A Day in Amish Country

The most interesting part of the Escapade for me was our extra HOP event through Amish Country. We got up early and bundled up as it was only in the 30's(burrr) and headed over to the two buses waiting for us. We were each given a bag and told to put our names on it. Hmm, wonder what that is about. So we climbed aboard.
The Amish are very devout in their faith. They believe in the literal interpretation and application of Scripture as the Word of God. They take seriously the Biblical commands to separate themselves from the things of the world. They believe worldliness can keep them from being close to God, and can introduce influences that could be destructive to their communities and to their way of life.

I think when most think of the Amish, they picture them driving their horse and buggies along the streets.

Our guide described how the most important thing in their lives is God and second is family. They are a very close knit society and everyone helps everyone else in the community. Not long after she said this we passed an example of this as people gathered to fix a roof.

We stopped at a buggy shop where the owner not only repairs but builts buggies for the community.

We also stopped at an one room school house. One thing I was surprised about was that the Amish only attend school until 8th grade. In fact, even the people who are chosen to be teachers only have an eighth grade education as well. They don;t forbid children to go on to higher education but they strongly discourage it. Again, they are about keeping it simple and not becoming worldly. Once the teenagers finish their schooling, they are encouraged to explore and act like normal teenagers for a few years when they need to decide whether to join the church or not. If they decide to leave the community at that time, they are not shunned but they can't change their minds and decide to come back later.

We also stopped at a camel farm. They sell the milk in companies in the US where it is often used for medicinal purposes. They also make soap which is suppose to be good for your skin. I bought a bar of mint soap to try.

We stopped at a store that sold products, such as jams, pastas, bread made by the Amish people. We found out what the bags were for. We had bought a loaf of bread and some ham spread. When we went to get back on the bus, we were each given a loaf of bread. Later, we got bags of pasta, jars of jelly, carmel donut holes, and popcorn. 

We made another stop to a house that was built in 1860 which has been lovely restored by the current owners. It was just beautiful down to the smallest details.

They had miniature donkeys which were very cute.

 We had also made a stop in the town of Shipshewana for lunch. Another stop was to see the RV Hall of Fame.in Elkhart. It is an 100,000 square foot museum and library that features a variety of historical recreational vehicles. Near the entrance they had many pictures of these, including a volkswagen bus, which was our first traveling vehicle back when our boys were just babies. We walked through the large rooms exploring rv's that went back to the earliest days of automobiles.

1913 Earl Travel Trailer with Model T Ford

1958 Airstream

1935 Covered Wagon Travel Trailer

Tear Drop Trailer

1966 Mustang Trailer

We finished up the day with an Amish supper. We all sat at large tables where the food was passed along in large bowls of pot roast, chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing. Then pies for desert. Everything was delicious and we had a really great day.

54th Escapade at Goshen, IN

We checked into the Fairgrounds on Sunday, a day early. This is actually a nice setting with lots of green grass everywhere.

Escapades are filled with 5 days of events geared to educate and entertain. You don't need to be a member of the secapees club in order to attend. In fact, our neighbors here were a young couple with 5 children and one on the way just interested in the rv experience of full timing. There are lots of seminars and presentations with a wide range of rv related topics, including boondocking, preparing for full timing, technology for travelers, how to find work camping jobs on the road, classes on picasa and blogging, etc, etc. We have gone to one other escapade before. This time we went to several of Geeks on Tours seminars on cloud computing and google maps and a couple of travel seminars on Alaska and the Canadian Maritimes. We started with a few days of warm humid weather but boy did that change. Most of the week was cold and rainy. Luckily most things were indoors but we still had a walk through wet grass to get to the seminars. Better than wet mud however. In one of the big rooms, there were vendors selling rv products. Also a thing called the row open for several hours each day. This is where different chapters of Escapees have tables set up to present information on their chapters. We helped man a table for Jojoba Hills to encourage people to come to our beautiful park for a visit. It was fun talking to people, some who knew of Jojoba and some who didn't and thought it would be a good place to stay for a a visit in So Cal. Monday late afternoon there was an open ceremony and door prices and announcements. Other afternoons also had door prices and announcements followed by entertainment. 
There was even a chili cookoff. We had thought about entering but didn't. There were a lot of different chilis and you would donate money to the ones you liked best and the ones who received the most money were the winners. The money went to CARE, the big Escapee charity in Livingston, Texas. The three winners got money as prizes but all turned around and gave it to the charity as well. 

When we signed up for the rally, we also signed up for an one day HOP on Saturday to visit Amish Country.
That will be in my next post and there will be lots of pictures. Stay tuned.

Sangchris Lake in IL

We left a nice lake in Kansas and traveled to an even nicer lake near Springfield, IL. Sangchris Lake State Park is about 30 miles south of Springfield and has two campgrounds, Deer Run and Hickory Point. I had read that Hickory Point has sites right on the water or with views of the lake even if not directly on the water. So we headed there. The park is just lovely. In fact, the whole area is so nice and green. It is nice to camp with grass after being desert dogs for quite awhile. Savannah really loves the grass, jumping around the sniffing everywhere. There weren't any open sites right on the water but we were just across the road with great views.

Remember I talked about getting a new gps. Well, one day we drove into Springfield and found a best buy and bit the bullet. We now have a new 7 inch Garmin Nuvi GPS with lifetime map and traffic updates.
We can use it in the MH and jeep. In fact we used it the rest of the time there and so far we just love it.
We also stopped at Bed Bath and Beyond for new sheets and then some grocery shopping.
The next day Joe and I went back into town, driving partly through some backroads that we were directed to use by Gracie, our gps voice. So pretty and some really nice houses with lots of property.
This is the land of Lincoln and so we headed to the Lincoln Presidential Museum. We noticed the museum was having a Annie Leibovitz exhibition. She is a famous photographer who is known for her great portraits of rock stars and other famous people. Below from a description of the exhibition.

"The pictures, although there are no people in them, are in a certain sense portraits of subjects that have shaped Leibovitz's distinctly American view of her cultural inheritance. Visiting the homes of iconic figures including Thomas Jefferson, Emily Dickinson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Pete Seeger, and Elvis Presley, as well as places such as Niagara Falls, Walden Pond, Old Faithful, and the Yosemite Valley, she let her instincts and intuitions guide her to related subjects—hence the title "Pilgrimage." Some of the pictures focus on the remaining traces of photographers and artists she admires, such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Ansel Adams, and Robert Smithson."

The photos were very interesting with many of the pictures taken of the people mentioned above's houses, focusing on something in the house that seem to tell something of that person. After we went through that area, we then continued onto the galleries on Lincoln. The Museum and Library was built in 2005 and is the largest of all the Presidential Libraries in the US. There are many interesting exhibits and artifacts detailing the life of Lincoln in two exhibits, one his pre-presidency days and the White House years. We found one section that had quotes from the newspapers of that time with many very negative political statements about Lincoln. Nothing changes, does it. There were also two very state of the art theater experiences. One of them called Ghosts of the Library used special effects called /Holavision that used smoke and vapors so it looks like you are seeing ghosts of civil war soliders and Lincoln and his wife Mary.
Unfortunately no taking of pictures was allowed other than outside and in the main hallway.

When we bought our tickets, there was an option, which we took, for another exhibition in another building built around the making of the movie "Lincoln" . It was a small exhibition but including costumes and sets from the movie. One of the sets was of the library in the White House where it really shows all the little details used to make it authentic. There were several flat screens, which included one showing a scene from the movie.

A couple of pictures below of the historic downtown are of Springfield.

We enjoyed our short time in this area but we need to be in Goshen for the Escapade on Sunday and so we left Illinois, making one overnight stop at a Casino a few hours from Goshen. Sunday we arrived in Goshen, Indiana at the Fairgrounds were the Escapade is being held. My next post will be on that experience.

Stay tune.

Colorado Snow to Kansas Winds

We had been keeping tabs on the weather as they have been having some bad toronados in the south and it looked like they might have some in Kansas or Nebraska, our two choices heading east. However, it looked like the worse would be some possible snow showers or rain on the 70 through Colorado. We headed up throigh the mountains and passed Beaver Creek and Vail where we have skiied before.
still some snow on the mountains.

As we got closer to the summit, it looked like winter with snow everywhere including on the trees due to recent snow fall. There was a little snow coming down and signs warning of possible ice but we just took it real slow and made it through the mountains without a problem.\\

We passed through the pass and came to a more open area that was closer to what I expected Kansas to look like. We soon came to Kansas and yes, lots of open prairie land, no hills or mountains in sight. No tornado, TOTO, I mean Savannah. However there was wind. Strong Winds!!  We only had less than an hour from our destination in Kansas but when we saw an overturned truck on the side of the road, we thought about stopping sooner. Then we stopped for diesel and the guy working the counter said there were several overturned trucks and also a rv. Yikes, we only drove about a block, saw an Arbys with a big lot next door with a fifth wheel sitting in it. We pulled in and parked. the guy in the fifth wheel came over and said he too was going to wait out the wind. We went over to Arbys to get sandwiches for dinner and settled in for the night. Luckily the next morning was not too windy and we made our way to Eisenhower State Park. We had some problems getting there, accidentally going the wrong way and heading up on a toll road. We definitely have a new gps at the top of our list to buy soon. We finally found the road to the State Park, but on the way, saw a nice camping area, called Outlet campground, which was a Corp of Engineer Park. A pretty park right on the water and with our old people pass, only $10. for full hookups. Can't beat that. We are happy campers.

The weather was nice and warm which was really nice after the cold days and nights in Colorado. We mostly just took it easy, reading and such. We tried to go to a Farmers Market on Saturday but couldn't find it with google map directions we had printed out. Yes, GPS must be purchased soon. This part of Kansas, near Topeka is very pretty, very green with lots of trees unlike the first part of Kansas we drove through.We checked out some of the other campgrounds, including one that has spots for those with horses. Some of the campsites had a small corral for the horses. Pretty cool.

My first time in Kansas and are next spot will be in Illinois, another first for me. Joe was born in Chicago and lived in both IL and Kansas as a young boy.