From Indiana to South Carolina
The Forest River rally in Goshan, Indiana was a huge success. We had 512
RV's and over 1000 people. There were many people I knew from other rallies and
it was fun to reconnect and hear about their travels. It seems like we did
nothing but eat, but we managed to squeeze in time to go on a couple of day
trips. One was to the RV museum. It was interesting to see the history of RV's
and how far they've come. They really aren't that different now, just bigger
and better. We did a factory tour to see how 5th wheels are made. It was
pretty much the same as last year. One thing I did learn more about was the
black water tank. For those not in the know, it's the sewage tank. The gray
water is from the sink and shower. A hot topic of discussion among RVers are
the sensors that show the water level. They always show the tank full, even
when you just emptied it. The problem is 'matter' gets stuck around the
sensors. We got a look at how and where they are placed. Basically they are
tiny prongs that poke through to the inside of the tank. Toilet paper and such
gets hung up on these prongs and the sensors read full. There are several 'sure
fire' methods, such as dumping a few bags of ice and a few gallons on water
down the toilet when you drive. This is supposed to agitate the water and
dislodge the dried matter. Another favorite is to mix some combination of Dawn,
Calgon and Borax. This theory has to do with softening up the matter and making
the sensors and tank sides so slick that nothing can stick. I've done both and
never had any success. Basically I decided, I don't really care if they work or
not. You can tell when the tank is getting full because it kind of burps when
you flush. Some people actually take a flashlight and look down the toilet.
That's way too gross for me and my pipe curves anyway, so I couldn't see if I
wanted to. When you do empty the tank, there's a hose intake valve that sprays
clean water into the tank and helps flush it out. You simply run clean water
thru every time and use the special enzyme and its not much different from a
regular toilet.
While at the factory, we were treated to donuts and cookies made by the
factory workers, many of whom are Amish and Mennonite. A local Amish bakery
called Rise and Roll supplied the donuts and that's all anyone could talk about,
they were indescribably good. People call them breakfast crack and the name
fits. We made a dinner stop at Das Essenhouse, a family style Amish
restaurant. The food is crazy good, everything is home made. There's a bakery
on site and I wanted just one piece of pecan pie. They ended up selling me a
whole pie for the price of a half, so I had to buy it and eat the whole thing.
Who could turn that down!!
At the rally, there were about 50 vendors selling all kind of RV related
products. Many of them had daily give always and I won a Dongle valued at $60.
While that's very nice, I have no idea what it is or how to use it. Guess I'll
figure it out. They also had seminars all day. There was a wide variety of
topics from roof maintenance, to tires, to new gadgets and cookware. I
participated in one where the topic was workkamping and volunteering. There
were 3 of us supposed to speak, but I don't think anyone told the first guy. He
owns a workkamp placement agency and he just wouldn't give up the stage. We
only had an hour, so after about 40 min, when he paused for breath, I stood up
and edged him out. He wasn't really saying anything useful to the audience
anyway, because everyone had blank looks on their faces. He was none too happy
and said he had the whole hour. I told him nicely, that the hour was supposed
to be for 3 of us. He packed up his table the whole time I was talking, it was
very distracting. The point of the seminar was to tell people what workkamping
was all about. It's basically working temp jobs while staying in your RV. Many
jobs are in campgrounds or state or national parks, but Amazon hire hundreds of
RVers around the Christmas season. There are also gate guarding jobs in Texas
and beet harvest jobs in the Dakotas I think. All these jobs specifically cater
to RVers since we are a temporary work force who can come to a specific
location. I was there to talk about volunteering with Habitat. I think my talk
was well received, I was there with 2 other Care-A-Vanners and we had a few more
in the audience that we didn't know about. We are trying to do a build there
next year in conjunction with the rally. I think we generated enough interest
between that talk and a group of us wearing Habitat T-shirts. I talked to the
rally organizers about the workkamp guy and they don't know how he ended up
speaking at all. Seems like he found out about it and just showed up, so I
REALLY didn't feel bad about interrupting him.
The week went by so fast, but soon it was time to say good bye to
everyone. I made a lot of new friends and got to know other friends a lot
better. I sure am going to miss the RV life style when I move to Europe in
November.
Once the RVers pulled out, the place looked like a ghost town. I was
staying in Goshan for another two weeks for a Habitat build. A Jayco rally
started the next day and I expected it be the same, but we never even knew they
were there. They had about 30 RV's and were on the other side of the fair
grounds. It would have been lonely, but we were too busy with the build to
notice after the first day.
The Habitat build was a lot of fun. I was here last year; the people are
friendly and they have a good base of local volunteers. We worked on two houses
side by side, in the same neighborhood as the houses we worked on last
year. The home owners have continued to volunteer, so it was nice to work with
them again and to see their completed homes. I got to do an interview with the
local news again. They have a great media guy, Jordan. He gets news crews to
their builds a lot and posts updates and pictures of builds on FB all the time.
Its nice to watch the progress of the houses we worked on.
After the rally I had planned to go to West Virginia, then DC, NC and then
to Fla. But I got to thinking, why rush? So instead of heading east, I went to
Minneapolis, Minnesota to see Mall of America. I was underwhelmed. Aside from
the huge amusement park in the middle and the aquarium in the basement, it was
just a big mall. One more thing to check off my bucket list. I spent another
day walking and biking around the city. Just outside of Minneapolis there is a
series of small lakes called Lake of the Isles. Each lake has a paved trail
around it. Across from the lakes were the most fabulous homes. There were huge
mansions with sweeping porches and well landscaped lawns. It was a beautiful
day to ride around. I was surprised at the number of hiking and biking trails
for such a northern city. I guess they figure when warm weather finally hits,
they want to enjoy it.
I had to be in Florida by early Sept so it was time to head south. My next
stop was New River Gorge in West Virginia, a 2 day drive. I ended up spending
the night in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. This restaurant chain welcomes
RVers, but I had never stayed in one. I admit I don't really like their food,
but it was late, I was hungry and sleepy. I pulled in their parking lot and
discovered 4 cars parked in the RV spots. I wedged all 51 feet of me into the
side parking lot and went in for dinner. I ordered a hamburger and they said,
sorry we're out of hamburgers. Same reply to my 2nd choice. I settled on
chicken fingers, ate and went to bed. Guess that's another thing I can say been
there, done that, don't need to do it again.
New River Gorge was pretty, I went on a short hike out to some waterfalls.
The area is mountainous with dense forests and several rivers. I also did a
coal mine tour, that was kind of interesting. We rode a coal train back into
the mine and our guide was a retired coal miner from the area. He did a really
good job of explaining the process. When this particular mine was opened in the
1920's, it was so narrow the miners had to crawl in on their hands and knees.
The entire 12 - 16 hour day was spent laying on their sides or back while they
dug out the coal. There was a walking tour of the coal mining village, which
was interesting too. They had a two room home that married families lived in.
They would often convert the living room into a 2nd bedroom and rent it out to
the single miners. The couple rented the house for about $4 a month and the
single miner paid the family $2 in exchange for room and board. The single
miners shack was a tiny room with a single bed, a stove and sink.
I have been wanting to go to the Outer Banks in NC for a while now, so I
was exited to get there. The only problem was, the RV park I picked was 2 hours
away. What I didn't realize was that it was a peninsula; only connected to land
on the north side and I was staying on the south side. Well, no problem, I
decided to treat myself to a hotel night. I got up at the crack of dawn and
raced to meet the ferry to Ocracoke Island. After a quick trip to the
lighthouse, I made it to the next ferry which would take me to Hatteras Island.
While on this island, I visited its lighthouse as well as a museum called
Graveyard of the Atlantic. It was a small place, dedicated to famous shipwrecks
in the area. I headed north to Bodie Island lighthouse and my hotel near Nags
Head. My room faced the beach and I had a balcony on the forth floor. I slept
that night with my door open so I could hear the waves crash on the beach, it
was so peaceful. I went for a walk on the beach thought about swimming, but
the water was too cold. Oddly enough, I don't really like swimming in the
ocean. Even though I grew up on Florida, I rarely go to the beach. The next
day I headed to the North Carolina Aquarium. It was a small facility, but
nice. They rescue sick and injured sea turtles and they only had 2 occupants at
that time. Next I visited Elizabeth Gardens. It was a nice walk through some
gardens, but it was very hot and humid. Right next door there was a small
museum on the Lost Colony; that was very interesting and a whole lot cooler. It
was a long day, so I skipped Kitty Hawk and the rest of the islands and headed
home satisfied that I saw most of what I wanted to see. 
While in North Carolina, I had to say good bye to my sweet little dog Brutus
Beefcake. He was almost 18.5 years old and he led an awesome life, at least the
last 3.5 years with me. He fell asleep in my arms knowing
he was loved till the very end and he felt no pain. It was a very sad day for
me.
I had one more stop on the list, Charleston, SC. I only had one day, so I
took a city tour combined with a harbor tour. It was finally time to head to
Ocala, Florida and get ready for the next phase of my life.
Links to pictures:
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