Leaving Indiana after 6 weeks of fun & friends

Wednesday, September 29th, we left Elkhart Campground about 10:00am heading for Anderson, IN and Timberline Valley RV Park. We had a pretty uneventful trip. Only a couple of stops for fuel and drinks.

We arrived at Timberline Valley RV Park 2:00 and got all checked in. We noticed a man that came in the office at the same time as us and he looked very familiar…

We went to our site and began setting up and he was parking right next to us…Mac and him started talking and we finally figured out who it was!!  It was Bill Joyce and Diane Melde! We visited for a while and then went on in to our own RV’s. What a small world this is.

Thursday, we went in to Indianapolis to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. This is a great museum!

We also took a ride around the track…it is huge!

Friday, we packed up again and headed to Shepherdsville, KY to Grandma’s RV Park. We had just pulled in to our site and started setting when we looked up and saw Chuck & Kathy pulling right next to us. We didn’t even know that they were headed this way!!! What a great surprise!

Saturday we decided to go take a tour of the Jim Beam & Maker’s Mark Distilleries. The Jim Beam Distillery is very large but we were not allowed in the actual Distillery. We were shown a replica of a still….

 

and were told that the evaporation from the barrels leaves a fungus on the buildings and trees. They have a hard time keeping their vehicles clean. This evaporation is called “The Angels Share”…

We were taken in to one of the warehouses that store some of the barrels..wow…there are LOTS of them in there…and that is just a small amount of what is in all their other warehouses.

After leaving Jim Beam, we headed out to find Maker’s Mark Distillery. The GPS must not have been real sure where we were going because she took us on a very scenic route….but we did get to see some men harvesting Tobacco…that’s something we had never seen before.

We arrived at Maker’s Mark…now this is a much smaller Distillery than Jim Beam, but the tour was really nice. They took us through the whole process of making their Bourbon. We went from grinding the grain clear through to the assembly line where they bottle the Bourbon and seal the bottles with wax. We didn’t actually see them doing this since they don’t work on Saturday’s, but it was a more in depth tour than Jim Beam’s.

Sunday we just kicked back and relaxed since we were expecting Kevin & Arlene to arrive sometime after lunch. They arrived and got all set up…Kathy had put a roast and all the fixings in the crockpot and I added the salad and we all had a very nice dinner together…Thanks Kathy!

I had been feeling kind of pukey for a couple of days and not feeling better,so on Monday the rest of the gang headed out to see the Slugger Museum in Louisville and I stayed at the RV to rest up. Sounds like they had a great time.

When they got back, I decided to join them on the short trip to the General Patton Museum at Fort Knox. It was interesting, but not really a lot there.

Today, after breakfast,

we all jumped in the pickup and headed to Louisville to take the tour of The Kentucky Derby Museum and Churchill Downs. It was amazing to see all of the displays…

and to see the guys racing against each other…lol.

Then we were off on the tour of Churchill Downs. This place is huge. It makes you want to close your eyes so you can hear the horses come thundering down the track.

It just surprises me that all the seating is metal folding chairs in the bottom area…I guess it is better than bench seating…lol

We went in to the Derby Cafe and got something to drink and then we were off to our next destination….Brooks Hill Winery. We tasted a few types of wine and Arlene bought some Riesling, and I bought some Cherry-Cranberry Wine. We’ll have to drink that while we are at Defeated.

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving Grandma’s and head toward Defeated Creek COE in Carthage, TN to spend 2 weeks with several of our friends…

Stay tuned to our upcoming adventures in TN…

(((HUGS)))

Just Hanging Out

Not much going on around here…we have just been hanging out and relaxing.

Friday, we picked up the RV from the Heartland Factory and went through our repair list with Steve Kennel. They were amazing! They had fixed everything on our list, plus a few other things that we didn’t even know about. We parked back at Elkhart Campground for the few days that we were going to still be here.

Our plans were to leave on Monday morning, but we put it off until Tuesday. We told Kevin & Arlene goodbye and with plans to meet again in a few days…

and off they go…

We decided to go over to Goshen and have lunch with Chuck & Kathy. Well, we picked them up at the Dodge dealer where they were having some repair work done and we were off to lunch. After lunch we headed over to Hobby Lobby to do a little Retail Therapy…lol

Trees are sure starting to change colors here…and the temps are dropping. Time for us to think about heading a little farther south.

Well when we got back to Elkhart I said to Mac…”Let’s just stay and leave on Wednesday.” and he agreed…..where else do we have to be??? We don’t have to be anywhere until Oct 6th for Lisa’s Campout.

I made a big pot of Broccoli & Cheese Noodle soup to eat on the next couple of days, along with the batch of Goulash that I had made on Sunday. Now we don’t have to cook for a few days…sigh….

We will be leaving Elkhart, IN tomorrow morning heading to the Indianapolis area. We will be staying in an RV Park in Anderson, IN. It is about 20 miles north & east of Indy. We will be there for Wednesday & Thursday nights. We are hoping to spend Thursday exploring the area.

On Friday, we will take off to Shepherdsville, KY, just south of Louisville for 5 days. We will meet up with Kevin & Arlene, and also Bill Donovan, an RV-Dreams friend.

We plan on visiting the Slugger Museum, Coca Cola Museum, Kentucky Derby Museum, and a few Distilleries while in the area. There are some other things we want to see if we have the time.

Stay tuned for our adventures in Indy and then on to Kentucky…

(((HUGS)))

Lunches with Friends and a Trip to Lake Michigan

…but first I need to back up a few days and catch ya’ll up. Last time I posted we were just getting started on the Escapade…wow, has that been 2 weeks ago already. How time flies.

We had a great time at the Escapade with several breakfasts, lunches & dinners out with friends, lots of card playing, and a few seminars thrown in. Mac won one of the Door Prizes on the 2nd night. He won a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Camping World…I’m gonna enjoy spending it for him…lol.

We had our final Happy Hour at Keith & Donna’s MH on Friday, Sept 17th before everyone started down the road in separate directions. We met Larry and Melissa Beahm, who are a musical act that played at the Escapade…they are very talented. Melissa’s maiden name is McHenry and was curious if her and Mac may be related!Maybe we will find that out.

On Sunday, we packed the RV up and got things ready to move into the motel later in the day.Our RV had to be taken to the Heartland  Factory on Monday morning to have some repairs done. We got all settled in the Jameson Inn….already not liking that we are away from our own bed.

Monday, we took the RV to the factory and just went back to the motel and kicked back. It sure was nice not having to do anything….just resting.

Tuesday, we met Chuck & Kathy in Shipshewana for lunch at the Dutchmaid Diner and then on to a little bit of shopping…Retail Therapy as our friend JB says.

We sure didn’t add to the towns income for the day. After a little shopping, we headed over to the Menno-hof Museum. This is a wonderful place to learn the history of the Anabaptist….Mennonites, Amish.

This is from the Menno-hof website: Click here for website

Menno-Hof is a non-profit information center that teaches visitors about the faith and life of Amish and Mennonites. Located in Shipshewana, Indiana, Menno-Hof invites groups and individuals to learn about and experience Anabaptist history and lifestyle. Menno-Hof’s multi-image presentations, historical environments, and colorful displays take you on a fascinating journey inside the unique world of the Mennonites and Amish. See where the Anabaptists had their beginning in a Swiss courtyard and how they were persecuted for their faith in the dungeon. Travel with the Anabaptists down the cobblestone streets of Holland and board a 17th century sailing boat on a journey to America and freedom. Take a virtual tour for a glimpse of what Menno-Hof has to offer.

 

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It was very interesting and I learned a lot that I did not know.

On Wednesday we headed back to Shipshewana to have lunch with Ed & Marilyn Dray at the Blue Gate Restaurant.

We haven’t seen them since last February in the RGV. We had a nice long visit and then parted ways with promises to meet up again next time we are close.

After lunch we went over to the Flea Market to walk off the lunch we had. I finally found the booth with the bowls that Kathy had told me about and bought a few.

On the way back to Elkhart we stopped at the Rise’ n Roll Bakery. They were about out of everything, which is a good thing, but we did manage to buy a container of their special Cinnamon Caramel Donut Holes. OMG these are wonderful. They just melt in your mouth!

Today, we were going to go over to Lake Michigan and look around.

My first Michigan Barn…

 

the colors are starting to change…it is sure getting pretty.

We didn’t leave until about noon, but it was a pretty short drive and we stopped in New Buffalo and headed for the City Beach first. You could almost think that you were on an ocean beach. No land in sight on the other side…wow.

 

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After looking around, we headed back toward Elkhart with a stop in in South Bend, IN and also in Mishawaka. We had dinner at Five Guys Hamburgers…we love that place. It was a great day, and now we are back at the Motel trying to get things ready to pick up our RV in the morning and get it over to the RV Park for the weekend.

I think that about catches us up through today…Stay tuned for more adventures!!

(((HUGS)))

Ending of Gypsy Journal Rally & on to Escapade

Sorry everyone…I am really far behind in my blog. I think the last I had written was about the Hoosier Honey Contest.

Well the rest of the week passed really fast with a few seminars and lots of Happy Hours with friends.

We went out to dinner a few times…Lunkers, Bob Evans, El Camino, just to name a few of them.

We also made a trip to Goshen to have Breakfast with several friends. Everyone was following different directions from their GPS and it took a while for us all to get there…lol, but we had a great time and yummy food!

We picked up the new Desk/Dinette from Focal Wood and had it installed…we Love it!!

Before we knew it, it was time to start getting things ready to travel a whole 12 miles over to Goshen, IN for the Escapees 50th Escapade. When we came back from having our desk installed, we just stayed hooked up so we didn’t have much to do on Friday morning, September 10th.

There were four in the group that had full hookups and we took off about 7:30am…the other groups broke off in to 2 groups since there were about 11 of them…I borrowed this photo from Dortha…Thanks Dortha!!

everyone made it to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds safely. Mac & I got the RV backed in to our site, but didn’t get anything set up…Mac was having a really hard time breathing and was really laboring to get any air…after much discussion I talked him in to going to the hospital…we jumped in to Dortha’s Jeep but before we could even put it in gear, Mac decided that that form of transportation was not going to work. He was really hot and it made his breathing issues worse. So some friends of ours on the parking crew called 911 for us and gave them instructions on where we were.

The ambulance came to pick up Mac and we were off to the hospital with Dortha & Arlene following behind to give us some needed support. After several tests, X-Rays and a picture of Mac’s Heart the doctor determined that he was not in A-Fib as we thought but had fluid built up in his lungs and around his heart…Congestive Heart Failure were the words he used. Mac was given a large dose of Lasix and we waited for him to rid himself of some of those fluids. After about 5 hours at the hospital he was released to go back to the RV.

We want to say Thanks so much to all of our friends that helped get Mac ready to go to the hospital and the ones that set up our RV while we were at the hospital…the Medics crew here at the campground, Bud Carr, Mark, Kevin, Donnie, Bob, Molly, Paul, Connie, and of course Arlene & Dortha for being at the hospital with me..and if there was anyone I forgot to mention…Thank You All So Much!

Saturday he was back to his normal ornery self and ready to get on with the Rally. We walked around the Hospitality Room and went to the Vendor’s Pre-Rally Sale.

Sunday was opening Ceremonies and several of us set together for that. After that we attended the Class of 2007 Happy Hour. We were surprised by Howard & Linda Payne of RV-Dreams. They saw that a lot of the RV-Dreamers were attending the Rally and they were only about 6 hours away so decided to come and see us.

Also, they were asked to sit on a panel for Full-Time Discussion on Monday night. Mark & Dortha Hall were also on that panel.

Monday all of us kind of went our separate ways..seminars, shopping, and just doing nothing. It was a pretty emotional day for me…it was the one year anniversary of my mother’s passing, so I was pretty weepy all day. Mac took Shadow to the Vet again. He is just not feeling very good. The Vet gave him a Steroid shot and he is doing better. Several of us met for dinner at Lux Cafe for dinner and then attended the Full-Time Discussion Group.

Today, we went back to Focal Wood to pick up the Coffee Table that Carlyle had made for us. It wasn’t ready last week when we went to have the Desk/Dinette installed.

Mac is attending a seminar on RV Electrical Systems so I am trying to get this blog written…I am sure that I have forgotten a lot of things we did, but I haven’t taken any photos since we have been here at Escapade…Mac has taken the few we have.

Stay tuned, the week has just started….there’s lots more fun to be had here in Goshen, IN at the Escapade.

(((HUGS)))