We left the Elkhart County Fairgrounds at 11:45 A.M. for the 90 minute drive to Ft. Wayne through rural Indiana and scattered showers. As we backed into our site at the Johnny Appleseed Campground, the heavens opened up and it stormed for an hour or so with one break long enough for Hank to get the water and electric hookups connected. There are no sewer hookups here, but there is a dump station, and Honey Wagon service is available for $10.
This campground is in a park setting by the river on the north side of Ft. Wayne, next to the Coliseum facility. There are 40 sites and we're on Site 42 at the front of the campground, just across the road from the very clean bathhouse/rest rooms and the St Joseph River. This is the perfect setting for a week of relaxation as we rest up from the last rally and get ready for another one starting on June 4. We'll be here for 7 nights.
Our life on the highways and byways of America.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
GOSHEN, IN: Wrapup
The last 7 days have been full of almost non-stop activities.. The American Coach Assn. Rally officially started on Tuesday, May 16. Over the course of the rally, there were Happy Hours, catered meals, seminars, demonstrations, entertainment, new and used coaches to look at, prize giveaways, and of course lots of people to meet up with. Besides the service items that were covered in our last blog post, we also had the Aqua-Hot system checked, cleaned and one part replaced, and we had the satellite dish on the roof checked for possible use (the result was negative). We also had the TV antenna amplifier changed out for better reception.
The rally was brought to a close on Saturday evening with more giveaways, a catered dinner with beef tenderloin and shrimp entrees, and fantastic entertainment by The Marlins. The four brothers are the sons of Sleepy Marlin - a former Louisville entertainer and award-winning fiddler who was on the local Hayloft Hoedown show when we were growing up in Louisville, Ky. Last January, 3 other Marlin family members entertained us at Lazy Days during another rally. The Marlins played all types of music and were one of the best musical groups we've seen.
Sunday evening, the Happy Wanderers chapter went to the Amish Acres complex in nearby Nappanee, IN to enjoy a family-style Threshers Dinner. http://www.amishacres.com/threshers_dinner/2015_spring_menu.pdf.. Our group chose the chicken and roast beef combo. The food kept coming as long as people wanted to eat, and then it was time to choose dessert!.
Yesterday and today, those who still remained on site from our chapter and two others combined for last night's dinner and today's breakfast. Needless to say, we once again had lots of food and great companionship. Tonight will be our last night here in Goshen. Tomorrow, we'll head southeast to spend a week in Ft. Wayne, IN .
The rally was brought to a close on Saturday evening with more giveaways, a catered dinner with beef tenderloin and shrimp entrees, and fantastic entertainment by The Marlins. The four brothers are the sons of Sleepy Marlin - a former Louisville entertainer and award-winning fiddler who was on the local Hayloft Hoedown show when we were growing up in Louisville, Ky. Last January, 3 other Marlin family members entertained us at Lazy Days during another rally. The Marlins played all types of music and were one of the best musical groups we've seen.
Sunday evening, the Happy Wanderers chapter went to the Amish Acres complex in nearby Nappanee, IN to enjoy a family-style Threshers Dinner. http://www.amishacres.com/threshers_dinner/2015_spring_menu.pdf.. Our group chose the chicken and roast beef combo. The food kept coming as long as people wanted to eat, and then it was time to choose dessert!.
Yesterday and today, those who still remained on site from our chapter and two others combined for last night's dinner and today's breakfast. Needless to say, we once again had lots of food and great companionship. Tonight will be our last night here in Goshen. Tomorrow, we'll head southeast to spend a week in Ft. Wayne, IN .
Thursday, May 21, 2015
GOSHEN, IN: Another Rally Is Under Way
Yesterday morning, we made our campground reservation for next year's Hamvention to be sure we had a site we wanted to be one, said good-bye to the remaining friends around us, and hit the road toward Goshen, IN. We had a little delay because of a detour that we tried to work around and to end up backtracking to clear it, but we eventually got pointed in the right direction. The 155 mile trip took us down mostly two-lane state and federal highways going through farmland just waiting to be tilled and planted.
We arrived at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen about 3:30. We are here for the 25th Anniversary of American Coach Rally. One of the benefits is free 90 minute service by Fleetwood technicians and our appointment as at 4 P.M. Bob & Todd arrived promptly at 4 P.M. and started on the list we had submitted when we signed up for the rally. The items they worked on included fixing a leak behind the panel in the outdoor water bay, replacing a drawer latch so the drawer will stay closed while traveling, adjusting the leveling legs on the washer/dryer combo which should cut down on vibrations, giving advice on keeping air from coming in from a slide out area, and attaching the plenum on the ceiling so it doesn't come loose. The main job was replacing the toilet bowl seal, a job that nobody would enjoy doing. The deal of only paying wholesale cost for parts and nothing for the labor involved is a great savings. (Most RV repair places charge $100 or more per hour for service). We wanted to tip the guys but they wouldn't accept that. While our repairs were being made, a heavy thunderstorm rolled through the area.
After we finished the setup procedure, we visited the Happy Wanderers social hour. The Happy Wanderers is one of the chapters of the American Coach Association. All of the others cover various areas of the country, although you can belong to as many chapters as you wish. The Happy Wanderers were started for full-time RVers who no live in one place. A lot of the members are no longer full-timers, and many come from many areas of the US, but it's a fun group with interesting people.
Since we hadn't eaten lunch, we got cleaned up and headed out to get some food and a few grocery items. By the time we returned, we were ready to settle down for the night.
Temperatures fell into the high 40's overnight and with a strong breeze, it was downright cold all day on Tuesday, the first official day of the rally. There was a First-Timers meeting at 4 P. M, for those attending their first national rally, and that included us. There were introductions of those holding various offices, the rally organizers, and chapter presidents. Some events were described as well as the location of such events. This fairgrounds is fairly large, and not laid out in as orderly a fashion as most campgrounds, with buildings and pavilions mixed in among campsites. They can accommodate over 700 RV's with water and electric hookups, and well over 200 with full hookups. We're on the far side of the property, and several of the Happy Wanderers are in the same area. There are 210 RV's here....not as many as shown in the picture. We are in the area above the right side of the track on a full hookups site with 50 amp service..
At 6 P.M., the rally opening ceremony was held with a color guard from the local American Legion post doing the honore, There were more announcements and introductions, a couple of songs by a talented lady, Sarah Getto.http://sarahgetto.com/bio.html
Yesterday (Wednesday), breakfast included biscuits and gravy, several egg casseroles, cinnamont rolls, and fresh fruit salad. There are 32 vendors in one building offering all type of RV and other service/items for purchase as well as information. There are different forums offered all day long on various topics. Last night's dinner was "A Taste of Italy" and included salad, lasagna both sausage and vegetarion, chicken parmesan, mixed vegetables of carrots, sweet peppers, and zuchini and garlic rolls with a cherry or blueberry dessert. Last night's entertainment was Daisy Mallory from Nashville, a young country & western entertainer and her 3 male band members.
Today's breakfast included baked oatmeal with yogurt and granola toppings, fresh strawberry and blueberry mix and two types of breakfast breads. Selene attended a two-hour seminar on microwave/convection over cooking by Janet Sadlack, a well-know cookbook author and microwave/confection oven expert. She prepared several dishes and explained how to get satisfactory results from using microwave/confection oven combo units, which are in most RV's. Hank attended a forum on the Aqua-Hot system which provides Little House's hot water and basic heating. We joined the Happy Wanderers happy hour, and then had dinner at Los Primos Restaurant in nearby downtown Goshen.
The last few days, the weather has been cold and windy, but today the sun finally came out, and temperatures would have felt fairly warm except there was still a strong breeze.
We arrived at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen about 3:30. We are here for the 25th Anniversary of American Coach Rally. One of the benefits is free 90 minute service by Fleetwood technicians and our appointment as at 4 P.M. Bob & Todd arrived promptly at 4 P.M. and started on the list we had submitted when we signed up for the rally. The items they worked on included fixing a leak behind the panel in the outdoor water bay, replacing a drawer latch so the drawer will stay closed while traveling, adjusting the leveling legs on the washer/dryer combo which should cut down on vibrations, giving advice on keeping air from coming in from a slide out area, and attaching the plenum on the ceiling so it doesn't come loose. The main job was replacing the toilet bowl seal, a job that nobody would enjoy doing. The deal of only paying wholesale cost for parts and nothing for the labor involved is a great savings. (Most RV repair places charge $100 or more per hour for service). We wanted to tip the guys but they wouldn't accept that. While our repairs were being made, a heavy thunderstorm rolled through the area.
After we finished the setup procedure, we visited the Happy Wanderers social hour. The Happy Wanderers is one of the chapters of the American Coach Association. All of the others cover various areas of the country, although you can belong to as many chapters as you wish. The Happy Wanderers were started for full-time RVers who no live in one place. A lot of the members are no longer full-timers, and many come from many areas of the US, but it's a fun group with interesting people.
Since we hadn't eaten lunch, we got cleaned up and headed out to get some food and a few grocery items. By the time we returned, we were ready to settle down for the night.
Temperatures fell into the high 40's overnight and with a strong breeze, it was downright cold all day on Tuesday, the first official day of the rally. There was a First-Timers meeting at 4 P. M, for those attending their first national rally, and that included us. There were introductions of those holding various offices, the rally organizers, and chapter presidents. Some events were described as well as the location of such events. This fairgrounds is fairly large, and not laid out in as orderly a fashion as most campgrounds, with buildings and pavilions mixed in among campsites. They can accommodate over 700 RV's with water and electric hookups, and well over 200 with full hookups. We're on the far side of the property, and several of the Happy Wanderers are in the same area. There are 210 RV's here....not as many as shown in the picture. We are in the area above the right side of the track on a full hookups site with 50 amp service..
At 6 P.M., the rally opening ceremony was held with a color guard from the local American Legion post doing the honore, There were more announcements and introductions, a couple of songs by a talented lady, Sarah Getto.http://sarahgetto.com/bio.html
Yesterday (Wednesday), breakfast included biscuits and gravy, several egg casseroles, cinnamont rolls, and fresh fruit salad. There are 32 vendors in one building offering all type of RV and other service/items for purchase as well as information. There are different forums offered all day long on various topics. Last night's dinner was "A Taste of Italy" and included salad, lasagna both sausage and vegetarion, chicken parmesan, mixed vegetables of carrots, sweet peppers, and zuchini and garlic rolls with a cherry or blueberry dessert. Last night's entertainment was Daisy Mallory from Nashville, a young country & western entertainer and her 3 male band members.
Today's breakfast included baked oatmeal with yogurt and granola toppings, fresh strawberry and blueberry mix and two types of breakfast breads. Selene attended a two-hour seminar on microwave/convection over cooking by Janet Sadlack, a well-know cookbook author and microwave/confection oven expert. She prepared several dishes and explained how to get satisfactory results from using microwave/confection oven combo units, which are in most RV's. Hank attended a forum on the Aqua-Hot system which provides Little House's hot water and basic heating. We joined the Happy Wanderers happy hour, and then had dinner at Los Primos Restaurant in nearby downtown Goshen.
The last few days, the weather has been cold and windy, but today the sun finally came out, and temperatures would have felt fairly warm except there was still a strong breeze.
Monday, May 18, 2015
BROOKVILLE, OH: 2015 Hamvention is Over
The last few days have been busy ones, but we still had time to relax and enjoy our surroundings. The campground filled up on Wednesday and Thursday with all types of RV's, many tent campers, and most of the cabins were occupied also. The population was mostly amateur radio operators. We continued greeting old friends and meeting new ones.
Hamvention began on Friday and ended yesterday afternoon. The Hara Arena complex includes a large arena, several large exhibit buildings (all connected to the arean) which were filled with vendors offering their products as well as forum offerings all day, each day. The large parking area was mostly dedicated to a flea market where hundreds of individuals as well as more vendors offered their products and information. We spent a few hours each day walking around, again seeing many familiar faces. Our purchases included new cable to hook up to campground cable TV systems, some USB connectors and a new exterior antenna tuner for our Eagle One antenna.
Here's a link to the large Hamvention program: http://hamvention.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Hamvention-Program-2015.pdf
Yesterday, the final event, held in the arena, was an awards presentation, followed by drawings for all of the unclaimed door prizes. There were also 20 ham-radio-related products given away as main prizes with values from $600 to over $13,000. You did not have to be present to win the 20 main prizes. The total value of prizes exceeded $50,000.
The weather has warmed up here, but there is a nice breeze most of the time, and a few showers around, too. But overall, the weather was much better than in the past.
Today, we'll be leaving the Dayton KOA for the 155 mile trip to Goshen, IN where we'll attend the American Coach 25th Anniversary Rally.
Hamvention began on Friday and ended yesterday afternoon. The Hara Arena complex includes a large arena, several large exhibit buildings (all connected to the arean) which were filled with vendors offering their products as well as forum offerings all day, each day. The large parking area was mostly dedicated to a flea market where hundreds of individuals as well as more vendors offered their products and information. We spent a few hours each day walking around, again seeing many familiar faces. Our purchases included new cable to hook up to campground cable TV systems, some USB connectors and a new exterior antenna tuner for our Eagle One antenna.
Here's a link to the large Hamvention program: http://hamvention.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Hamvention-Program-2015.pdf
Yesterday, the final event, held in the arena, was an awards presentation, followed by drawings for all of the unclaimed door prizes. There were also 20 ham-radio-related products given away as main prizes with values from $600 to over $13,000. You did not have to be present to win the 20 main prizes. The total value of prizes exceeded $50,000.
The weather has warmed up here, but there is a nice breeze most of the time, and a few showers around, too. But overall, the weather was much better than in the past.
Today, we'll be leaving the Dayton KOA for the 155 mile trip to Goshen, IN where we'll attend the American Coach 25th Anniversary Rally.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
BROOKVILLE, OH: Life is Good!
The days continue to go by quickly, and anticipation is building for the upcoming Hamvention which starts on Friday.
This past Saturday, we decided to search out a grocery item we hadn't been able to find in the our last few locations. We started off visiting the local Gordon Food Service (GFS) store. This is a business that caters to the restaurant and food service industry, but there is no membership required and anyone can shop there. Many items tempted us, but without a house and large freezer, we kept our purchases to just a few needed items. The search for the elusive grocery item was not successful. We checked out several other businesses in the Dayton area and saw more parts of the city we hadn't been to.. Our last stop of the day was at a Kroger Marketplace about 3 miles from the campground. This was a Kroger's like none we had ever seen - every section was larger than what's in the average Kroger store, and the store also included many other departments such as clothing, household items, toys, office supplies, etc. However, at the end of the day, our search for the the elusive item was still unsuccessful. What is this item, you ask? We've been looking for pickled sausages in a jar similar to what you might find in a tavern or beer joint.
Sunday, we talked with the campground staff about moving to our next site instead of waiting until Monday, our scheduled move day. The weather forecast for Monday held a high chance for storms, and since we could see no one was on site 27, it seemed like a good idea to move while the weather was good. The staff agreed, and the process of getting Little House ready to move, maneuvering out of site 56 (which wasn't easy), and getting set up again took a couple of hours. Part of that time was spent in the office, as our bill had to be re-done to and there were some issues in doing that. We had a little rub with a wooden light post in the process of moving Little House, which resulted in a scraped area on the rear passenger side of the motor home, and a dent in the Aqua-Hot exhaust pipe. Hank fixed the pipe, and we'll tend to the other damage sometime in the future. We also visited with Steve & Gail, ham friends who arrived on Sunday. After dinner, we enjoyed some free ice cream at the campground Cafe to celebrate Mother's Day.
Monday was weather-watching day, as the area was under a tornado watch. There were several short periods of rain but the worst weather went south and north of our location. We enjoyed Happy Hour and dinner with Steve & Gail, and met their friends, Bob & Sue. Both of these couples pull their RV's with "big" trucks (semi-style) and belong to a national organization for those kind of owners.
Yesterday (Tuesday) was much cooler and windy. Our patio area is sunny in the afternoon, so it was decided to have Happy Hour and dinner at our location. This time we had 4 couples and everyone contributed to the bountiful feast of pork chops and rice, brats and hot dogs, salads, baked beans, deviled eggs, and dessert.
Today, the main influx of hams into the campground should begin. Tonight, the campground is providing a free meal of hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings as well as drinks and dessert, and we look forward to seeing many more friends arrive in time for that event. The weather will remain cool today, with temperatures warming up as the weekend approaches, as well as a higher chance of rain.
This past Saturday, we decided to search out a grocery item we hadn't been able to find in the our last few locations. We started off visiting the local Gordon Food Service (GFS) store. This is a business that caters to the restaurant and food service industry, but there is no membership required and anyone can shop there. Many items tempted us, but without a house and large freezer, we kept our purchases to just a few needed items. The search for the elusive grocery item was not successful. We checked out several other businesses in the Dayton area and saw more parts of the city we hadn't been to.. Our last stop of the day was at a Kroger Marketplace about 3 miles from the campground. This was a Kroger's like none we had ever seen - every section was larger than what's in the average Kroger store, and the store also included many other departments such as clothing, household items, toys, office supplies, etc. However, at the end of the day, our search for the the elusive item was still unsuccessful. What is this item, you ask? We've been looking for pickled sausages in a jar similar to what you might find in a tavern or beer joint.
Sunday, we talked with the campground staff about moving to our next site instead of waiting until Monday, our scheduled move day. The weather forecast for Monday held a high chance for storms, and since we could see no one was on site 27, it seemed like a good idea to move while the weather was good. The staff agreed, and the process of getting Little House ready to move, maneuvering out of site 56 (which wasn't easy), and getting set up again took a couple of hours. Part of that time was spent in the office, as our bill had to be re-done to and there were some issues in doing that. We had a little rub with a wooden light post in the process of moving Little House, which resulted in a scraped area on the rear passenger side of the motor home, and a dent in the Aqua-Hot exhaust pipe. Hank fixed the pipe, and we'll tend to the other damage sometime in the future. We also visited with Steve & Gail, ham friends who arrived on Sunday. After dinner, we enjoyed some free ice cream at the campground Cafe to celebrate Mother's Day.
Monday was weather-watching day, as the area was under a tornado watch. There were several short periods of rain but the worst weather went south and north of our location. We enjoyed Happy Hour and dinner with Steve & Gail, and met their friends, Bob & Sue. Both of these couples pull their RV's with "big" trucks (semi-style) and belong to a national organization for those kind of owners.
Yesterday (Tuesday) was much cooler and windy. Our patio area is sunny in the afternoon, so it was decided to have Happy Hour and dinner at our location. This time we had 4 couples and everyone contributed to the bountiful feast of pork chops and rice, brats and hot dogs, salads, baked beans, deviled eggs, and dessert.
Today, the main influx of hams into the campground should begin. Tonight, the campground is providing a free meal of hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings as well as drinks and dessert, and we look forward to seeing many more friends arrive in time for that event. The weather will remain cool today, with temperatures warming up as the weekend approaches, as well as a higher chance of rain.
Friday, May 8, 2015
BROOKVILLE, OHIO: The Last Seven Days................
.....have been spent doing ordinary things in our full-time RV lifestyle - cooking, eating, laundry, watching TV, and enjoying computer time. We had an email and phone coversation with Mike to catch up on his plans (plenty of baseball work and possible move ahead), a phone call review with our financial adviser, other phone calls with friends, taking care of business items by phone and online, ham antenna work by Hank, laundry by Selene, daily walks around the campground and talking via ham radio with old and new friends. The weather has been beautiful everyday, with overnght thunderstorms one night, and daytime temperatures gradually warming into the mid 80's.
During the past week, the Dayton KOA campground was mostly empty of residents, although a lot of RV's are parked here for the season, including those in the section we're in. This weekend there's a special rate offered and RV's and families have been coming in all day. Most of them will depart by Sunday evening, and then the hams will be start arriving daily to get ready for the Dayton Hamvention next weekend. Cooler temperatures will also arrive. After some rain this weekend, the weather should be beautiful once again.
Yesterday, we drove to the southern edge of Dayton via suburban roads through some beautiful neighborhoods and rolling hills for an early Mother's Day celebration at Outback Steakhouse (received a nice coupon via email). We returned through some of the inner city roads back north to the Brookville area. In all the years we've been coming here, we've never really ventured far off the path between the campground and the hamfest. Dayton is not a huge city, but it definitely has some nice areas and interesting sights.We also spent some time at a Meijer's store, only our second time to visit one of these retail establishments.
Today, we ventured north to Union, OH to refill a prescriptions. Back in Brookville, Hank got a haircut and we celebrated his birthday with a bountiful buffet at Rob's Restaurant. This is a place that a large group of hams go to on the Saturday night of the hamfest, so we've been there many times. We both agreed that some of the items were not as good as we remembered, but others were very good. The desserts are all made in-house, and they always have make-your-own fresh strawberry shortcake along with cookies, various pies, and soft-serve ice cream. We definitely did not leave hungry!
During the past week, the Dayton KOA campground was mostly empty of residents, although a lot of RV's are parked here for the season, including those in the section we're in. This weekend there's a special rate offered and RV's and families have been coming in all day. Most of them will depart by Sunday evening, and then the hams will be start arriving daily to get ready for the Dayton Hamvention next weekend. Cooler temperatures will also arrive. After some rain this weekend, the weather should be beautiful once again.
Yesterday, we drove to the southern edge of Dayton via suburban roads through some beautiful neighborhoods and rolling hills for an early Mother's Day celebration at Outback Steakhouse (received a nice coupon via email). We returned through some of the inner city roads back north to the Brookville area. In all the years we've been coming here, we've never really ventured far off the path between the campground and the hamfest. Dayton is not a huge city, but it definitely has some nice areas and interesting sights.We also spent some time at a Meijer's store, only our second time to visit one of these retail establishments.
Today, we ventured north to Union, OH to refill a prescriptions. Back in Brookville, Hank got a haircut and we celebrated his birthday with a bountiful buffet at Rob's Restaurant. This is a place that a large group of hams go to on the Saturday night of the hamfest, so we've been there many times. We both agreed that some of the items were not as good as we remembered, but others were very good. The desserts are all made in-house, and they always have make-your-own fresh strawberry shortcake along with cookies, various pies, and soft-serve ice cream. We definitely did not leave hungry!
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