Windy City Winnies Elkhart 1 Indiana June 16-20₁ 2010

 

If you missed this outing, you really missed a great timelllll In all, we had 12 coaches. Our earlybirds, the Schleich's arrived on Tuesday to be able to go to the Shipshewana Flea Market on Wednesday. On Wednesday. the Hegg's; Latters. and our wonderful friends from Arizona. Rich and Judy Stasch. got in early enough to also attend the flea market. Throughout the day. Bev Davidson. the Barthel's. the Genazes, the Sabitanos. the Glassman's and the Phillips also arrived. Some joined the Barthels at Callahan's for dinner so we could final up our groups arrival there for dinner on Saturday.

Thursday started our fun with the Dukes arriving and a lot of the members went to Bontragers RV Surplus store to browse for those weird RV parts that we all seem to need but never have when we need them. A few members went to the RV Museum which was very close by and really enjoyed it' At 2:00 PM we had a tour of the "Ruthmere" house which really was great. The founder of "Alka Seltzer" and other products. built it in the 1920's. It was very well remodeled and fun to see. Later. most of the group drove to the Essenhaus Restaurant to see a Classic Car Show and have dinner.

On Friday. we were thrilled that the Siowicks arrived after telling us that they probably would not make the outing because of illness. They arrived in time to go on an all day Amish tour with us. We arrived in Shipshewana and some had lunch in town. We met our tour guide. Kenny. with Buggy Lane Tours. at noon. To save money. we all drove our own cars and used a walkie-talkie so our tour guide could explain things we were seeing while driving in the countryside and stopping in shops. We went to a quilt shop, a cheese factory, a furniture factory (where our guide also showed us how they set up for their Sunday services in a home) This factory was also on the family home property. We also went to a noodle factory. Kenny was an amazing tour director and explained the Amish life to us so well. The highlight of this trip was having a dinner prepared for us in an Amish home. We sat right in their kitchen while the daughters waited on us. The food was fantastic with chicken and beef being served with mashed potatoes, salad, corn, and noodles with homemade bread and jelly. Homemade pies were served too. It was so good!!1It Kenny explained to us that on that night the Amish community was getting together to have an auction to try and raise money for one of their families who's home was destroyed by fire. A few of us decided to check it out and it was fascinating! The honesty and dedication of these people really showed through! The others in our group went back to the campground. A pretty severe storm came though and had some of the campers taking cover in abuilding. (Thanks to all of you who put up our awning and babysat our puppylll!l) No damage to anyone - thank goodness!

On Saturday, after our coffee and monthly meeting, we left the morning and early afternoon open so everyone could see other attractions that were around, or just chill!! We had dinner at Callahans Restaurant and then came back to the campground to celebrate Mel & Mary's 62⁰⁰ anniversary with cake and ice creme. Congratulations to you'" Then we all carpooled to a local theatre to see the play "Thoroughly Modern Millie". It was fantastic, with the local talent really belting out the songs and dancing. I think everyone really enjoyed it. With all our running around, the group NEVER got to play cards this outing. Oh well - the State Outing is next weekend ­we'll make up for it thenll

Sunday we all met for coffee and said our goodbyes. A lot of the coaches were hanging around the area to go straight to the State Outing. We hoped everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we enjoyed setting it up'"

Your wagonmasters:

Ken & Fran Phillips Ray & Gail Barthel