Indiana

I was excited to get to Indiana for several reasons.  1. It’s the RV capital of the country, with plants of almost every major RV manufacturer in the US.  Who wouldn’t want to come here?  2.  I like being in the first group of Care-A-Vanners to visit an affiliate, and 3. I would be meeting up with several different groups of friends.

When I was in Ohio, I was trying to get together with some past Habitat friends, as well as some friends from Michigan from my military days.  Most didn’t work out for various reasons, but I was really happy that my good friend Jeannie and her husband Jeff could come for the last weekend.  She was one of my best friends while in Alpena, and I hadn’t met her husband yet, so I was really looking forward to her visit. She had to work on Friday, so they didn’t get in till late.  I was having a hard time staying awake, so I was relieved when they finally got there.  After helping guide them into the site, no easy feat in the dark, we spent a few minutes catching up before everyone headed off to bed.  The next morning I made chocolate chip, pecan pancakes, and I gotta say, they were pretty good. They had a new puppy named Coco and she was the cutest thing.  I think she was a Rhodesian Ridgeback and Lab mix, very pretty with a very soft coat.  Her puppy exuberance was a bit much for Beefcake though and he spent the morning in my lap.  Of course, that’s where he spends most of him time, now that I think about it.  Around noon we decided we should be doing something, so I took them for ice cream and cheese curds at Young’s Dairy.  It was just as good as I remembered it from last week.  We were going to walk around the farm, but it looked like they were all set up for kids and they little nose pickers were everywhere!!  We sat in the shade to eat the ice cream, but the flies were so bad we decided to head back to camp.  After a well deserved nap, we met again for an evening of dominoes and board games.  It was really nice to just sit and talk.  Jeannie seemed very happy with her life and Jeff seemed like a nice guy.  We talked about meeting up again in the summer for a big Jamboree of country music, but pets are not allowed.  I’m not sure if I can make it if I still have Brutus.  No worries, I have almost a year to figure it out.  We said goodbye early the next morning and I spent the day driving to Goshen. 

Diane and George were on this build.  We met in the Disaster Rebuild course and I really liked them and was looking forward to working together. The last couple Ray and Krystal wouldn’t be joining us until the following day.  Back at the rally in Niagara Falls a few months ago, Bob and Cindy asked me about the possibility of setting up a build next year in conjunction with the annual FROG rally right here in Goshen.  I talked to Mary at the Care-A-Vanner desk and she said how funny, we just got a call from the Elkhart/Goshan affiliate about setting up a build.  So here I am, in Goshen to build a house and to coordinate a build next year.  FROG was kind enough to pick up the tab for our RV sites.   Cindy and Bob came to dinner and the 5 of us grilled some burgers and had a fine old time visiting.  We couldn’t have a campfire and we called it a night once the sun went down and it got chilly. 

The next morning we went to the Habitat offices and met the staff.  What a great group of people!  We were treated to a very nice pot luck breakfast and Molly, the Volunteer Coordinator, had plans to drive us around town showing us the sites.  We were having such a good time talking to everyone, we had little time left for the tour.  Basically we introduced ourselves and spoke about why we were involved in Habitat, then spent the rest of the morning talking about different builds we had all been on.  A  quick tour of the office and warehouse turned into a longer chat once we saw how they put a house together.  We were starting a new house the following morning.  Aaron the Construction Manager and Duffy the Site Supervisor showed us how they precut all the wood in the warehouse.  Each piece was marked and grouped depending of whether it was a wall, window etc.  They loaded it all on a trailer and the next morning, all we had to do is lay it out and start nailing.  They explained that a group of regular volunteers came in before hand and, using well established jigs, spent a few days just cutting and labeling the wood. 

Molly finally managed to drag us away and spent the next 2 hours showing us around Goshen and Elkhart.  We saw several parks that had quilt gardens.  These are plantings laid out in patterns much like quilts. At our last stop a woman approached us and asked for our assistance.  Seems there was some minor construction in the area and a worked had placed a sign directly on the side walk.  A woman passing by in her wheel chair attempted to go around the sign and had tipped over.  I felt so bad for her, she was very angry and embarrassed.  We picked her up and got her seated again just as some employees came out of a local bank.  Seems that’s where she was headed.  You see sidewalk blocked all the time, whether it be cars parking in a driveway that don’t pull all the way up, or signs or other obstacles.  We just don’t ever think that someone can’t just walk around.  I’ll certainly be more aware in the future. 

It was time to head back to camp, I was meeting the insurance adjustor for an estimate due to a little meeting I had with a gate.  Seems I came a little too close and it bit the back corner of my 5^th wheel.  This would be my 3^rd claim with Progressive, and I was a little apprehensive.  But the adjuster was great, he even cut me a check on the spot.  That was pretty cool.  I had an appointment later in the week to have several things fixed on my RV and he said he had talked to the company and they would just bill him for any difference. 

We were joined by Krystal and Ray, a couple I had not previously met.  Ray recognized George and Diane from another build years ago. It is a small Habitat world.  The two weeks seemed to fly by because everything was so well organized.  Duffy was ready for us as soon as we got on site each morning.  He quickly gave us our work assignments and everyone worked hard all day. We were joined by some local volunteer groups as well as several home owners.  It’s always nice to see who’s home you are building and this particular group was awesome!  We had lunch provided almost every day, always a welcome treat.  Also joining us most days were Aaron and Molly as well as Jordan from marketing.  That’s unusual to have so many typically office people working on site.  Molly did a great job in making sure everyone took breaks and always made sure snacks were ready for us.  Jordan arranged 2 news crews to come out, something you rarely see.  The first spot we did concerned the build, but the 2^nd spot was more interested in the Care-A-Vanners specifically.  George, Diane and I agreed to be interviewed in our rigs and it was fun.  We were on 2 different times, a short clip in the 5:30 hour and a longer segment in the 6:00 hour.  I tried to get in a Forest River plug, but they edited it out.  The clip of me showed Brutus in my lap.  They said they wanted him in the shot because Sally like dogs.  Apparently Sally is the name of the target audience.  http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Care-A-226521111.html

My friend Rod stopped by on his way back to Michigan.  We were stationed together at Alpena.  We were trying to get together the weekend in Ohio when Jeannie and Jeff were there, but it didn’t work out.  It was nice to see him again, the last time we met was in FL over the winter.  Like before, it was nice just to hang out with an old friend.  Diane, George, and I scheduled two factory tours of Class C motor homes.  We were joined by Molly and Tom the Executive Director.  It was pretty interesting to see how the RVs were made.  We visited two different factories, but they were the same type of RV, so they weren’t that different.  The following week I took a tour of a 5^th wheel factory.  I have been thinking of upgrading to a front living floor plan, but they are all 40 ft.  Right now my rig is 34 ft and I don’t know if I want to go bigger. It was fun seeing how they are made though.  While at the factory I met a really cool couple Joe and Betty.  They also winter in Ocala and we are going to meet up and go geo caching.  The people I know in FL is getting longer and longer.

Bob and Cindy hooked me up with someone at the factory to have some work done on my RV.  It took 3 days but they fixed a long laundry list of items I had including the damage from hitting the fence.  I gotta say I love Forest River and Charger Inc.  They fixed everything and only charged me about $400.  Three days of work should have cost $2000 in labor alone.  And as icing on the cake, Progressive overestimated the cost for my claim and I got to keep the difference! I told Bob they have a horrible marketing campaign, since they treat me so well I can never own anything but a Forest River Product.

All too soon the build was over and it was time to leave.  I was supposed to go to West Liberty next, but my knee had really, really been bothering me, so I cancelled that build.  I need to get it looked at and all the bending in construction work is making it worse. 

Next stop Nashville

Link to pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/118205599704530902363/albums/5934417621797284961?authkey=CJnjqciE0PDl1wE