Monthly Archives: September 2010
On to Texas . . .
Kind of a short post today since we’re on the road and Walmarting tonight.
We left Elkhart at 10 am, heading west on I-80. It was hard to say goodbye, especially to Nick and Terry, but it is good to get back on the road again. And it’s always a problem after we’ve been parked for a while, (in this case, almost 6 weeks) to be sure you’ve got everything done before we pull out.
A little after 12 we stopped at Fair Oaks Farms for lunch.
Fair Oaks is an operating dairy farm, but with a big tourist operation too. We didn’t do any tours of the farm or the dairy, but just had lunch and coffee. Jan also did her part to support their gift shop too.
They do have a very colorful bus called the “MooMobile” for carrying large groups around the farm.
After a pretty smooth trip, we got into the Vandalia Walmart about 5 pm, and unhitched the toad. Then I drove over to the diesel pumps and got filled up. We were down to about a quarter of a tank, and I wanted to take care of it tonight rather than fool with it tomorrow morning before we leave. Before we left Elkhart I had planned on filling up on the way out of the area, but after we got on the way, I saw we had more fuel than I remembered. And this way I shouldn’t have to fill up again until we get to our park in Houston.
A little after 5:30 we drove about 15 miles over to Jan’s sister Debbie’s house. She had prepared great meal of Crockpot Pizza with chocolate cake for dessert. She’s a great cook, and I don’t know how she stays so slim.
We got to see two of her three kids, Jason and Tana, Jason’s wife, Laura, Jason and Laura’s two girls, Avery Jane and Ella, and Tana’s daughter, Gwen.
And, of course, Debbie and her husband, Jim. (I think I got all that right)
After a great time we got back to the rig about 9 and I went ahead and hooked up the toad so we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.
We’ll probably stop for breakfast at the McDonald’s right down the road before we leave town. They’ve got semi parking so we shouldn’t have any problem.
Tomorrow we’ll drive about 310 miles to West Memphis, AR, right across the Mississippi River from Memphis, TN.
More from Memphis…
Quote of the Day:
“I used to eat a lot of natural foods, until I learned that most people die of natural causes.”
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Last Day in Elkhart . . .
Today was our last full day in Elkhart and we made the most of it.
And Mister is making the most of his new blankie. It’s soft and very fuzzy, and he’s crazy about it.
We left about 9:30am with Nick and Terry and drove over to Nappanee to visit Carlyle Lehman at Focal Wood Products.
Carlyle is Amish and is known for building some of the best RV furniture around. He built a computer cabinet last year for Nick and Terry, and Nick now does his website.
He has a showroom that illustrates his great workmanship. Here’s an L-shaped computer desk he built.
And here’s some samples of small trays, shelves, boxes, and racks that he produces.
And here’s a computer desk that Jan wants to have installed in place of our dining room table when we’re up here next year.
And here’s his shop. He’s allowed to have shops tools powered by a generator, and his shop has all the latest ones.
He’s also allowed to have a phone, but not in his home or shop. So here you have a ‘Amish’ phone booth.
Leaving Focal we drove over to Mishawaka to have ‘linner’ at Famous Dave’s BBQ, one of our favorite places.
Then, getting back about 3:30 pm I went down and got a new tire to replace the one that died when I was taking Jan to the airport in Chicago a couple of weeks ago.
About 7 pm we all drove over to DQ to have one last snack.
And about 9 pm our granddaughter Piper called us back so we could wish her a happy 17th Birthday.
Here she is at Brandi’s wedding.
Tomorrow we start our 6 day trip back to Houston with a 340 mile leg down to Vandalia, IL where we’ll visit Jan’s sister, Debbie, while we’re there for one night.
More from Vandalia…
Quote of the Day:
“Just because there’s a shortage of hats, doesn’t mean the answer is to start lopping off heads” – G. K. Chesterton
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