July 29, 2013 Fleetwood Tour and Heading East

This morning we stopped in to the Fleetwood Service office to let them know we were here for parts and the tour.  Next stop was the Parts Distribution Center to pick up our parts, go thru the store and purchase more items.  One thing we found out is that once you tell them your Fleetwood Identification Number (FIN), they can tell you all the part numbers for everything on the coach - Cool!
Then we were off to the Fleetwood Manufacturing Plant for our 9:00 AM tour where we met up with our neighbors from last night.  There was a total of 10 people on the tour but no pictures - .   What a wonderful tour.  We went thru the manufacturing plant and Tom, our tour guide, explained each stage of the manufacturing process.  It was really interesting to see how the various components were put together and then how everything just fits.  We went thru the paint shop area and saw coaches in various stages of being painted.  Then we were able to go thru a couple of almost finished RVs.  One of them was one of the high end coaches - WOW. Beautiful inside and out but a little too much for me.  Fleetwood is now making a smaller diesel coach that looked nice from the outside but I did not like any of their floor plans.  I know if I wait long enough, they will change or there will be something else.  (Not that I am getting a new one - )
The nice thing about the tour is that we got information on how our Bounder was put together so it will help us in updating our coach.  Now I need to spend some time in Lowes, Home Depot, and on line.
After the tour, we headed back home, said goodbye to our neighbors, packed up and headed east.  Yes, we are heading home to PA.
Scenes from the road:

After 200 miles, we found a nice Moose Lodge in Mogadore, Ohio to stay (with electric hookups).  We joined them for happy hour and had a nice time.

Tomorrow we expect to be at our house in PA so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:
Miles Traveled: 207 Miles
Routes Traveled:
Indiana: US-27; US-224
Ohio: US-224; US-30; I-71; I-76; I-277; US-224; SR-532; Mogadore Road

July 28, 2013 Travel to Decatur Indiana

We woke this morning to cloudy skies and a few rain drops. After packing up and emptying the tanks, we headed south.

Saw a few of these on the road:

Beautiful farm house and corn, oh my, looks like a good crop this year:

I love the blue roads:

This was the town of Markel - nice murals:

The clouds cleared to blue skies:

We arrived at Decatur, made a stop at Wal-Mart (I love Wal-Marts ); then for gas ($3.369 - nice to see it coming back down) and then to the Fleetwood Campground.  This campground is for those units waiting for service so we parked in the back area.  We were told that tomorrow morning, we were to go to the office and let them know we are not here for service, just a tour and parts.

The campground has 63 spaces with electric and about 25 of them are filled with newer units.  We feel like the poor cousin since ours is 10 years old.  LOL!

After setting up, we checked where we need to go tomorrow.  Parts Distribution is one mile east of Service and three miles west of Service is the Manufacturing Plant where they have the tours.

After supper another Bounder came in and parked next to us.  They were from Michigan who are also here for the tour and some parts.  We had a great time chatting and going for a tour of each others coach.  Just LOVE the Bounders.

So stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure and enjoy today.

 

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 97 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Indiana: SR-5; US-33; I-69; SR-224; US-27

July 25-27, 2013 Shipshewana, Indiana

On Thursday, after our hugs and see you later with Bill and Shelly, we headed on our way south.  Our first stop was St. Joseph to drop off Andy’s amateur radios that were not working.  From there we made our way to the local Wal-Mart to drop off our cans and bottles. (Michigan has a $0.10 deposit on each can and bottle so we were able to get most of our deposit money back.)

We continued heading south into

and to the small village of Shipshewana.  We are staying at the Shipshewana Trading RV Park which is right next to their big flea market that takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After setting up and having supper, we took a little drive around the area.  This area is mostly Amish so everywhere we look we see buggies, farms, horses - .  Beautiful!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 274 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Michigan: Sand Lake Road; Seaman’s Road; Brooks Road; 10 1/2 Mile Road; Merrillville Road; 10 Mile Road; SR-31; US-10; US-131; I-296; I-196; I-196/US-31; I-94; (Short side trip in St. Joseph to Wal-Mart to turn in recycles then to Nash Street to drop off Andy’s radios to be fixed) then M-139; US-31

Indiana: US-31; US-20; SR-5

Friday:

Elkhart and the surrounding area is known as the RV Capital of the US.  Not only are there many manufacturers and suppliers to the RV industry but there are RV surplus stores and other stores that do aftermarket work.  We have been thinking about doing some updating to the inside of our MH and we wanted to get some ideas of what to do and what kind of costs would be involved.

So off we went with our list from the internet.  About half of the places were shops that do the work (once you decide what you want), two were not there any longer, and the others we perused.  One shop especially, Factory RV Surplus, was wonderful.  They were friendly, helpful, and we were able to go thru their store and large warehouse full of “stuff”.  We did get some ideas and even found a couch we liked (although it would not fit through our MH door - - oh well).  We did pick up a few items we needed then headed back home.

We have been looking for a door part and have not been able to find it so we gave Fleetwood a call and they were able to help us.  So on Sunday, we are heading to Fleetwood in Decatur, Indiana.  We will stay at their campground and on Monday, take the tour through the factory and pick up our part.  Who knows, maybe I will hit the lottery by then and order a new home -  !

For supper we went to the Amish restaurant in town but the wait was very long.  They also give buggy rides:

We then headed to LaGrange to the local Moose Lodge. We had a wonderful time! On the way back, we went to Middlebury for an ice cream at their Dairy Queen -YUM!.

On Saturday, we just did a few chores and hung out - I think we are just touristed out!  A big store came through with a lot of rain and wind and the temperature has dropped.  .

Tomorrow we head to Fleetwood so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Lots of smileys today.

July 23-24, 2013 Road Trip and Time with Friends

Tuesday morning, 22nd, we all packed a lunch and headed to the coast of Lake Michigan.  The wind was strong which created some great waves:

Beautiful, isn’t it!

As you know, my bucket list is to put my feet in each of the Great Lakes.  Here I am in Lake Michigan:

And, yes, I got wet by a rouge wave - LOL!!

Here we are:

Found these cool flowers at one of the overlooks:

Michigan is known for their many lighthouses and each one is beautiful:

Great photo of Shelly and Bill:

The boys goofing off - check out Andy’s shirt:

Wave action on the breakers - the sound was loud!

From there we went to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore.  Our first stop was the visitor center where we took in the exhibits and the movie and obtained maps and information on the park. 

“The Legend of Sleeping Bear
Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear.”

There is a nice scenic road in the park and we had our picnic lunch there. .

The dunes and South Manitou Island in the background:

Lots of people climbing the dunes - looked like a lot of fun - :

What a beautiful park and we hope to return in the future.

Back home we started a campfire - the temperature has really dropped.

Here is our spot in the campground:

Campground road:

Enjoying the fire:

Bill and Shelly’s dog, Miles, enjoying himself:

On Wednesday, we all had a relaxing day hanging out, doing a few chores, and figuring out where we go next.  A big hug to Bill and Shelly and thank you for a great time.  It is always good to be with friends. 

Stay tuned for our next adventure and enjoy today.