Shipshewana, Indiana!

For the next two weeks we will be the greater Shipshewana area waiting to get a new sofa installed. Yes, we forgot about Labor Day Weekend and couldn’t find anywhere to stay so when the RV park at the Shipshewana Flea Market told us there was a site available, we took it. This will be our longest stay in any one place since leaving home in June. It will be good to slow down and relax, yeah right!

Of course, we are right here at the flea market and that will be fun but there appears to be quite a bit to do within an hour or so. The flea market has several hundred vendors and some it the usual flea market fare but a good bit of it is actually pretty good. I took the picture below because I thought the cloud looked like a big cabin cruiser in the sky and unfortunately it is the only one that shows anything about the flea market. On Labor Day they parked over 3000 cars for the day. Not too shabby at $5.00 per car to park.

With all of our short trips we eventually needed gas and while we were in the service station several race cars pulled in to get fuel. The drivers happened to be participants in an event sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine which was a 5-day car rally / drag race that had started somewhere in Michigan the day before with a safety inspection of each of the over 300 cars in the event. On this morning each car had to make a timed run on a drag strip in Michigan then drive to their next stop somewhere in Illinois but to make sure each contestant took the same route they had to stop and take a picture of their car in front of a specific landmark which happened to be a gourmet coffee shop across the street. I could have stayed at the coffee shop just to watch the cars, but we had other places to be. The racetracks were in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and then back to Michigan.

Since we are pretty close to South Bend, we decided to visit the campus of Notre Dame University. Neither of us are real sport fans but we wanted to see the Gold Dome and visit the Basilica and grounds around the church. Without saying we had a great time and met some very interesting people. The security guard that issued our tour pass was a hoot. We tried to expedite our stop at the entry gate, but the more traffic backed up the more he wanted to talk. It appeared that some of the priests get a little “Horn Happy”, so he likes to teach them patience.

One day we took a ride up to Lake Michigan and it was almost like being at the ocean except no salt water. There were people all out and about with a huge beech area and to my surprise there were signs warning of Rip Tides and undertow. Judy had a good time exploring the water edge while I watched from the concrete walkway.

Some of our other ventures were to The Rev Group parts depot in Decatur, IN to acquire some repair parts for the RV, a livestock auction that would not allow photos, several trips to local Amish operated bakeries and many local stores. Since it was just shopping there are no photos but just memories. One of the shops was the Shipshewana Harness Shop where I had purchased a belt almost two years ago. Needless to say, some family members got new belts for Christmas.

The day to have the sofa we purchased in June installed is finally here and it sounds like it will be an easy job and we are very anxious to get rid of the old very uncomfortable sofa. Funny as it may sound once the new one was in place it took a few days to actually enjoy it.

The new sofa does not have a hidden bed like the old one, but it is long enough that most people could sleep on it. With the power recliner feature it gives Judy and me enough seating room and the middle space gives Edgar all the room he needs to curl up between us.

We got to meet a lot of people and we overate too many days but now that the new sofa is installed, we are headed to Sevierville, TN for the Discovery Owner’s Association Inc fall rally.