Visits - RV Maintenance - Flea Market

(Elkhart, IN) Hi 70 Lo 48 -- Nature's heat has been turned off the last couple days. It's been cold for August (48 degrees this morning!) and it's too soon to go south. It should warm back up before end of the week.

Tuesday we met for lunch with a Dick and Barbara, friends of ours from Avon Park where we spend our winters. They're staying with their family in this area. We spent the whole afternoon discussing some changes at our park (Adelaide Shores RV Resort), like re-paving the roads and some renovations and improvements at the clubhouse. It was great talking to them. They were full timers for 15 years. It was a fun afternoon.

Wednesday we took Tumbleweed about 18 miles to Fox RV to have some maintenance done. Larry Fox, the owner, has done work for us before and he's just wonderful to work with.

The primary purpose for our visit was to get our small (doorside) slide adjusted. There's been a small gap along one of the sides indicating it was coming in crooked. We also had him repair our gray tank vent. At times we get a strong smell from the kitchen or shower and knew from experience the vent wasn't doing its job. He found out one of the inner seals on the vent was broken, which allowed odors to vent inside the roof and come into the coach. He also took care of our broken ceiling fan. He didn't have a bracket to match our broken one, but he did have a similar design on hand, so we bought six of those. We're very happy with his service, and also happy that he said our RV is in good shape overall. He should know. When Carriage, Inc. (maker of our RV) was in business they would send customers to Fox RV when they had too much work to handle. So he's very knowledgeable about Carriage products. There were several Carriage Cameos getting service while we were there.

This one was getting the decals removed in order to have new ones painted on (a $2,700 job.. wow!).

While Fox RV was taking care of Tumbleweed we went to the famous Shipshewana Flea Market to see what kind of doo-dads or thing-a-ma-jigs we didn't know we needed. The flea market is open only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and is usually very crowded. But there was a light mist of rain falling, which kept the crowd down. We bought some kitchen utensils and a few veggies. On one end of the flea market grounds is a big auction barn, and they had several estate auctions going on while we were there.

Each group of items (grouped by family estate) was in its own section of the barn, and there were several auctioneers who would go from section to section to auction off the items. We were fascinated by the variety of items that were there to be auctioned off.

I used to have a doll house just like this, but mine was in better condition.

Love these old phones.

These are boxes of toys, all labeled by what kind of toy, like lego blocks, Ninja Turtles etc. Very well organized.

On the way home we just had to stop for lunch at Rise 'n Roll, a well known Amish bakery/deli in Middlebury. No matter what time of day you go they are always busy. They make the absolute best donuts we've ever eaten, and we always stop by (sometimes several times) when we're in the Elkhart area.

We got back to the campground around 3:00. We'll be here for another week. There's a Grand Design owners' rally going on this week, so there are many Solitude and Reflections fifth wheels in the park.

Here's my latest crocheted critters. I've actually sold a few to friends who see them on facebook or blog. I'm thinking of putting hooks on them for Christmas ornaments.

I'm starting to work on some other items, like this pizza. Maybe it would make a good refrigerator magnet?












See you in a few days.