Day 3 -6 Of Road Trip Going North

                                                         Friday, April 10,2015

We were glad to get up and leave the Pilot Truck Stop in Lebanon Junction, Kentucky. It was a little warm that night, but we kept the windows closed due to the diesel fumes from the semi's running their generators all night. Not our favorite night stopping place, but sometimes it's all you got if you want to drive a little longer or not anymore!

Lebanon Junction, Kentucky was just south of Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville looks like a progressive and clean city from the interstate.

View of the bridge that crosses you from Kentucky to Indiana.

It crosses over the Ohio River,

which looks very brown and muddy, prabably due to all the rain and flooding in some of the surrounding areas.

On our third day of the road trip we enter into Indiana.

After stopping at a rest stop for 4 minutes to let Mallery relieve herself, the traffic slowed down just south of Indianapolis, Indiana. Than a ambulance drove past us on the shoulder on our right side up a mile to this accident. As we pasted by, a black car was on it's side in front of the fire truck and a fold out camper was in the ditch. Off to the right side of the road, people were looking over a rail down the into a ditch at something. Not sure if there was another car involved and it went down the ditch or if someone was thrown out of the car.

Thirty minutes later the traffic started to slow down again. Than a unmarked car went zooming on the right side of us again on the edge of the road. When we came to the accident which was about 2 miles ahead of us, two guys with yellow vest were assessing the situation and direction the traffic. No ambulance or fire truck or police had arrived yet. The car was under the semi up to the back seat of the car. There were car skids marks from the car at lest a 1/4 of a mile that I saw. I believe the people must have been in the car still. I prayed for the people in both accidents as we drove past. We hate driving through Nashville and Indianapolis. Both cities are a nightmare with quick lane changes and crazy drivers. North of Indianapolis we stopped for the night in Rochester, Indiana at a Wal-Mart. We had driven 243 miles that day. We lost an hour that day due to crossing over into eastern time zone. It was really windy north of Indianapolis, so we were glad to be able to finally stop for the night. Joe had to really hang onto the steering wheel because he never knew when the next big push would come from gust of wind.

The next day we decided to stop at the Newmar Factory Plant in Nappannee, Indiana which was only about 50 miles from our Wal-Mart pit stop. After getting on the road the generator was acting up so we were hoping we would be able to get it looked at, as well as having 2 nights of R&R after 3 days of hard driving for us! We arrived on Saturday, so we would have to wait for Monday morning to see if we could be fit in. There are 21 free full hook-up sites if you are lucky enough to get one, otherwise there are electric over flow sights down the street. There were plenty of full hook-up sites that day, so we set up and enjoyed the day. It was a beautiful 70 degree day, so Joe washed the bus and car, while I did some cleaning inside. On Monday we were told that we couldn't be seen, but recommended another company in Elkhart, IN. 20 mile north of Nappannee.

Monday morning, we drove 20 miles to Elkhart after calling and making an appointment for the following day at Pro Custom Inc.

On the side of the business there are water and electric hook ups and dump station for you before or after your visit.

After having the generator looked at, it was decided that it was a quart low on oil which was causing it to stop working. We had just had the bus serviced at Camping World in December, so we really didn't know why the oil was a quart low. Joe dumping us before we left. The business has a nice TV lounge and free WiFi room that pets are allowed in, while you are having the work done. The staff are very friendly and helpful also.

We didn't leave Elkhart until after 1:30, but still managed to get some time in on the road. We hit our last big city of Grand Rapids, MI. before we enter into the quiet and peaceful world of Northern Michigan. Grand Rapids was pretty easy to go through, compared to Nashville and Indianapolis. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Cadillac, MI. at 6:30 after driving 207 miles.

Newmar Service Center, Nappanee, ID

                                                      Oct 19, 2014

After our 5 day stay in Lansing, MI. for our visit to the MSU Small Animal Clinic, we drove south to the Newmar Service Center in Nappanee, Indiana. We had a couple things that needed to be worked on, so we made reservations a month prior.

The first night we stayed in the overflow section, because we got there after 4PM and the full hook up section was full. We had to be up and the coach ready to go for service by 6 AM the next morning. It was still dark out, when the service man came to our door and took our coach away for a diagnostics day. While our Nest was gone, we found a spot opened in the full hook up section, and placed a "save this spot orange cone" on it. Joe then had to give our service rep. the new site number, so he would know where to park our RV for the night.

After having breakfast at McDonald's, and spending most the day in a very small lounge that allowed dogs, it was time to get our home back. All the RV's are brought back to their sites at 3:00. We found a spot across the road from the service center that Mallery liked to walk for her daily duty. Most of the parking lots at the center are gravel, so it was not to Mallery's liking.

View from the lot across the street to the full hook up camping ground of Newmar Service Center.

After walking Mallery we crossed the street back to the Newmar plant and walked through the gas model chassis stock lot.

Half of Nappanee is comprised of Amish and Mennonites who have businesses, farms, and work in the RV manufacturing industries. I enjoyed the many horse drawn buggies that we saw during our stay in Nappanee.

In  July of this summer the water heater would not work with electricity. We had to turn it on with the propane. Joe tried to fix the problem by changing the water heater element, but to no avail. The diagnosis came back that the circuit board was burned out. This circuit board part needed to be shipped to the service center.

 

In the full hook up campground section of the service center, we were in the last spot at the end of this row. You can see just the front end of our white Honda. There was a large lounge in the building to the left, but dogs were not allowed, and Mallery was with us because dogs are not allowed in the RV's while being worked on.

The next day we slept in until 8:00 because we were tired. Our bus didn't get picked up until 9AM.  Someone told Joe, if you didn't want to get up and be ready at 6AM, they couldn't do much about it, so we just sleep in. After our bus left us we went to McDonald's again and than looked around Nappanee. We found that Nappanee had decorated apples all around town.

There is a annual Apple Festival held here which is probably why they have apples through out the town.

The Apple Festival is held on the 3rd weekend of September for 3 1/2 days. A 7 ft wide, 600 lb apple pie is baked annually.

While downtown we stopped to see the annual Fall Flower Carpet which is created from 7,000 12' Belgian Mums.

I stood on the platform to take this picture of Joe and Mallery.

It takes 12 people working 135 hour over a 4 day period to build the display.

We saw this sign at the local Baptist Church. This scripture is one of my favorites found in Psalm 46:10.

Joe took this picture of the Nappanee Post Office.

This tree in front of the Post Office was created by an artist after the tree came down.

We spent a couple of hours browsing in the Kountry Cabinets and Home Furnishings. The Amish have such high quality workmanship in their furniture and cabinets.

Loved this picture in the store, but I had to pass it up as I don't know where I would put it yet in our home.

Nappanee is a regional center for both the RV manufacturing industry and the Amish craft and tourism industry.
Nappanee holds the distinction of having the longest city name in the United States containing each letter in its name twice.

Back at Newmar I took a picture of this motor home who met it's match with a witch on her broom.

 Amish Acres is located just a mile down the road from the Newmar Service Center. Amish Acres is home to Nappanee's Arts and Crafts Festival. This festival has won many awards. Readers of Sunshine Artist magazine rank the Art and Crafts Festival as the third-best Classic and Contemporary Craft Show in America. The Art festival was also listed at number one in the category of "best attractions for group travel in Indiana" in Travel Trade Magazine. Senior Group Traveler selected the Arts and Craft Festival as one of only seventy "Editor's Choice of Outstanding Festivals and Major Events"; the Art and Craft Festival being the only one chosen from Indiana.

The Round Barn holds plays at the theater at Amish Acres.

Amish Acres also has a restaurant that serves authentic Amish Style cooking.

We decided to eat there the night before we left.

The meals were a bit expensive at $22 each. (Or at least expensive for us)!

 Tom and Rose, a couple we met in the dog lounge at Newmar Service Center showed up and we invited them to our table. They full timed for 10 years and now travel during the summer. Originally from the state of Washington, they purchased a winter home in Lake Havasu.

The food was great, but there is more than we normally eat. Drinks and desert are included, and each table gets to chose two meats choices. There were too many side dishes brought to our table to remember.

We also had the leak we discovered, a week prior to leaving our new home in Boyne City fixed. Our service tech found two running lights above our front window that were cracked allowing moisture in. The lights had been chalked several times, but due to age they needed to be replaced. All of the other running lights were also replaced. Then our bus was run through a building that produced a rain shower of 4 inches per hour to check for complete sealing. We have also had several hard rains since, with no leaks.We spent 4 nights at Newmar, mainly waiting for the water heater part, which was a lot longer than we had planned. While there, we also took turns doing the Newmar factory tour. One day Joe went and the next day I went. Someone had to stay with our Mallery, making it impossible for us to go together. On the tour I learned that anyone is welcome to stay free at this service center, whether you are a Newmar owner or any other RV owner, even if you are just passing through. They must be hoping you will go through the tour and decide to buy a Newmar! The day we left, I woke to find myself extremely dizzy. I went to walk Mallery and bent over and nearly past out. When I went to bed that night, while lying down, and turned my head to the right, my head spinned for what seems like10 seconds or more. This condition has continued now for a month and I am wondering what now!

We are currently in Gulf Shores, AL. for the winter. I haven't blogged for a while as the family is keeping me very busy. Mallery seems to be doing better, as I have put her on 2 different supplements.