Looking ahead to “the move”.

Got a call the other day that our cabinet/table unit and chairs, will be ready Monday. So we will be leaving here and traveling 20 miles to the shop where it is built, and have it installed.  No way that it could be delivered, as Caryle is Amish, and his delivery service is very slow and limited.  Can’t wait, know that it will be great, his woodwork is marvelous.  We left our table and chairs in Colorado when we were there in June, and have been making due with a small picnic table ever since.  From there we will make the move to the Elkhart campgrounds in Elkhart. There are also Elkhart campgrounds in Goshen, hence my confusion on our arrival.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  As the time grows closer for Nicks rally to start it is great to visualize all our friends coming from so many locations heading this way.  Nicks rally is small compared to the Escapees one that takes place next month. They will have over 800 rigs!  Our friends, Bob & Molly are in training to be chief cat herders for the one next year.  Bless them, that will be one big job, but sure that they will do it justice.

Then just in case we aren’t rallied out, we signed up for the Montana one that follows a few days after.  Thankfully we have almost every “got to have rv dodad, must have, can’t hit the road without item”.  At least I hope so.  They are always coming up with something new, most of which are not quite a useful as advertised.

Fan Update….We were in Manards yesterday, and they had packages of blades, that were close to the right color, so we bought TWO packs.  Which means we now have 5 replacements!   That should last us till we come off the road, or the trailer falls apart, which ever comes first.  Our coming off the road will probably mean one of us fell apart, but that’s life.

Met Bob & Molly for dinner the other night,  they are in Goshen getting things ready along with the other folks who are in charge of putting on a major event.  And of course we had to finish the evening with a game of hand and foot.  Molly and I did manage a win, but will give the guys credit for making it a close but, well earned AND deserved triumphant WIN.  (Hope that stays warm, have a feeling I will be eating those words before too long.)

We are meeting up with a large group of early arrivals for happy hour and dinner tonight.  Honestly the rallies are not the main draws, it is the pre rally get togethers.  HEEEYAW, life is so good.

A Shopper I’m NOT

That is so right, so why for the past week, shopping has been my main activity?  Now they seemed to have more than a fair share of crafts fairs going on, plus today was a giant flea market at Shipsawana.  And I do like those.  This is a great market, and the prices are ever so good.  And they have it two days a week.  We got wore out early, the humidity was climbing fast and we decided that being as we are gong to be in the area for some time, the outdoor shopping could wait.  We went into Yoders, which is a meat, cheese and general Amish market.  The meat there is great, so stocked the freezer pretty good.  Then it was off to the Rise n Roll, only the best bakery/deli in the area.  We shared a sandwich, (which is more than enough)  on bread fresh out of the oven.  The best!  Sat with a couple who were here from Ireland on holiday, and had a great conversation.  They were totally amazed at the prices here, and they thought every thing was so inexpensive.  And their gas runs about 8 dollars a gallon.  Guess it depends on whose eyes we are looking out of.

A few flowers for sale, beautiful work, made of laser cut steel.

  The size of these blooms was amazing.

Chuck did get a golf fix the other day, and he had a great time, the course is just a few miles from us, but the best part is if you play before 9 it is only 20 dollars and that includes a cart.  It don’t get any better than that, and playing early in the morning is what we like, cooler. 

We had a few errands in Elkhart yesterday and met up with Kevin and Arlene for lunch.  Great deli.  Looks like they will finally get out of here, so they can get back here. 

Surprising that there seems like there are no bugs to speak of here, sitting out day or evening no problem.  Hope it lasts.

That is it for now, loving it.

Jacks Down/Feet Up

We spent a nice week in Wisconsin, but it was shorter than we had planned, as the state fair was coming to town, and the city campground is turned over to  the fair workers.  So we were “evicted” sooner than we had planned.  We did get in visits with  my few relatives that are still there, which was nice. RV parks are very scarce in the part of Wisconsin we were, so we just decided to come ahead to the Elkhart area early.

The trip from there to here was totally just ho hum. Like it that way!  Other than doing the campground hunt.  We have been full time almost 4 years and making reservations is not something we usual do when we are traveling.  Now when we are going to sit for a while then we do give it some serious thought, although even then, we may only make them for a short time and scout out the area.  Seems the pictures always look so much better on  the internet,  sort of like the pictures of the food at Burger King.  Guess I should have waited to do that here.  Got confused about the Elkhart campground and the Elkhart fair grounds one.  Could have booked into the Elkhart one, but being as I thought it was the fairgrounds one, and it was a no go there, we are in one outside of Elkhart about 12 miles.   And if this makes no sense to you, it doesn't matter, not sure I do, just me babbling.

Today we met Kevin and Arlene,  http://roamingwhenwecan.blogspot.com/    and went to a RV salvage business in Michigan, about 25 miles away.  Some unbelievable prices, but we did not have any sizes that we would have needed for a few things, so will have to go back.  Then we were off to Amish furniture builder, Carlyle.  Getting there took major patience as this is the home of mega road contraction, aka detours, plus they are replacing major sewer pipes all over.  It was a good thing we had two GPS’s as they kept getting over heated with all the rerouting, and “Alma” (Tom Toms sister) totally lost her voice. Carlyle  has some beautiful pieces and the quality is so good.  We did place a order for a desk/table unit.  http://focalwood.com 

It seems like we have been busy and on the go, mostly just all the usual “stuff.  Eat, sleep, doing nothing, busy all the time.  We are looking forward to sitting for awhile, internet card working like cable, satellite all set up, local channels, no problem, It might get better than  this, but this is sure hard to beat.