Pre Rally Gathering and Rally gets Started

Thursday we all got up and gathered…we were going to the RV and MH Hall of Fame. This is a great place to see all the history of RV’s.

 

It started out with a video…then we were all on our own to browse through all of the exhibits.

There were Travel Trailers, Motor Homes, and 5thWheels from all shapes and sizes.

We had to take a little time out for some fun…Donna, Marcia, and me…

After going through the Museum we all were hungry and had different places we wanted to go, so we separated in to groups and had our own lunches and activities for the day.

 

We gathered again later for Happy Hour…this seems to be a daily occasion. Friday we just hung out and had Happy Hour..then 8 couples went to the clubhouse to play Hand & Foot…and I am happy to say that the ladies won at all 4 tables!!  WooHoo!

 

Saturday, Mac & I and Kevin & Arlene headed over to Shipshewana to have lunch and visit a few of the shops over there.

We had lunch at the Blue Gate Restaurant. Mac had homemade Chicken & Noodles, Arlene and I had the Roasted Turkey Dinner, and Kevin had the Fried Chicken Dinner…OH my goodness…it was really good. We also took a slice of pie home for later.

Sunday, Mac and I headed out to do a little shopping…he has volunteered to be in a Beauty Contest on Tuesday and needed to find himself an outfit…lol. I won’t go in to that now…photos to follow later in the blog.

 

Monday, the Gypsy Journal Rally started so we went and registered and walked through the Vendor Booths.Later we went out to Focal Wood to check on the status of our desk/dining table and for Chuck & Kathy to pick up their dining chairs that were finished. We will be having our desk/table installed on Sept 9th and I will post photos of it after that.

Of course Happy Hour followed all of this..lol. Our good friend Jim Beletti, Director of  Heartland Owner Interests arrived today and bought 10 Pizzas for all of us to enjoy for Happy Hour.

He is a really nice guy!!

Tuesday, I went to a seminar about aircards and things you can do to boost the power…didn’t really learn anything that I already knew.

Tonight was the Hoosier Honey Beauty Contest that Mac had volunteered to participate in…well the photos tell the story…Mac didn’t win, but is was soo much fun, and they raised $450.00 for the Escapees Care program.

and the winner is…Jim Guld

Click link to view the video of the contest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIuLgUDa8R4

After the Contest we headed back to our RV and set around with friends and then headed over to Jim’s RV…he was making Margarita’s…

Wednesday morning Mac & I had volunteered to be Door Monitors for a couple of seminars so we were off to be door police at 10:30. After we were finished we went to lunch with Keith & Donna, Kevin & Arlene, and Chuck & Kathy. Now it is sprinkling so not sure what the rest of the day will be…

Stay tuned to our Indiana Adventures…

(((HUGS)))

Arriving in Elkhart Indiana…

Sunday morning we were up and on the road headed to our destination of Elkhart, IN. We are caravanning with Kevin & Arlene. The trip was pretty uneventful. The roads were really bad due to road construction and the traffic was a little heavy south of the Chicago area.

We pulled in to The Elkhart Campground around 1:30 and were welcomed with lots of hugs from friends were are meeting here for the Gypsy Journal Rally. Donna & Keith and Jim & Ellie and Mark & Dortha prepared dinner of Hamburgers, Brats, Hamburgers, salads, and dessert for us since we traveled today…Thank you so much! It was very nice not having to worry about dinner. We sat and visited until it started getting dark and the mosquitoes drove us all inside.

 

Monday some of us headed out to RV Distributors, which is an RV Surplus store. We looked around but didn’t find much that we needed…some extensions for our downspouts. Back at the campground we just hung out. Our other good friends, Donnie & Karen and Chuck & Kathy had arrived so the rest of us prepared dinner for them…we had grill your own choice of meat and salads, and some yummy desserts. We all got caught up. Talked until the bugs drove us all inside again…seems to be a pattern here..lol.

 

 

Tuesday, we were all going to Shipshewana to the Flea Market. We rode with Chuck & Kathy with Kevin & Arlene following. We had decided to stop at the Rise and Roll for a sandwich before going to the Market.

That place is very dangerous. They have fresh pastries, donuts, cake, cookies, fresh Wheat bread, and much, much more. We had our sandwiches and bought some Apple Fritters, and some Wheat bread and were off to the Market. We didn’t stay long because we had a Baked Potato Supper planned with Molly & Bob and Jim & Dee coming over from Goshen to join us. We passed by some Amish houses and farmers working their fields…

Then we were back at the campground…

 

We had a great meal and Mark & Dortha, Jim & Ellie, and Jim & Dee were adopted into the Escapees Class of 2007.

Lots of story telling and jokes being told….but eventually the darkness and mosquitoes got the best of us.

Wednesday we were up and were going to go out to Focal Wood to look at some Desk/Dining Table options that we wanted for the RV. We have heard about this place and the owner, Carlyle Lehman, from many of our friends and we wanted to check it out. We were going to ride with Chuck & Kathy because they had chairs that they needed to pick up.

So before we could head out there…Mac realized that our truck was leaking water from the radiator, at least that’s what he thought….so they followed us to the Ford Dealer so we could drop the truck off to be looked at.

Now we were headed toward Focal Wood but decided to stop and have a sandwich at “The Red Barn'” which is a huge building with booths set up inside. This place is beautiful and sadly it will be closing its doors on September 4th due to slow business…

Chuck having a donut…lol

we looked around for a few minutes…these are photos of the building and how it was being built…amazing

and then headed out to our main destination…Focal Wood. We talked to Carlyle, and then decided to order the desk/table unit and also a small coffee table. I have included a photo of one of his units. Ours will look similar to this only in the Cherry stain.

We decided that we better get started back toward Elkhart because we were having a Mexican food potluck for dinner, but first we wanted to see the Elkhart Fairgrounds where the Escapees Escapade will be starting on September 12th. We drove over to the fairgrounds and stopped to see Bob & Molly for a few minutes. Back at the campground we got our food prepared and had a wonderful dinner. Lots of visiting and laughing going on again…it wasn’t the bugs that ran us inside, but the chilly air…

and no one could find the Banana Pudding…uh oh..there it is…Donnie was finishing it off…lol

Today we are going to the RV and MH Hall of Fame Museum. This should be fun. Also, we need to pick up our truck sometime today…

 

Stay tuned for more adventures from Elkhart, Indiana…

(((HUGS)))