Photo by The Joneses Touchdown Jesus! This is just one of the awesome sites we took in at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. SLIDE SHOW: The best Indiana has to offer — — — 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

Before we left Indiana we spent another four days at the Holiday Rambler Service Center — we called it the “Holiday Rambler Campground” — to finish the warranty repairs. The table and headboard we had ordered were delivered and installed. Both items are very well made and just what I wanted. This table is so much more practical than the one that came with the RV. The headboard looks so much better than the old one — check out the pictures.

While in Elkhart we visited the University of Notre Dame, home of the Fighting Irish in South Bend. What a beautiful campus with two lakes and wooded areas! It was founded in 1842 by Father Edward F. Sorin, a young French missionary, and seven other brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross order. We were told that Notre Dame is among the top 20 universities in the country. It also is one of a handful of truly national universities — its student body comes from all over the country. Admission is highly competitive with more than five applicants for each freshman class position, and 85 percent of the students are Catholic.

There is one building — I think it is library — that has a large mosaic of Jesus with his arms outstretched. They call it the ‘Touchdown Jesus’ because when the stadium was enlarged several years ago it now looks like the Jesus is overlooking the stadium making the sign “Touchdown.”

It was a nice sunny spring day and the last day of classes.We walked all over the campus enjoying the beautiful buildings and watch the various activities of the students. Several groups were setting up for parties. I bet there was much partying and celebrating going on that evening.

On campus we visited the Basilica — absolutely beautiful - it reminded me of some of the old European churches I have seen when living in Germany. We attended mass there on Pentecost. It was truly an inspirational and touching service.

Another interesting place we visited was the RV Hall of Fame. Quite an appropriate museum for this area, called the RV capital of the country. They had many old — and when I say old — I mean old — campers. There was one there from 1913 – nothing more than an old truck with an area for a bed, table and cooking area.

One of the campers looked exactly like the one in one of Lucy Ball’s shows. I could just imagine Lucy hanging on to the door. There was one that a family lived in for 44 years while traveling from job to job. I guess we can call them the ‘First Full-timers’.

When we left Indiana I was a little sad. I had came to really like this Amish region; it is so much like the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area.

On the last weekend there was an auction on the fairground and from our window we saw a row of parked Amish buggies.

While driving to Kentucky we were getting low on fuel and looked for a gas station. We have this book called ‘Exits’ that shows what is on every exit of the Interstates throughout the county. Well, this one we selected wasn’t there (or we missed it) and we ended up driving on a road that took us downtown Indianapolis.

The RV with the Honda CRV behind is very long and we can’t just turn around anywhere. So, Ralph kept on driving, not happy to say the least, until our GPS brought us back to the Interstate. I was proud of Ralph — he did great with all the downtown traffic. I told him that this was good experience for him, but he said he could have really done without it!!