Photo by The Joneses Here's the view from our campground. As you can see, Indiana is not nearly as spring-like as Charleston, S.C.! — — — View Larger Map
ARCHIVES: You wouldn't believe how beautiful Canada is! Wouldn't change a thing Who knew there was so much to see in South Dakota? Time is flying by — but at least we're having fun! I (heart) Hart Ranch, South Dakota Rallyin' in Goshen, Indiana A special day From friends to work to warmer temps, we're still having fun in Florida Traveling to Texas Finally, we're in Alaska! On the way to Canada Boise sure has changed a lot Escapees Rally in Wyoming Bittersweet trip through the southeast From Boy Scouts to ‘Stars on Ice’ Michigan is full of treasures Arriving in Florida Earning our ears Celebrating Christmas and New Year's in Florida and the Disney Parks Down in the Lowcountry Making our way through Minn., Wisc. and Ill. The holidays in Florida Our time in Lakeland has come to an end Couldn't have had a better time in Omaha! Arriving in Charleston A day with friends from Frederick 'Life is good' in Lakeland, Fla. Leaving Florida, and heading north Our final days in Kentucky Into the Keys Out of Charleston and off to Indiana Dreams come true in Vermont You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet in Alaska Leaving Indiana, but not before taking some of the state's best sites Idaho is full of natural treasures — and moon-like craters, too It's all about the theme parks From prairie country to beautiful views to grand 'ol Yellowstone Thunderstorms, flooding, tornados and a visit with the 'Duke' And so it begins ... Moving days for Greg and his family The gang's all here! Happy to be in Florida again Strawberries, and more strawberries 'The RV Capital of the World' From the beautiful Maine coastline down to southern Connecticut Training for our jobs at Disney World Chillin' out at 'Camp Monaco' Under the weather Back in Florida At long last, back in the area Lots to see in the 'Show Me' state With family and spectacular sights in Hailey, Idaho Look back, look ahead Back in the Lower 48 The cold weather is hitting Florida From Dallas to devastation Back on the road again Leaving Idaho and heading east Beautiful Alaska A memorable visit to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula Watch out for flying dinner rolls

We also could tell that we were much further north. Coming from Charleston, S.C., it was like "Spring in reverse’ to quote a friend of ours. In Charleston everything was in full bloom, with some of the trees already loosing their flowers. Tennessee and Kentucky showed signs of spring with some flowering trees and new leaves on the trees. In Indiana spring has yet to start.

We stayed in a campground just north of Indianapolis and you can see from the picture, the view from our motorhome shows large bare trees.

Elkhart was pretty much the same when we arrived here. We were told there was still snow on the ground two weeks ago. Now, after almost two weeks of relatively warm weather — warm for the folk from Indiana, not-so-warm for folks (us) who spent four months in Florida — the trees are having leaves and flower buds.

We are here in Elkhart to have some warranty work done on our coach. One of the slides is sacking, the awning over the door needs replacing and the large awning has a broken arm.

There are several other small things that need to be repaired or replaces. Nothing major, but certainly something to be taken care of while under warranty. Where we are is the factory service center for Holiday Rambler and they have quite the set-up. Behind the service building is a big parking lot for about 80 motorhomes with water and electricity hook-ups.

There's also a dump station to empty the tanks; even a laundry. All this is free for RVers who have repair work done. In the morning, (at 6:30 a.m.!), the assigned mechanic picked up the coach to take it to the service bays. Since they keep our "home" for the day they provide us with a room to spend the day. There is a TV, puzzles, books, computer hookups and comfy couches and chairs. Our Gretchen was welcome there also.

We met many full-timers, some of them had been here before — they prefer to have any repair work done by the factory service center. Since all of us own a Holiday Rambler product we had a lot in common and many experiences to share.

In the afternoon, the coaches were returned to the parking lot and several of us sat outside and had Happy Hour. Also discussing what was done right/wrong that day.We were scheduled for three days, but spent five days there. We also ordered a dining room table and a wooden headboard. The table we have is nice but to small. They give us four chairs, but there is no way to seat four people at the table. So, we are going to have an Amish carpenter build us a table with a leaf — it will be large enough to have four for dinner and also to play cards. I don’t like the covered headboard that is in here; a wooden one will look so much better.

Elkhart is located in the northern part of Indiana, almost at the Michigan border. Elkhart County is called the RV Capital – it is the acknowledged home of the worldwide RV Industry. There are more than 20 RV manufacturers here, as well as manufacturers who supply parts used in building an RV. The factory for the Holiday Ramblers is in Wakarusa just south of Elkhart. We visited the factory last week and it was very interesting to see how these coaches are built. The chassis’ are built in Elkhart next to the service center and then transported to the plant.

At the plant the coach is put together with the cabinets, couches, tables, etc, as well as the wiring (I have never seen to many rolls of wire), pipes, appliances etc. and then by huge hoists put on top of the chassis. The whole process is truly amazing, unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures.

We spent most of the week around the service center.

On Sunday we drove to Michigan City at Lake Michigan, and went to the National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes Park. One of the dunes is moving into the land at a very fast pace. The dune looks just like the sand dune in Kitty Hawk that I climbed several years ago. This dune we were not allowed to climb. To get to the beach we had to climb up a trail. It was such an overcast, cold and windy day, that once we were on the top, looking at Lake Michigan, we had enough and went back to the car.

This week we are at the fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana for a rally.