ON TO NAPPANEE, INDIANA

On April 10th we departed College Park, Md. for Nappanee, Indiana...600 miles to the East. This was our turn around point. Traveled 4,467 miles with the motor home; an additional 2,500 miles in the Honda. The Honda's mileage was a little surprising.
Why are we going to Napannee? Two reasons: first to have some minor work done on the motor home at the Newmar Factory, second to visit Chicago.
Newmar has full motor home hook ups on their grounds for those having service work done. We arrived Saturday afternoon & would depart the following Wednesday morning. By appointment they take your MH at 6 AM & return it between 3-4PM each day until the work order is completed.
It was a pleasure & treat to have the work done here...they strive for excellence. They take 10-15 units a day.
While in Nappanee we visited the RV Hall of fame in near bye Elkhart. Elkhart is the RV manufacturing capitol in the US. Currently they have a 40% unemployment rate. Many factories have closed down; many empty plants. Also visited the city of Goshen; Goshen is hard hit also.

The RV Hall of fame is housed in a brand new building. Depicting the history of Rving. Starting with restored units that date back to the Model T days. Various makers can display there current models. Various RV vendors have their wares on display.
A Motel T with Trailer.
A Tennessee Traveler mounted on a Model A Truck.
Takes about an hour to tour the museum. Well worth the modest admission.



This area is also home to the Amish. Always enjoy visiting the Amish. They seem to be more friendly here. We drove out to one of their country stores. Purchased such food items of creamed peanut butter with maple syrup, noodles, jam, bread & butter.
At the farm store I had a good discussion with the owner who I concluded was a very good business man. One of my questions to him was: How to the Amish power their milking machines to milk their cows? "Well we use diesel generators for power" Leaving the store I notice this was also the power source for his two stores.
What beautiful farms they have that are well maintained. Horse drawn carriages are everywhere. They also use two wheel bikes to get around. Many work at the Newmar Plant & ride in before day light.
An interesting stay here. Now on to Chicago.