Monday Mornin'

Grandstands

It was all we hoped it would be (sounds like the Mamas and Papas song (from the 70's?)...just a quiet Monday...I rode my bike around the fairgrounds. You can ride quite a bit if you go all around the paths and streets around the fairgrounds--about a three mile ride. It's a ghost town of a fairgrounds right now. Very different seeing all the fairgrounds with nobody here but a few RVers and campers.  The horse barns still emit the smell of horse manure, and the horseshoe marks are still visible leading out to the track. I stopped for a moment to take in the beautiful day and I could almost smell the popcorn, caramel corn, elephant ears, cow manure, pigs, Nelson's Golden Glow chicken, and the porkchops (the best ones are at the Elkhart County 4H fair). It all smells good when you are at the fair. For anyone not familiar with Nelson's Golden Glow Chicken, it's a special recipe cooked and smoked over a grill fire and it's legendary in Indiana! Guess they had some awesome entertainment this past summer at the Elkhart 4-H Fair--Lady Antebellum, Huey Lewis and the News, Lonestar, and the Guess Who--all in one week! Wow! We'll have to try and be in the area next year for the fair.

After taking in the sights all around the campground, and finding only a skittish little bunny rabbit in the ghostly grandstands, I headed back for the day's activities--running errands, and making calls to get more repairs taken care of locally here in Elkhart. The Diamond Shield guy came out today and repaired our protective coating. It looks like extremely heavy duty Saran Wrap when they take it off. When it's on, you can't even tell it's there. He did a very nice install job. Next on the list is the Pumpkin Patch bike trail. Eldo went biking today with me in Goshen on this trail today..Yay!....It was a beautiful five mile ride one way. The trees were ablaze with color, you couldn't ask for more beautiful weather. Tuesday, I head for Angola, IN to pick up my mail, stop by my old school to see some school friends, then run some errands in Angola. Eldo will hold down the fort at the fairgrounds till I get back....until then.... thanks for reading!  

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Sometimes you camp near a busy highway, sometimes you camp near a busy airport and more often than not, you have to deal with trains nearby. Today's blog title is the title of an older but funny movie with John Candy and Steve Martin, I just had to use it!...I should have titled it Trains, Trains, and More Trains. We are sitting at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN for $25.00 a night, which is great, except that the fairgrounds is situated beside a major train thoroughfare between Elkhart and Chicago with a turn around in nearby Elkhart. This means freight trains are running by every 30 min. to an hour, and last night, they sometimes ran in TWO directions, sometimes as often as every 20 min. And of course, they have to toot their horns for every crossing. Some engineers just lean on the horn continuously, so needless to say, we didn't sleep very well. These trains must not bother too many people, as this particular fairgrounds runs rally after rally after rally. I believe they have over 900 hookups for incoming RVers and campers and 4H fair vendors and it's a big venue for rallys. Get out the earplugs! Turn on the fan! Turn on the air conditioner! But they don't block enough of the noise, wahnnnnnnnnhhhh! OK, enough whining...I told Eldy we may move to the Elkhart Campground if I have another sleepless night...wouldn't you know, the trains are relatively quiet this Sunday morning! Far fewer running this morning than last night...sigh! Maybe I'll just take a nap....z-z-z--z-z-z-z-z....

Connor and Eldy

Best buds, Trevor and Connor

Cate and Trevor

OH! Sorry! I dozed off there for a moment....it's a beautiful day today...80's, sunshine, going to hop on the bike for awhile and ride around the campground. Eldy's kids and grandkids came over for awhile to see the motor home. We horsed around and had a great time. Tomorrow we are going to try and find the Pumpkin Path Bike Trail, about a 5 mile ride around Goshen near a city park. There is another very long paved bike trail but it's on the other side of town. It runs from Goshen to Elkhart, we think, and are not sure of its name. We are also going to try and get the Diamond Shield guy to come out and fix the front shield on the coach. Hope he makes it!