Indiana Rally

Elkhart County Fairgrounds
Goshin, Indiana

Rally Time!

 

The difference between this rally and the last one is we have our new home with us this time and 3 months of fulltiming to refer to.  It was another good time.  It was great to see Jo & Craig that we met from the first rally.  Like us, they are graduates of the Class of 2014.  Neither of us had our rigs last time.  They just got their beautiful rig just before coming to the rally.  It is a gorgeous Lifestyles RV.

Jo setting the table for our delicious dinner in their new rig!

This is the outside of Jo & Craigs new home :-)

Jo made a wonderful chicken dinner  and we had so much time looking through each others rigs and catching up from the past year.  Later in the week, another delicious meal.  Ranch Beans (help me out here Jo, I know I have the name wrong) and a great casserole.  I'll be getting the recipes for these!

 

The RV Dreams Rally is a fantastic way to get information about the fulltime RV lifestyle.  Whether you plan to head out soon, or just want to gather lots of information and perspective from others and may not be heading out for a couple of years.  Things you wouldn't think of but are very important.  They cover everything from: choosing a rig, choosing the truck to pull it, type of RV, emotional issues regarding leaving family and friends, solar, boondocking, working on the road, medical/dental/legal issues, auto/RV insurance and much more!  Howard and Linda have been fulltiming for 9 years and do an amazing job of presenting it all to you.  There are also some meals included, handouts, factory tours and lots of other great people which share the same passion.

We arrived a couple of days early, so we went to the RV - Motorhome Hall of Fame.  Wasn't sure what they'd actually have there, but it was very interesting.  There were some RV's that were from the 1930s.  I would've never imagined they had them back then.  They were quite amazing and very useable even back then.

These elk are decorated and all over town.

They made a cute roadway that you walk on that meanders through
and you can walk in most of these older models.

This RV was built in 1016!  Wow!  You sleep in the
back and a chow box pulls out of the side.

An old mini airstream.

Mae West's RV

The other big reason for attending again was to get our rig weighed.  Having proper tires, truck and rig properly loaded are very important to safely drive this behemoth down the road.  We were right about where we thought we would be.  Overall we are under and with  more weight on the drivers side.  That is fairly common as most of the appliances are located on one side making it a bit heavier.  We can rearrange things in the basement to try to even things out more.  The generators are fairly heavy, so that should be all that we need to do.

We also were happy to see Curt & Glenda of Illinois Campers which we met when we bought our truck in Illinois.  I had been following his blog for a while and we had a great meeting each other in person and seeing each other again for the rally.  They have a very nice Big Horn 5th wheel.

Curt & Glenda's Big Horn 5th Wheel.
 She had the front decorated so nicely.

Allen & Donna (Fergizmo), another blog I follow, which we met back in Washington, are also here.  What fun we all had.



Craig & Jo, Curt & Glenda and Donna & Allen

Brian was a new friend we met at the rally.  Very nice,
funny & artistical too!

Lots of new graduates with new blogs to follow too!  And what nice rigs!  Everything from small pull behind trailers to a very large custom made Super A.  The best part is always the walk throughs were folks let you tour their rigs.  You can see how others organize critical space, make modifications and of course, my favorite, decorate! 

This little Casita is fully contained and pulled behind a truck.
Small, but has everything you need!

This is a Super A, Custom built, Powerhouse Coach.  The picture
is deceiving.  It is well over 40 feet long on an 18 wheeler chassis.
The trailer contains their Smart Car and a 3-wheeler motorcycle.

We felt so plain parked next to Curt & Glenda, so I hung little
fall wreath by the door.

We enjoyed taking a tour of the DVR factory and see how the 5th wheels are made from the bottom up.  We ate more than our share of Amish yummies.  Cheese, butter, fried pies and lots of fresh fruits and veggies.  This is another large Amish area.  Many horse and buggies and people on bikes.

We enjoyed the drive past Cleveland, Ohio.  We wish we had time to stop in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but there wasn't time.  Another trip I guess!

Progressive Field where the Cleveland Indians play.

Lake Eerie.  That's 4 out of 5 of the Great Lakes we've passed this trip alone!

 

Now were off to Upstate New York and looking forward to fall weather and lots of fall color.  We used to live here for several years when the kids were young.  Lots of friends to see and favorite places to go!