Saturday, May 30, 2015

We headed to South Bend, IN to visit the Notre Dame campus.  It was rainy, but we thought we would take a chance - the weather in northern Indiana seemed to change rather quickly, so you can't let a little precipitation impact your plans.

We parked at the campus bookstore and found an information office. There was a lot of history available to study about the school, but we opted to explore while we could.  The nice young lady at the information desk gave us a map and recommended a few "must see" buildings.  The administration building had a central atrium that rivaled many of the state capitol buildings we have visited.

The Main Building was built in 1879.  The yellow bricks of the early buildings were made from materials dredged from the two lakes on campus.

There are 12 historic Christopher Columbus murals painted in the 1880s by Italian artist Luigi Gregori.

Gregori also painted the figures of arts and science on the ceiling of the rotunda.

The newer buildings maintained a level of detail that matched the craftsmanship of the older ones.  The information girl told us about the special efforts taken to create bricks for this building that matched the others around campus.  The same was obvious in the stonework framing the windows.  

The Kresge Law Library was built in 1930.

We saw at least four couples having wedding pictures taken around the campus and most, if not all, had ceremonies in the basilica.  We had to wait for the conclusion of one wedding before we could enter. The basilica was truly a work of art inside and out.   

Basilica of the Sacred Heart built in 1892

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Every Wednesday the Shipshewana auction house comes alive.  Pat and Brian, our ACA friends, said they were going, so we decided to watch a little of the action, too.  What a crowd!  The place was packed with the sort of stuff you might see neglected at garage sales - that's right - I judged it to be mostly junk.  Of course, one man's junk is another man's treasure, so a lot of it sold.

There were auction callers stationed all around the building working each of several lots at the same time.  It made for a very loud, very confused environment.  Seasoned buyers knew how to tune out everything but whatever had captured their fancy.

Back outside, the atmosphere was blissfully calm and quiet.  We milled around looking at the junk somebody must have bought at previous auctions.  The sign below caught my attention since our daughter just moved to Oregon (presumably a haven for the free-spirited).

The novel home-made ice cream stand made me think of the pocketa-pocketa-pocketa sound Walter Mitty always heard in his daydreams. There were not a lot of takers and it was plenty warm enough for ice cream, so it must have been his pricing.

Excellent advice anytime!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

We made arrangements to tour the Entegra Coach factory with fellow American Coach owners Pat and Brian.  They also stayed in the area after the ACA rally for a few days before heading to a Fleetwood Motorhome Association (FMA) rally in Decatur, IN.

Entegra Coach is a division of Jayco located in Middlebury, IN.  There was a total of eight of us on the tour.  The sales representative, Ted, did an outstanding job of showing us the production line and highlighting what made the Entegra unique.  We started with the basic Spartan chassis.  The production crew was finished for the day so it was quiet and we barraged Ted with a million questions.

The coaches on the line were the 2016 models and we were told they had a number of substantial changes that were being kept under wraps for another two weeks.  When we reached the end of the tour, Ted showed us a couple finished units.  The Anthem really impressed us with its floor plan and features.  Entegra seemed to be very well built and I expect to see a lot of them in the future.

Joani captured a bit of lawyer induced craziness with the display below warning not to use the outside television while the coach was in motion, duh! 

After the long and enjoyable tour, we headed to the Blue Gate Restaurant in Shipshewana for some great Amish style cooking.  They used a pressure cooker for the fried chicken making it crispy and delicious and it was served "family style".  That's code for "I ate too much". 

Of course, after eating until we were full, we still managed to top it all off with a little slice of pie.  I don't believe I have ever seen meringue piled quite so high on a lemon pie.

On the trip home, we were treated to a beautiful post-storm cloud display.

Friday, May 22 through Sunday, May 24, 2015

The American Coach Association rally continued Friday and Saturday and we enjoyed more of the same great food and socializing.  I forgot my camera most of the time, so there were no pictures to share.

I bought all of the filters required to service the coach engine (I was reminded "when you play with the big boys you pay with the big boys" - $270 worth of filters including the "rally discount").

Dinner on Saturday night was fantastic.  The perfectly cooked roast was paired with the best twice baked potato I have ever had.  Even the green beans were excellent.  And the skewer of shrimp topped it all off.  You might think I was just really hungry - making everything taste great, but I heard the same thing from a lot of others.  We skipped the entertainment in favor of a quiet night in the coach.

Sunday morning my neighbor fired up at 6:00 am.  Since he was parked with his engine less than 10 feet from our bedroom window, it was quite a rude awakening.  I took Sam out for a long walk and said goodbye to a few of the early risers.  I did not envy those who planned on driving 500 miles or more to get home.

Our drive was one of our shortest.  Since our service appointment at Spartan in Charlotte was not until June 3rd, we decided to return to Grand View Bend outside Howe, IN. It was only 30.2 miles (74,238.0 total) and since we didn't get lost, it was nearly 5 miles shorter than our trip over to the rally,  When we arrived, the park looked completely different.  The pool was open and there were people everywhere enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend.

We set up in the same site we had a week ago and settled in for a quiet week.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

After breakfast, we attended the Microwave-Convection Cooking seminar with Janet Sadlack.  We have seen her before at a couple of previous rallies and found her to be very informative.  I'm not sure we have used the gas oven since she showed us how to use the convection oven features on our convection-microwave oven.  We still need to try the mix of both modes, but we haven't found the right recipe yet.

Lunch was a BBQ including pulled pork, burgers and dogs with baked beans and coleslaw.

Most RVers travel with a pet or two.  I love it when the mascot really enjoys the lifestyle too!  Below you can see Sharon and Loren's diva, Thelma, keeping watch over their coach as we returned from lunch.

Part of the southeast chapter was lined up with a view of the riding ring.  It looked nice, but it sure caused trouble when it was time to leave - all of these coaches were blocked by coaches parked behind them (including us).

You can see below how our coach did not line up with everyone else at least until Jim and Alva arrived and followed our lead.  Our coach was sandwiched between Jim and Alva on our right and Steve and Linda on our left.

Loren and Sharon invited us to dinner with the Great Lakes Chapter at Dandino's.  It was really good food with a great atmosphere.  Of course, I think a lot of the noise was due to the 20+ rowdy folks in our group.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

After a hearty ACA breakfast, we took in a seminar given by RV historian, AL Hesselbart, on the history of RVs.  I learned the term Motorhome was not used until 1958 when someone objected to the name house car.  The Hunt housecar that we had just seen at the RV/MH Hall of Fame Museum in Elkhart made it into the presentation as well as an RV built in a helicopter.  The helicopter had to provide an unmatched level of mobility - just think of the places you could camp if roads were no limitation.

The 1937 Hunt Housecar had an interesting history.  It is famed for having the first working RV shower.

In the 1970s, the Itasca Division of Winnebago Industries actually built, certified, and sold the flying and floating Heli-Camper.  They were priced in the $300,000 range ($1,829,373.71 in 2015 dollars)

People volunteered to show off their homes in a parade of American Coaches through the years.  The oldest was a well cared for 1994 Eagle and the newest was a 2016 Eagle with all of the bells and whistles.  What a contrast!

Dinner was a "Taste of Italy".  It included lasagna but I think maybe all I should say is we did not leave hungry.

Country music singer-songwriter, Daisy Mallory (Kevin Mallory's niece) provided the entertainment for the evening.  I expect to hear a lot more from this extremely talented young lady.  She sang a lot of her own music and some from her favorite artists.  It all sounded great and I noticed most people stayed until the last song (a lot of us old folks tend to turn in early which usually means leaving before the show is over).  The band consisted of a Dobro, a bass and a guy pounding on a box (?), but they sure had a great sound backing up Daisy. 

The box is called a Cajon.  It would certainly be easier to transport than a drum set.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

It was day one of the American Coach Association Silver Jubilee National Rally.  The weather took a drastic turn overnight.  Yesterday's high 70's were replaced with low 40's this morning and a high expected to not get out of the 50's.  Our SEACA breakfast crowd was quite small.  Someone set up their propane fire pit and everyone gathered around in the kitchen area of our pavilion.

The new coaches were on display inside the main building where it was just marginally warmer.  Sheltered from the wind and excited by the new models we nearly forgot winter had returned to northern Indiana.

At dinner, Sarah Getto played a couple of her favorites - she always sounds great!

Joani and I volunteered to help at dinner.  The job was to "greet" the dinner guests as they went through the serving lines.  The job was really to make sure everyone was wearing their badge and rally pin (the official meal ticket for the rally).  I had a great time talking and joking with people as they passed by and as far as I could tell "everyone" had their badge.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Day three of the Southeast ACA pre-rally the weather was all over the place.  We had sunshine mixed with clouds and warm temperatures. When threatening skies finally started raining we were grateful for our chapter pavilion, but with the rain came some pretty impressive winds.

The horizontal rain-soaked most of the tables and everyone crowded to the dry side of the structure.  The rain was finished in just a few minutes and the sunshine returned. 

Below, the rain had almost dried and the social hour continued as if there had never been any rain.  We're pretty resilient and very little can get in the way of our happy hour! 

Sunday, May 17, 2015 - RV Hall of Fame

It was day two of the American Coach Association pre-rally.  After the ACA Southeast chapter fed us breakfast, we met up with Brian and Pat and headed out to the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN.  We arrived early and had the place to ourselves for a little while.  The very nice and knowledgeable host told us the "MH" stood for "Manufactured Housing" which surprised me (sure enough there was a 1,700 square foot manufactured home just outside that we toured).

The first hall was supported by RV manufacturers and included a model of a typical manufacturing plant.  There was one trailer restored from the 50's next to a retro model that looked much the same, at least style-wise, but it included all of today's technology.  It was a great way to display just how far the industry has come in the last 50 years.  The little Airstream below was next to a new 42-foot long fifth wheel - the difference in the room was staggering.  I sure am happy to be RVing today instead of being one of the RV pioneers of yesterday! 

In another hall, there were dozens of vintage campers and RVs (far too many to include in this blog).  The "Telescoping Apartment" below was sold aftermarket and mounted to a Model T Ford.  With the first use of "slides," it was clearly ahead of its time.  Plugging $100 into an inflation calculator tells me it would cost only $2,170.63 today.

This was my favorite early RV.  First, the box slid out of the back and was supported by lowered jacks.

Next, two boxes slid out to the sides and were also supported by extended legs.  One side was a complete kitchen and...

...on the other side was storage.  With all the sides out, it left a void in the middle just long enough for a bed. Warm water for the shower was produced by the radiator heat from the engine.  We've come a long way, baby!

The 1931 Model AA Ford Housecar, the Tennessee Traveler, had all of the conveniences of home, but I still prefer our Dream.

1954 Yellowstone Travel Trailer - this was "high-end" in its day!

The 1937 Hunt Housecar was another favorite.  It was built by Hollywood movie cinematographer and producer, Roy Hunt.  I can't say it really looked comfortable, but it was just so different that it was cool.

Mr. Renz of Missouri donated the 1974 GMC motorhome below.  He was the only owner and you can see he was one of the first FMCA members.  Our number is well over 400,000.

We milled around the Hall of Fame for a few hours thoroughly enjoying the many beautifully restored RVs and displays.  We spotted quite a few visitors wearing their ACA badges.  I suspect the Hall's attendance numbers are up whenever there is a rally nearby.  We got back to the Goshen Fairgrounds in time for the social hour.  No nap time and a really tall margarita meant I was off to dreamland before 10:00!