turned out to be a rather prosperous little town.

Apparently, the movie industry has moved into Georgia, and Senoia is a popular town for filming movies.  There are plaques set into the sidewalk all around town, listing the movies that have been filmed here, and in what year.

I guess “The Walking Dead” is also filmed in the area – since there is a store and coffee shop dedicated to the show!

 

There are also several restaurants, and lots of antique shops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked along the main street, checking out the little shops and interesting items we saw in them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s an interesting bike, huh??!!

One of the antique shops had really attractive displays, and some unique items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With all of the history and shopping all day, we worked up quite an appetite . . . it was time for some pizza!

Matt’s Smalltown Pizza was bigger than it looked from the outside, and the pizza and salad bar were both delicious!  A great choice!

 

While we were finishing up our dinner, there was a sudden downpour outside!  We were able to wait it out, but we hoped it didn’t put a damper on the rest of our plans for the evening . . .

Hot laps were scheduled to start at 7pm, with racing at 7:30.  We arrived around 6:30, just as the rain was ending.  There was a large crowd already gathered, and the radar on our phones indicated that the rest of the storms should stay south of us, so we headed into the grandstand and found a place to sit.

Good thing we had picnic blankets in the trunk, since the concrete grandstand seating was wet, and we hadn’t thought to bring chairs!

We were ready for the action to start, but we would have a little wait!

It took a little extra time, but they got the track smoothed out and dried up somewhat.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After sending the cars around to help with drying out the track,

 

the action finally got started around 8:30.

Bryce and Caroline had their own little competition going to see who could pick the winner in each race . . . let’s just say it wasn’t a good night for Bryce!!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That red Georgia clay was pretty slick and slippery . . . and it made for an exciting night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rain held off, and we all had a fun time!  Thanks for meeting up with us – John, Andrea & Caroline!

Black Mountain, North Carolina

 

We’ve been having a lot a fun at the Reunion Rally – visiting with old and new friends, comparing notes on travels, campgrounds, motorhomes, and just about anything else we could think of. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday, we took a little break from the fun to get some laundry done, and then met up with Don & Lois, Don & Cheryl, and Cheryl’s sister and niece in the nearby town of Black Mountain.

 

Black Mountain is a cute little town with a variety of small shops and restaurants.

 

Many of the rally attendees have visited the town on one of many “foodie tours” during the week.  Non of us had signed up for any of the tours, so we had to plan our own visit.

 

We met in the lot next to the Visitor Center, and walked to the shopping district.

 

Don was in such a hurry to get shopping that he ignored the light and crossed the street on a “Do Not Walk” signal.  There was a Sherriff's car at the corner, and we made such a ruckus yelling at Don, that we got his attention.

He called Don & Lois over to his car to remind them of the definition of jay-walking!

 

We stopped in several shops,

as we walked up and down the streets.

 

 

 

We weren’t really looking for anything, just window-shopping, but I did find a nice 20” sterling silver chain for the “Navy Mom” pendant that Nicolas had given me for Mother’s Day.

All that shopping and walking made us hungry, so we looked for a place for dinner.  There were a lot of choices, but we ultimately decided on pizza at My Fathers Pizza & Pasta. 

It was a good choice – the pizza was great!

And after dinner . . . we still had room for ice cream!

Amish Country . . . horses, and more horses!

We left western Michigan last week, and headed south into Indiana for a few days.  Nicolas has been waiting all year to get back to the Albanese Confectionary – to get his gummi bears!

We had thought we would stay near Indiana Dunes for a few days, but the weather wasn’t looking too good for the week ahead, and we weren’t very impressed with the campground we had picked out, either.

 

We decided to move on down the road to the “Last Resort” and just stay one night – then continue on to Shipshewana for the next 2 nights. Even if it rained, there would be plenty to do in Shipshewana!

This campground wasn’t a whole lot better than the other one (and just as expensive – $43!), but at least we were parked on gravel if it rained . . . and it did!

 

 

After getting set up, we headed out to Albanese . . . Nicolas needed to get his “fix” and we had orders to fill, too!  As we traveled west, we suddenly found ourselves in a downpour!

This was our view out the windshield for the next 10 minutes!

I think I would have stopped and pulled over, but Tom kept moving, with Nicolas and I spotting the side of the road for him . . . thankfully, we were moving towards the weather, so the more we drove, the sooner we got through it!

We finally drove out of the rain, and there were flooded roads all over!  The ditches were full, the median was flooded, and lots of the cross streets, too!  Luckily, we were on a main highway, and the water drained off pretty well.

We had arrived!

We found everything we had come for, and headed back to the campground for dinner.  After the storms passed, we had a beautiful sunset, and I took a walk around the park to get some pictures.

Our site --

Sunset over the lake --

After the storms had passed, it turned into a beautiful evening!

The next morning, we packed up and headed east again.  Our destination was Shipshewana, but we stopped in Nappanee, at Camp Newmar, so Tom could talk to some folks about motorhomes.  I spent the day working while he and Nick shopped motorhomes and went on the factory tour . . . again . . . for about the 5th time!  How much can it change??

When they were done, we continued on to the Shipshewana South Campground.  We’ve stayed here every year for about the last 4 or 5 years, so we quickly got parked and set up after we arrived.

We had some dinner and took a drive into town to see what was open – according to the magazine we picked up in the office, many of the shops were open until 8pm, including Jo-Jo’s Pretzels and the Hawaiian Ice Shop.  Unfortunately, the magazine didn’t have its facts straight (come to think of it, this same magazine made us 30 minutes late for mass last year!!), and everything was closed!  Oh well, pretzels and Hawaiian ice will have to wait until tomorrow!

Back at the campground, we took a walk and met some of the neighhhh-bors!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were more horses on the other side of the campground, too.

Tom joined a group at the community firepit for the evening, and I got some laundry done.

When I was done with work on Thursday, we did our normal shopping (E&S Bulk Store, Yoder Meat Store, Yoder Popcorn Store, Guggisburg Cheese Factory) and finally got our snacks – pretzels and Hawaiian ice, and we even managed to tour another motorhome factory!

One of the manufacturers that we are interested in is Travel Supreme.  They went out of business during the downturn, but were purchased by Jayco and are now being manufactured under the Entegra nameplate (since about 2010).  We probably won’t buy anything that new, but it was nice to see how they are made, anyway.  Nice coaches!

After dinner, we took a drive to Middlebury, where every Thursday night there is a “Cruise-in” at the Essenhaus. 

We weren’t expecting much in this Amish community, but we were surprised when we arrive and saw the lawn and parking lots filled with hot rods and muscle cars!

It ended at 8pm, and there were already a few cars leaving when we arrived at 7:00, so we had to move pretty quickly through the cars!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There always seems to be a row of Mustangs to entice Nicolas . . .

and a VW Bug for Bryce!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this little camper was adorable!!

There were some really old cars, too . . .

 

and they looked great!

As we walked through the displays, we could hear many of the cars starting up and heading out, and every once in a while, somebody would do a burnout as they left the driveway. 

 

Tom and the boys headed out to the edge of the road to watch . . . and encourage the drivers to show off a little!

 

 

 

Some of them did – mostly younger guys!

But most of them were just out to enjoy a cruise on this beautiful evening!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We weren’t the only ones out enjoying the evening!

It was another great visit to Shipshewana . . . and we didn’t even get any rain these 2 days!!