Indiana

Indiana.


Written by Pete and Sue!

On the 2nd August it was time to leave Ripplin' Waters, Sevierville, Tennesee and at 8-00, Saturday morning we were on our way! Todays journey would take us through Kentucky, South to North, and into Ohio, on the state border with Southern Indiana, total mileage, around 350 miles, arriving at our next campground at 2-30pm which was Brookville Lake Recreation Area (a State Park!) Being as it was a Saturday afternoon and a beautiful day, it was packed and most sites were taken, but we had ours reserved! Majority of the 'Campers' had brought their boats with them, and there were all shapes and sizes. After setting up, and exploring the surrounding area we discovered why, it had a great lake and a beach with a swimming area!

For once, the climate was great here, we could sit outside in comfort, what a treat, we have not been able to do this in weeks! This however, was a stop off point en-route to our next main destination, Spaulding Lake RV Park at a place called Niles, Michigan, on the borders of Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan.

On site, Spaulding Lake RV Park, Niles, MN.

Spaulding Lake RV Park, Niles, MN.

When we arrived at this next site, Spaulding Lake, and after the very busy Brookville Lake, it was refreshing to discover that it was a very relaxed and quiet Campground, It was surrounded by a very pleasant wooded area for walking Amber, complete with a stream and trails to hike along. The main reason for the week here at Niles is because it is very near to the area where the Amish community live and work. they mostly work in all the RV factories as they are excellent carpenters and joiners,and the main Gulfstream factory is located here also, and we wanted to visit and see for ourselves where our first RV was built and purchased .

Our First RV, built at Gulfstream in Nappannee, IN and sent to us in the UK!

Even the local BP Petrol Station provides somewhere to tie up your horse! Nappannee, IN.

Horses and Carts are...........

A typical sight in Amish Land!, Nappannee, IN.

Amish Acres in Nappannee was our first day out, which is a historic farm that we found very interesting, but a bit commercialised, so after a brief stop, mainly for a few photo's, we moved on, traveling through Elkhart County, which we discovered is the third largest Amish enclave and seeing horse drawn buggies, their everyday mode of transport, clattering down the road was very humbling experience.

Entance to Amish Acres Historic Farm, Nappannee, IN.

Outside the Meat and Cheese Barn, Amish Acres, Nappannee, IN.

Inside the Meat and Cheese Barn, Amish Acres, Nappannee, IN.

Amish Acres Historic Farm, Nappannee, IN.

The Amish movement started in 1525 in Switzerland and although they dont believe in modern conveniences as it detracts from family life, they do have a few exceptions, like a few children have mountain bikes and they have been seen to drive their horse draw buggies to the 'drive thru' banks and ATM machines! They arn't allowed to have home phones, but cell phones are allowed and they do not have electricity from a utility company but they can have a generator.

Amish Women & children, turning into a carpark...........

tying up the 'steed'..........(Note the rear lights/turn signals.)

and entering the store. (Note the Amish man in braces) Shipshewana, IN.

There is 20,000 plus Amish who are accomplished farmers and produce some of the best food in the region and they make the fabulous individual heirloom quilts and of course the most amazing furniture which is why they are employed by the large RV manifacturers, like Gulfstream and Monaco.

These people have a simple life, their houses are painted all white and have very neat gardens. They are very friendly, but there religious beliefs prohibit them being photographed with still or video cameras, we did not know this until i went through the leaflet when we got back, fortunately as you can see, most of the pictures i took are while we are in the car, and hopefully they didnt notice or we may have offended them. An interesting 'Amish' fact, most Amish weddings are held on Thursday mornings, followed by a lunch for several hundred with afternoon visitations then another evening meal, this time for the youngsters.

Shipshewana Town Centre was a typical Amish town with everyone going about there daily buisness, feed stores outnumber banks three to one and buggies line up in car parks ,they do have the most fantastic looking horses they almost look like race horses, very well looked after. After looking at the photos you can see why their slogan is 'Life in the Past Lane'.

Amish Woman, Shipshewana, IN.

We went to the Gulfstream factory on the way back and of course we had to have a look through the new RVs that were parked outside which reminded us of when we first went to check out our RV in the UK, and was so excited and even more so when it arrived at the dealers in the UK.

The Gulfstream 'Showcase', Napannee, IN.

Pete, outside the Gulfstream Factory, Napannee, IN.

On Saturday we discovered a RV-MH Hall of Fame museum which is in Elkhart "RV Capital of the World" 100 manufacturers are based within a 25 mile radius here,and can you believe that the Tinkers started this industry around 1910, constructing travel trailers. The current location of the Museum, is a large new building and it was very interesting, a much better museum than we thought and I (Sue!) have a confession to make!!! I forgot to charge our camera up and so when it came to taking photos, yes you guessed it, flat battery!! so i am very sorry, but the great photos that we could have had to put on the blog, we havent got!! We did buy a 'throw away' camera and when we took it to be developed and they were, to say the least, awful. But if you can imagine 50 motorhomes, RV's and restored travel trailers dating from 1934 in a area of 80,000 sq ft, it was a great afternoon.

The Motorhome and RV Hall of Fame and Museum, Elkhart, IN.

Pete was so disappointed that he cant post any photos from the museum, he is going to contact the museum to see if we can get them to send us some photos for the blog. We will keep you posted.

We passed through Ligonier a small town that has a single main street, which seems to have a surprising number of Mexican eateries, we were a bit peckish, but decided on a 'Chinese Buffet Lunch' which is always good value at $5 each, all you can eat! This provides excellent value and great food. Check out the amazing murals we saw on the walls, here in Ligonier.

Main Street, Ligonier Town, IN.

Wall Mural, Ligonier Town, IN.

Wall Mural, Ligonier Town, IN.

Wall Mural, Ligonier Town, IN.

We then carried on through the Amish Community and approached Topeka, a small Amish town nestled amongst rolling acres of cornfields and typical white houses. This looked like an 'Oasis in the desert' for the Amish, complete with banks, feed stores, and even a Post Office, the car-park was full of Horse drawn buggies, all tied up!!

Amish Family, Topeka, IN.

Post Office 'Car-Park', Topeka, IN.

Amish D.I.Y Store, Topeka, IN

Amish Buggy, Topeka, IN.

We stayed briefly, to take some photo's, discreetly of course, and then started heading back to Niles. We had ventured further than we thought and it turned out we had a good 2 hour drive back to our RV at Spaulding Lake!!

Typical Amish House.

On reflection, the Amish way of life is very simple, no mod cons, no electricity or gas, and probably no bills either!! they arn't even allowed buttons or zippers, only hooks and eyes!! and when you see them going about their daily life, with their horses and carts, its easy to become slightly envious of them, they are most definitely, not in the 'rat-race' and their slogan 'Life in the PAST lane' fits them perfectly!


The windy city, CHICAGO! awaits us!!!!!

DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!