Wakarusa, Indiana

Friday a.m.


We were nice and cozy last night no freezing – The Driver set the electric heater and I kept my hands off it.

More good news – when we got up this a.m. and turned on the computers we had no problems getting on to AOL. Just popped up and is working fine with our satellite. Hip hip hoorey! But we still have to wait for the part. It should be here Saturday or Monday. And we now have a password on our satellite so if another caravan pulls into next to us they can’t all jump on our signal.

Another “senior moment” couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t more than 1 minute on the microwave. Well dah. Need to push a “cook/time” button before putting in the actual time wanted. Need to use Jennie more often.

Went to Perkins for dinner last night (didn’t bring much in the way of food ‘cause I thought we’d only be here a couple of days.) Any way we’ve eaten in Perkins before and they are usually good. Well we both got huge meals last night. Bill had a club sandwich with fries. I have never seen so many fries on a plate and the club was made with four slices of bread and thick slices of turkey. I had a chicken spinach salad and when I was stuffed the dish still looked like I’d eaten nothing. Not expensive either $8 for the club and $9 for the salad.

Friday afternoon

Went to breakfast to Perkins again. Then took drive to a big Farmers Market I’d seen on our way here. Found it but it wasn’t open. Closed down end of September – oh well. Then on down the road to little town named Wakarusa – founded around the late 1800s or early 1900s judging by the dates on some of the buildings.


1917 Garage


The whole downtown is just one block long on each side of the main four corners. This time of year there is a pumpkin tree in the center of the town.



Pumpkin Tree

 And the whole downtown is decorated for the season.

Just one of the doors with a quilt mural

Bench Bum sign called to The Driver

More buildings and decorations

Pot person

Colorful trees one block from center of town.

Just a couple of pictures from the town. Looks like it would be a nice place to live.

Nice trees for walking under

Altogether a real pretty little town.
Right now we are getting Jennie washed and waxed - $6 a foot and he does a great job.
Well more later as we continue to visit the area.

Satellite woes - RV Museum

Thursday a.m.

Brrrrrr – instead of turning the small electric heater down last night I turned it off. Need to wear those glasses all the time I guess. Freezing in here this a.m.

Starting to discover what I forgot to bring with us. Already been to the store to buy a couple of things – shower soap and shampoo no less. Also didn’t bring anything to measure the coffee grounds – no big deal but something to put on the list.

It’s amazing how many things you forget about RV living when you haven’t done it for awhile. Forgot about air in the water lines and managed to soak ourselves and the whole kitchen with the forceful spurt that came out first time it turned it on.

Well lets see – the satellite guy came – it is up and running – kind of – but we are connected. But there is a problem with it – so dealer MotoSat in Utah was called and they will ship a new part for it – Should arrive Sat or Monday. So guess we will be spending some time here after all. The new part? Well it is a brand new out of the box satellite and something is wrong with the GPS system in it. To get on line the GPS coordinates have to be entered manually instead of it finding it automatically. I can do that but for the price I want it working right. Then there is another problem. We can get on line with all browsers except AOL – which is the one both of us use all the time for favorites and mail. GRRRRR. Might have to call AO Land/or Hughes Net to see if it can be fixed. For now just using campgrounds WiFi again.
Evening
This aft we went to the RV/Motorhome Museum. Kind of interesting. Lots of very old stuff. One made from a Cadillac Eldorado

 

Inside

One reminded me of the trailer we (my Mom and Dad and me) lived in in 1955 in the winter in Wyoming. Twenty-two foot long trailer with an oil stove and an ice box. It was my job to keep the tray under the ice box emptied of the water from the melting ice. There was no bathroom and the bathrooms were about a half block away. In the winter in Wyoming! Wow. Guess it was like we really moved up when we got into an apartment. My Mom sure put up with a lot from my Dad.



How's this for a driver's chair?



Want to cook while driving?

Very early trailer

Kind of looks like a trolley

Went to dinner at a Perkins. My goodness did we get a lot of food and it wasn’t expensive. And it was very good.

Really enjoying my Nook while here. Easier than taking a couple of books
That's it for today. It is really getting cool out. Will let The Driver set the heater tonight.

Interesting trip to Elkhart

So glad the news from Chile is so good.

Well I whined and whined about the satellite until I convinced The Driver to drive to Elkhart, IN. 230 miles from home. Now I don’t know if I’m glad I did or if I wish I hadn’t of.

Leaving Home 8:30 a.m.

But we are here now. Had an eventful trip up. We left home about 8:30. Off like a herd of turtles! First off I’m glad we decided to take the longer straighter road when leaving home instead of the twisty, turny, narrow way we usually go. A little ways down the road it was apparent that there was something not quite right behind us. Lots of jerking and noise. Got to a wide place in the road stopped and went back to check. Oops! One arm of the tow bar was not extending all the way and locking. Unhitch, hitch, push, pull, WD40, more hitch, unhitch, more push, pull. A couple people stopped to ask if we needed help. Nope – just patience. Finally all was working well. But we were both paranoid by then.

Got onto the main highway and things were still not right. The Driver thought maybe a tire was going flat. Pulled over. Nope. Tires seemed fine maybe they were just out of round from sitting so long. Eventually everything smoothed out.

We stopped for breakfast in Columbus then hit the I-65 north. Just after we made the circle around Indy and just as we were entering the off ramp – BANG THUMP THUMP! CRAP! Luckily the ramp was wide enough so we could pull over and stop. The Driver got out and headed to the rear. The right rear outside tire had blown. By the time he got back up front I had the GPS hunting for a tire place. Found a Firestone place a few miles away that had the right size tire in stock. So we limped off the off ramp onto the main road. Hazard lights on driving on the shoulder people stopping next to us and telling us we had a flat. No s**t. Got a new tire and after another 45 minutes we were off again. 12:30 and we were less than 60 miles from home!

Got about another 50 miles and it started to pour. 110 days with out rain and it decides to rain today. I actually managed to use our Droid to check Weather Bug and saw it was a fast moving storm and clear in front of us. Good.

Saw this on the road - it was for sale

How'd we get to Mexico already?

Rest of ride was uneventful. The Elkhart Campground is very nice. It’s a big place over 300 big grass spaces. WiFi is pretty good. Then we went out for Chinese. A real international night – the lady in the office is from India.

Elkhart RV Park

After arriving we called the satellite guy and he will be here tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock.

Hadn’t planned on staying here more than tonight and tomorrow night but I’ve been looking at info about the area – hummmm – maybe we’ll be here longer. Do want to go to the RV/Motorhome Museum for sure. Also see there are a lot of quilt murals around here.

We remain City Slickers I guess

Tuesday a.m.


It’s just a couple minutes before 8a.m. and it is just barely light out. At 7:30 it was still pitch black out. What’s up with that? Makes me want to just climb back into bed again.

Loading Jennie for tomorrows short trip – anyway we only plan on being gone three days. Unless it turns into more. Kind of weird getting ready for such a short trip. Not sure what to take with us – don’t plan on doing much any cooking.

Today will still be warm but weather is supposed to change tomorrow – of course – maybe some rain??? Then a lot cooler until the weekend – when we will be home – then warming up into the 80s again.

I think the trees are about as pretty as they are going to get. Lots of leaves already on the ground. These are from out back.

We got another reminder about what “city slickers” we still are. Were in the restaurant we go to a lot and the manager told us he had been hunting the night before. So of course we asked what he was hunting – didn’t think deer season was going on yet. Well he told us – squirrels. Said he got about six of them. So like a dummy I asked what he did with squirrels. “Well eat them of course.” Eat them? Those cute little things! He said it took quite a few to make a meal – well dah! Says he boils them first to get rid of the wild taste then breads and fries them. Hummmm. Just never thought about it before.

Had more trouble with my web pages – they just disappeared. Took many more e-mails and a couple of days but now working again. Hopefully that is the last bug from their “upgrade!”

Not happy with the outcome of Sundays NASCAR race. My favorite Kyle #18 – is most likely out of the Chase. He’s too far back now to catch up. Mechanical problems seem to plague him in the Chases. I have a couple of little friends who watch all the races with me. Aren’t they cute?

Wednesday dark a.m.

Well I didn’t finish this yesterday so best get it done now as don’t know when we’ll get internet. Hopefully tomorrow.

Not long after I post this we’ll hit the road. Stop in Columbus for breakfast and head north to Elkhart. And wouldn’t you know it is supposed to rain – for over 100 days it hasn’t rained but today its going to. And supposed to get colder too.
Don't you just hate it when a program  (Internet) you are used to using makes changes in the way you have to do things. Don't they remember "If it ain't broke - don't fix it."