Sunday May 17
I'm home now for a month or so, so there will not be any more entrys until i get back on the road.
Came home last friday May 15. Left the trailer in Middlebury and drove home. about 900 miles. Left at 9:47 am and arrived home at 1:20 am . No problems, except for spats of rain in the mountains and a wrong turn I took at Wytheville and went 20 miles out of the way -10 out and 10 back.

Thursday May 14
Today was a good day. Last night I was watching tv and it was very staccicy. I heard some discussion about digital tv channels in the area. I decided to set up my converter box, since I would need it anyhow when I got back.. Set it up this morning and much to my surprise there were 8 digital channels, clear as cable. All the time I've been here i have been trying to listen to news on channels that were not good.Nobody here knew about them.
Then I went to a rv supply place that had surplus. Looked around, but didnt buy anything. However if you needed something this would be a good place to look, it was just like Sailor Man for boats in Miami
This afternoon the weather was beautiful. I went to South Bend to look over Notre Dame. What a nice place. Pics are of the stadium, some dorms, and quadrangle that was in the middle of the campus, dthe faamous gold dome. Then the alum assn building, and a book store. What a bookstore. While I was walking around I saw a sigh tdhat said This dorm was the best female dorm of the year. Then it hit me no coed dorms here
As I was walking past the stadium, I noticedd that there were a lot of tv ststions setting up outside, and I wonderred why. Later i found out that this was graduation tomorrow.Still didnt make sense. When I got back tothe trailer, I heard that President Obamma was going to give the graduation speech, then it made sense as well as the studentsset up just outside the campus rallying against abortions.
Thats about it for today. packing up to start home tomorrow.

Wednesday may 13
No pics today. Rain off and on all day. Went to Keystone today. Took a tour of the Cougar manufacturing line this pm. This was a good experience. We got to see units being made first hand and up close. Contrary to other manufacturers.Keystone is running this line almost wide open.They say that they are sold out on cougars until july. Thats about the end of the model year.
As I was driving down to shipawana yesterday it struck me that almost as if by magic,farmers were planting corn like crazy in big fields, really big fields.
Tomorrow the weather is supposed tobe better, and I plan to make another try at Notre Dame in the afternoon, All set up to start home Friday as soon as I put the trailer in storage.
Thats it for today.

May 12 Tuesday
I found a place that you should never turn a female loose with money or a credit card. SHIPSHEWANA > this is the biggest flea market I have ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice.The first pic is a map of the layout.Can't count the booths. There is almost everything you can imagine here in the line of knicknacks, Amish furniture,clothes,food,tools, etc. I wandered around this place for three hours and did not see all of it, maybe 3/4. There was a big crowd here when i got here at 10:30. I had a hard time finding a place to park and they had only opened at 10:00.
Anyhow it was a real experience, I'M glad to see it. the town is named shipshewana,i guess because the fleaq market and some restaurants and other little money magnets(shops) are all there is to the town.
This was the big deal for today. Tomorrow I'm going to tour the keystone factory in goshen.
bye for today

Monday may 11-added item
Ijust found out that if you click on the photos they will come up full screen. AwSOME:::

Monday May 11
pics were leftovers from indy yesterday. blog would not put up but 10,so here are the rest of them.
Today I went to visit an rv manufacturer and toured the factory to see how they were made. was about what i expected. Got to see the sewing shop where they turned the fabric into all kinds of seats, bed covers and many things inside the rv. Thought of Lindsay and he desigh and coordination of all these pieces.
Tomorrow i am going to visit a very famous flea market. Supposed to have almost anything. Might be interesting.
Wed I am going to tour the keystone factory (people who made mt trailer.)
Then Thurs wather permittingi am going to try notre dame again. plan to leave friday in middle of morning for ome. expect to be there late sat or sumday.

Sunday evening
Had a great day today. Woke up this morning and it was sunny and warming up with a slight breeze. great day. So I decided to go to indianapolis and try for the speedway. On line they said tickets were 10.00 but didn't say anything about parking or if there were any tickets available. I decided to chance it, I thought the worst that could happen would be they were sold out,but I could get a couple of outside pics at least. I took their driving directions off of the web site and set out. In indianapolis, I followed their directions and drove right up to the place. I noticed that there were hardly any cars around, and as i drove by one of the gates, i noticed they were selling tickets. Turned into alot across the street and paid the man10.00 to park and ask him wherre to see best, he told me in the fourth turn up high to see the whole oval. so i did. The view was spectacujlar, and some of tghe pics are from there. Later I decided to try to get some pics of pit row and walked dthat way.About 1/2 way there I ask on of the guards where I could get some pics of the pits, he told me down by the next gate. Walked in and sat down in box 33 right across the speedway from pit row, there were very few people there.
Like watching from across a two lane road. The speeedway is not as wide as you would think. These guys were going past at 220 mph.like here he goes. Ihope the [ics are clear enought so you can see some of the stuff.
anyhow I enjoyed if and saw more than i had hoped for. No problems going or comming back, except it started rraianing about 50 miles from the trailer.

Saturday may 9
Today was a real bust. Started out for South Bend this am. got on I 90 and headed west. Wind was blowing 15 to 20 with gusts to 40. It started to rain fine mist almost like a fog so I turned on the wipers, in a minute I wondered why the window was streaking instead of wiping. Then I looked at the temp- 42 degrees. the rain was freezing on the winshield. defroster cleared up the problem. When I got to south bend things were not much better so I decided it was time to go back home. too miserable to sight see.
This afternoon, later it stopped raining but the wind was still blowing 15 to 20 and so i took off and scouted out Goshen for the Keystone factory where i want to visit Monday and then drove throught the country side back to the trailer.
Weather looks better tomorrow so i think i will try to go to Indianapolis for some of gthe Indy 500 time trials.
that is it for today

May 8
Today was a travel day. left sandusky in light rain west on I 90 to Middleberry, in. Got here about 12:30. No problems. Set up , ate lunch and then took a nap. Tomorrow i am going to scout around a little,Maybe go to South Bend to see Note Dame,or down to indinapolis to check out the motor Speedway. Depends on weather.
Thats it for today. very uneventful day. This canpground is amazing. When i arrived there was hardly anyone here. Now it is almost full,people just started to roll in here about 3:00 and havent stopped yet,tents, travel trailers, fifth wheels and rvs. This is not a small camground either. Also they will let me store my trailer herre while i come home next weekend. Amazing

The last pic is for all you good wilmingtonians. This was taken in downtown sandusky. Note the FREE PARKING There were lots like this all over town, and not a parking meter in sight. Goes to show you there is another way. Downtown Sandusky haS mostly cleaned itself up, many of the old buildings have been converted to comdos, and the waterfront area has a lot of nice marinas, there are only a few old abandoned buildings.
Started out today to visit some of the local sites. Lighthouse pics are of Marblehead light that marks entrance to sandusky bay. Place wasn't open yet,not until memorial day.
From there i went to visit Kelley Island. Had to go by ferry. A 30 minute ride. One of the pics is of trucks lined up to get on the ferry, I wondered what they were going to do on a resort island.
I found when i got on the island that it was basically one big limestone mine in the middle. it seems that they have been mining limestone in this area for over 100 years. Pits are everywhere, even around marblehead. But to the credit of the company mining, they are filling in the old pits and planting trees. Marblehead was and still is a big limestone exporting port. the perimeter was resort cottages. The main Reason I went here was to the limestone carvings that the glaciers carved out when they came down during the ice age.
There are three pics of these. Then there are some pics of the old summer homes alongthe lakefront,very nice. Also a nice marina where the ferry came in. however generally the area is just waking up heading for memorial day season opening.
I wanted to visit some of the other islands,but the ferry service to them wasnt running yet. Besides it started to rain hard so I came back to the trailer to write this.
Tomorrow is moving day going to Elkhart in.