July 3, South Bend, IN

Even though we are going to South Bend, IN, since the camp ground is 2 miles south of the Michigan border and the best route is through a portion of the state we get to add another state to our list of those visited.


Back in Indiana at our first destination: Notre Dame University, home of the Fighting Irish, and the Golden Dome.

We park in the lot by the football field and walk around the stadium to get to the main section of the campus. This is a vast campus, so we don't plan to see it all.

This is an impressive sight, a mosaic on the front of one of the buildings we pass.

The Main Building, known as "The Golden Dome", which houses the administration and admissions offices. This building was built in 1879 after a devastating fire had destroyed much of the original campus. The dome is topped with a 16', 4,400 lb. statue of Mary. The dome and the statue are are covered in gold leaf. Holy Cross Father Edward F. Sorin was instrumental in the rebuilding of the campus and vowed that the dome would be gilded in gold. He achieved that dream in spite of those who thought it too showy and advised the use of yellow paint.

There are wings on each side of the Main Building.

The entrance door.

Carpeting in the first office just inside the entrance.

Looking up at the rotunda from the first floor. All of the ornamentation, including the moulding features are trompe l'oi.

A ceiling in the grand hallway area. Again, trompe l'oi work creating the details. As is usual in Catholic buildings, especially churche and catherdral building foot print is in the shape of a cross.

Looking out from the steps of the Main Building.

other campus buildings.

Looking across the lawn to the west.

What old university campus would be complete without the "ivy covered walls"?

The architecture of the old buildings is very ornate and beautiful. They look like one would imagine those built in Medieval times would look.

We make our next stop at the Studebaker Museum which is just 5 miles from Notre Dame.

The Studebaker brothers started out as Blacksmiths and wagon builders. The motto of the brothers was one coined by their father: "Always deliver more than was promised"

The first automobiles built by Studebaker were electric cars, but they got into the gasoline powered vehicles and were very innovative and successful until the 1960's.

If anyone is interested in learning and seeing more about the Studebaker visit the site noted below. The displays and information are excellent and Dan find the model his parents once owned.

http://www.studebakermuseum.org/photogallery/virtualtour.asp

The weather was beautiful today, no thunder storms and not hot. The camp ground is full and the majority of the campers are sitting around their little camp fires enjoying the evening into the late hours. However, they are visiting quietly and not disturbing anyone. They are all looking forward to the 4th of July. We head to Joliet, Illinois tomorrow.

July 2, Shipshewana, IN, Flea Market and Amish country

At the Shipshewana Wells Fargo Bank we see this scene. All businesses have provided places in the parking areas for tying up the horse while the owners are shopping or doing business.

Today we are checking out the Shipshewane Flea Market. This is a big weekly event, every Tues. & Wed. However, this week the Flea Market is open Tues. through Fri. since Friday is the 4th of July. People come from all over to shop here. We think Saugus Swap Meet at it's height, but even bigger! The large buildings are for the Antique and Live Stock Auctions. There are permanent building, but the majority of the vendors are under the pop-up canopies. The parking is $3.00, but there is no entrance fee for the Flea Market. Finally, found something of interest that is open for business.

Shipshewana, as well as most of this general area, has a large population of Amish families. The Livestock Auction is a big draw for them - selling or buying.

As we enter the parking lot we pass this parking area reserved for horse & buggy use.

The buggies are all alike, with a few exceptions, and are well cared for.

We spot one of the unusual wagons.

Different breeds of horses are used for different purposes. Here we see a pony with a small buggy. Larger draft type horses are used to pull large wagons for hauling or pulling farming equipment.

Scene inside the Antique Auction Barn. There are groups like this throughout the building with several auctions going at the same time. It is quite noisy in here and at first seems confusing.

After leaving this building we find the Bar-B-Q stand so we can get some lunch. We are standing behind an Amish family and strike up a conversation with them. We ask them about their way of life and education. When we get our food and head for the tables, the mom of the family invites us to visit their home. This would be great, except they live in Fort Wayne, where we have already been, and we will be heading the opposite direction when we leave Middlebury on Friday. This family comes to this Flea Market every year during the 4th of July week.

Here we see ice cream being made with the use of an International Harvester motorized piece of equipment. This piece of equipment can be used for many farming chores requiring the use of mechanical power and a drive belt.

Here is another ice cream maker in action. This one we see by the Yoder General Store which is one of the regular stores near the Flea Market. (By the way, Yoder is one of the most common surnames amoung the Amish.)

We walk along the main road near the Flea Market and find shops selling fabrics, hand made quilts, clothing, furniture & home wares, decorator items, storage sheds, porch swings, wind mills, weather vanes, wind chimes, propane powered appliances, and lanterns, and even an "out house".

"Hey! how about some privacy!" I guess this answers the age old question often asked about a bear.

We are really glad to find the porch swings since we have been on our feet most of the day exploring the Flea Market and village shops. These are very comfortable, too bad we don't have room to take one home.

We find a local market where food is sold in bulk. This store is run by and caters to the Amish people. We find some items we need to stock our trailer at great prices. Can't wait to try the farm fresh eggs. Add this thrifty purchase to the free tomatoes and zucchini that our camping neighbors from Texas gave us. Their garden was just peaking in production when they left for their camping trip. When it comes to tomatoes we have hit the jackpot in the last week or so. Nothing is better than home grown though.

The day started out sunny and warm, but the clouds have rolled in and look threatening this evening. We hear thunder in the distance, it moves closer and the lightning is flashing on the horizon. By the time we go to bed there is a fantastic light show and rolling thunder. The rain is pouring down, but stops for a while, then the hail starts, but quickly turns to rain. This weather activity keeps up awake 'till midnight then subsides. Hope tomorrow isn't a repeat of this.

July 1, Elkhart, Indiana, RV Hall of Fame

We arrived in Middleburg, IN, yesterday. This is in Elkhart County, the RV factory capitol of the U.S. and we were looking forward to touring one or two of the factories. The KOA Camp Ground provided us with many brochures and lists of interesting things to do and see. One sheet listed the RV factories with the tour times and phone numbers. We felt that making phone calls to verify the tour days and times would be a good idea. Good idea indeed! To our dismay the factories have declared a two week shutdown due to the lag in sales recently.
We begin to worry that everything we had hoped to see here will be closed .

We drive to the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart. At first it appears that there are no vehicles in the parking lot, but we are approaching on the convention center side. Thank goodness, the Hall of Fame is open.

The first item in the door is this mi nature of a Model "A" pulling a camp trailer. Just the right size for the Bear. He thinks this is marvelous.

This one touts a "genuine leatherette" cover on the exterior.

This camp trailer was custom built. The Model "A" will give an idea of the time period.

This one looks like the space age concept of the 1940's. Doesn't it resemble a bug?

One of Shasta's first camp trailers.

The dinette area of the Shasta.

The back opens up to a bed, this side has the stove, the other side has the table.

a motorhome from the '20's.

The back of the motorhome is very ornate.

a 1966 Winnebago, we had one like just like this about 10 years ago. Drove it to Oregon, Idaho, and had an engine breakdown in Green River, Wyoming. We bought if from our neighbor to get it out of his driveway, but moving it over to ours didn't solve the "eyesore" problem. We finally sold it to the daughter of a friend. If it had been as well maintained over it's years as this one it would have been pretty nice.

Hey! I think Granny is cheating! But she looks like such a nice little old lady.

The "Tear Drop" in it's early years. This is an item that is gaining in popularity today. We have seen the new ones on some RV sales lots. The concept is the same, but of course the equipment today is better.

There is much more, but too much to include here. We really enjoyed this excursion.

After this we drive along a suggested "historic route" in a magazine type brochure, but it all seems to be very commercial so we abort and look for a grocery store. We find one called "Pay & Packit" which is the same concept as the Aldi grocery stores. One third of the items in a regular grocery store, no name brands, for one third the price. The shopper bags their own groceries using the boxes left from the merchandise cases, their own bags, or buys bags at 5 cents/each.

We spend the evening visiting with neighboring campers and their dogs. One family has a 1960 MGA we just have to talk to them about, and pet their two dog which demand attention. We once owned an MGB-GT and always stop to look at any MG we might see.

The fireflies are very active tonight. It's like the place is decorated with miniature twinkle lights, only these move around. It is warmer than last night which is probably why the fireflies are more active tonight. This is such an amazing sight for us.

June 27,28 & 29, Auburn, Indianna

Across the fruited plains.

Welcome to Indiana. This is as good as possible when snapping a shot at 55 mph.

From the camp ground where we stayed in Auburn, IN, we see these flags. Upon inquiring at the registration desk we are told that this is the entrance to the Kurse Foundation Museum of Carriages and autos, and the museum of WWII. We decide visit.

The museum entrance. One wing for carriages and autos and one wing for WWII. Kruse also operates an auction house and a large building across the street is used for auto auctions.

The WWII collection was purchased from a collector in Belgium. Kruse purchased the entire collection which includes a large selection of German vehicles, uniforms and military machinery. The lighting in the WWII wing was not as bright as that in the Carriage and Auto wing so we got photos only where the lighting was bright enough.

A DeLorian exactly like the one used in back to the future.

Example of a luxury car from the 1920's and what the gasoline pumps looked like.

European Royal carriages, restored.

The car designed and built by Carl Casper for the Batman Movies.

The collection includes several vehicles by Carl Casper.

The weather here has been on and off rain storms with lightning and thunder. We have seen so many t-storms that we decided to refresh our memories about how thunder is caused. We remembered that it has something to do with the heat created by the lightning, but not exactly how.