Wie geht's! (How are you from Amish Country)

My apologies to my many readers on not posting earlier. I hate not having adequate internet function to post and it still is not enough to post pictures, but I will try to catch up. I have written some things and will include them beneath this post.

Today we are sitting still watching the Nascar race. Last week we had some doctor appointments in central Indiana and while we were there, we camped back at Summit Lake near our old home. We did not go by the old place this time. The park there is a very nice park, but since the state has seen fit to raise the rates exorbitantly, you can count the number of campers on just two hands. Years ago, when our kids worked there summers during college, you couldn’t get a campsite. In fact, we gave up trying to camp there because you had to get in on Tuesday before the weekend if you wanted a spot. Now there are plenty of vacancies and no one wants to camp there because of the price. Thanks to the new governor Indiana has, I can see state campgrounds closing due to lack of use and revenue. Seems to me it would be more cost effective to drop the price a little and fill them up every weekend rather than charge more and decrease the attendance to roughly 10%.

We left Summit Lake on Friday morning, thinking it would be hard to find a place. We had decided to head over to Ohio’s Amish country, since we had never been here. The Amish in different parts of the country are all different. Having been raised in Amish country, we don’t come here to look at the Amish, but to visit the meat shops/bakeries, craft shops and restaurants. We found a lovely no-frills campground with large spaces, navigable roads and full hookups. There is no shower house, but that is fine with us. With full hookups, we have everything we need. It is $22 a night, 3 for $20 per night, or a week for $130, so we are here for a week. This area is Berlin, Ohio, lots of German influence. We have been to one restaurant and it was very good. This morning we went to a cheese house and stocked up. Most everything is closed today. It is so peaceful and serene here. It’s late enough in the season, it’s not real crowded and by staying a week, we don’t have to try and do everything all at one time.

It has been really hazy here with rain expected every day, but never did have any. Today is the first sunny day and it is gorgeous. We ran out into the country a little and I took some pictures, but I’m sure the pictures won’t do the scenery justice. It is so rolling here. So many hills, with farms dotting the landscapes. Bigger barns than houses in many cases with lots of buildings for animals. Today driving through the country we passed many farms where church was being held. At some, church was over and all the menfolk were out in the yard talking and the women were on the other side talking. Several families walking home.

We met some other Tiffin owners here and one group were here just back from a Tiffin rally. They come here often, so we may try to keep watch and connect with them another time. This is a great place to come and relax and still have things to look at and visit. There is a wood carver shop Terry wants to visit. He had read about the guy years ago and wants to see some of his work. We also were in Mt. Hope this morning and saw the Wayne-Dalton headquarters. They were Terry’s competitors when he was in the garage door business.
Yesterday we visited the flea market. It was mostly craft stuff and Terry was disappointed, but I liked looking. I did find some ribbon I use for making Christmas decorations. We left there and went to Trail where we bought some of the infamous Trail bologna. We drove out through the country before coming back to the camp.

Last evening we went for our walk and came back by a couple in a new Allegro Bay just two spots back from us. We ended up sitting and chatting around the fire. For some reason, there were no mosquitos and we eventually went and got the dogs and sat around the fire with them until 10:30 when we retired. Neal got plenty of ear scratches from Beth so he was in heaven. Bailey sat with his back to everyone. . . typical Bailey. . . typical Scottie behavior. Hee hee

Till next time. . .

Dale




August 12, 2006

Well, we left the YMCA Day Camp on Saturday and started driving south through Ohio. Just were trying to find a campground and something to look at for a few days. I started calling as Terry was driving and found out numerous festivals and fairs were behind held and there was nary a campground to be found. I called a half dozen places and finally found one that said they had one spot left (usually not a good thing when you are 40’ with four slides). The one lone campsite left is usually the one no one wanted and won’t always work for us. But we were headed down toward St. Marys, Ohio, so we were rolling along highway 33. Just then Terry looked up and said, “Well, there’s a campground right on the highway.” I looked and sure enough, a decent looking camp with sites aplenty and a few campers in there. Kind of no frills, but that would usually mean nice and quiet, so pulled in and got a site. As we were making our way through to our site, we passed a Gulf Stream Atrium with Oregon plates. We knew it was a long shot, but asked the proprietor if that would happen to be Hawkeys, who were members of our Graduating Class of 2005. Would you believe he said, “Well, yes it is.” We first met them last year at Rend Lake. They were just starting out full-timing and were headed to the Escapade. They were not camped in the area near our group, but we invited them over to sit by our campfire and “friends were born.” They were excited to see us as we were them. They invited us down to St. Mary’s Summerfest which they were attending later. We went with them and got to eat some homemade ice cream which was delicious. We walked around a little, took a tour of the St. Marys’ Canal Boat and then Dan took us on a tour around Grand Lake on the way home. We passed by a party in progress and got to meet Dee and Dan’s son and his wife who were here from Virginia. We decided to spent 3 nights at this camp since our friends were here and got to visit a few more times before we left. We talked them into joining us at least for an afternoon in Celina at the pre-Escapade rally and they will also be with us in the generator area at the Escapade.

We left there on Tuesday, August 15.

Till next time. . .

Dale


August 10, 2006

We left the “storage facility” in Goshen late in the afternoon and drove to Dundee, Michigan. I wanted to visit Cabela’s again and it wasn’t a disappointment. The plan was to find a campground nearby and go the next day. But campgrounds are not easy to find in Michigan and so we stopped off and did our shopping that afternoon. We contemplated spending the night in the parking lot along with the other motorhomes, but decided against it. We left there and drove to Temperance, Michigan, and camped at the Vine Lodge and Campground. The location says it all. They only give discounts for being members of the YMCA and the WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union). Hmmmmm. Should have asked a few more questions. We got a nice spot on the lake/pond front and got set up. Sites were not that good. Barely any gravel, mostly grass/dirt and lumpy at that. And quite narrow.

Early the next morning, like around 7 or 7:15-ish, we hear what sound like garbage trucks. Oh that it were the sound of garbage trucks. Instead it was 3 busloads (yellow schoolie type) of kids. Yes, folks, this is the YMCA DAY CAMP! Arggggghhhhh. They unloaded the kids and life was not the same after that. They took to canoes, and other assorted points around the lake and our quiet life was over. . . . at least for the weekend. Ugh. We had paid for Thursday and Friday, so we stayed, but then we rolled. Enough of that!

Till next time. . .

Dale