The Phaeton Gets a Bath and Shipshewanna Revisited

In preparation for leaving our rig on consignment in a couple of days, sniff, sniff, we called around to find a good company to wash our rig. One company would not do the roof. The person running the company said because of insurance costs, they don't do roofs. Well, that was the worst part of our rig, the roof desperately needed a bath! We found Norm's Power Washing out of Goshen, IN. He doesn't have a website but is on Facebook.

He brought his own water and did a fantastic job on our Phaeton. The roof had gotten quite chalky, and so he spent extra time on it. He took his time and really did a fantastic job! Thank you, Norm, for making our Phaeton look brand new!

Off for one last visit to Shipshewanna to the fabric store and the Blue Gate Bakery for some of the best zucchini bread to take with us when we leave....Sparky got three little loaves.

Sparky really loves the Amish countryside....the houses with the laundry hanging out to dry, the little phone booths separate from the house that are hooked up to lines so they can make phone calls. Today we actually saw an Amish gent with his bike parked outside the little phone booth while he was making his call. Sparky couldn't do the drive by shooting without drawing attention to herself, so we kept on driving.

buggy parked downtown Shipshewanna

Sparky wishes she could get better photos of the Amish. You are not supposed to take photos of them close up, or have their faces in a photo, but SOMEBODY gets to do that because we've seen photos of them. Sparky loves children and would love to get some photos of the little boys and girls with their little hats and bonnets. We saw this wagon going down the highway and Sparky quickly snapped a shot through the car window with her cell phone. It's as close as she's going to get during this visit. Lots of little straw hats in this buggy! Sparky just happened to notice they were passing the Amish Acres sign as we went by. Amish Acres is a homestead of many buildings, a restaurant with lots of examples of  Amish cooking, crafts, and quilting in Nappannee, IN. The first week of August, there is a HUGE craft festival that truly showcases artists from all over the country. Sparky is sorry she has to miss it. She hasn't been in years, but it is one of the most fantastic collective displays of beautifully handcrafted items and wares from all over the country. It's very famous.

Did Sparky mention that we got to see some of our wonderful RVing friends recently in addition to getting together with all our family and friends? We saw Nick and Ritchie Boersma, friends we made almost two years ago in Florida. Seems like we have known them all our lives, they fit so seamlessly into our fabric of life. We met them, had a wonderful time getting to know them, and they make us laugh and appreciate our life all the more because they are in it. We see them when we can, they are now in Michigan. So today they met us halfway in Kalamazoo, at Comensoli's, an Italian eatery. We had a great lunch at a nice restaurant with great company! If you are ever in the Kalamazoo area, the number and beauty of the old Victorian homes that are in that immediate area, around the Main Street is incredible. Be sure to take time to drive around the neighborhoods. The Victorian homes were amazing!

We hope to meet up with Nick and Ritchie this winter in Florida when they come south.....

Back home we came, and time to take a little rest....See you later!