Goshen, IN - Keystone Service

We arrived at the Keystone manufacturer's lot on a Sunday afternoon so the place was very quiet.  They have full hookups here for customers.  We're stopping by to get a few things taken care of here before heading to Cinci.  Our first night here we had some severe weather roll in early evening which made for a cool sunset:

Our 1st day hanging out while the trailer was being worked on we decided to head for Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan.  Very nice park.  We biked the whole park and then scoped out the beach:

Evidently the water is not open until 11am as they kept announcing that over the loud speakers but unfortunately for all the people waiting . . . at 11am they announced the beach was closed due to the water being unhealthy.  Looked nice but glad we didn't put our feet in!

We also drove up to New Buffalo, MI where we checked out the beautiful waterfront and hit the downtown area shops.  With this being Susan's 1st time to MI, this also made it official that we both now have been to 49 of the 50 states - Hawaii next trip!

Looking like we're going to be here a couple days as they slowly make repairs to the trailer.  They've been putting us up in a hotel nearby.  One day we took a tour of the Keystone Montana manufacturing plant.  Great tour as we were able to see exactly how our rig was built:

Getting around this area isn't too bad but you may find yourself waiting on horse & buggies at rush hour . . .

One day we hit the Pumpkin-Vine & Maplehart Nature Trails with our bikes.  Roughly 26 miles of trails which go from Elkhart to Goshen to Middlebury to Shipshewana.  We covered about half of the trails in 1 day with beautiful farm land and canals along the way:

We saw deer in the farmers fields:

and lots of wildlife along the canals including these ducks:

and turtles:

and many swans by the dam:

and this grizzly and her cubs:

Oops, Duck & ducklings!  Got your attention though!

Great bike trail!  We did the other half of the bike trail the next day.  This part of the trail was a little messed up.  The map shows it running through Middlebury however it would stop with no clue as to where it picked back up.  We finally found the main trail hidden behind the DQ which we took for 4-5 miles out to Shipshewana.  Lots of farm land with horse & buggies parked in the driveways all along the trail.
We're looking forward to leaving for Cinci today after hanging out with the Keystone crew (better than new the techs tell us).  These guys really have been great about the whole thing!

More to come . . .

Arlington Heights, IL - Napoleon's RV Resort

We packed up and headed out of Door County early on another beautiful day.  We headed south toward Chicago but made a lunch stop in Cedarburg, WI to see Kristine & Jason.  We had a good lunch and a very nice visit in their wonderful new home.  Unfortunately I took no pictures other than one of this gold finch they noticed "resting" in the grill of the truck.  If you look really closely in between the spattered bugs you can see Jason and Kristine's reflection in the grill  too:

 

 We continued rolling south to Arlington Heights, IL where we stayed at the Napoleon's RV Resort.  Electric, water, wifi, powerwash and meals all FREE!

Our first night here we went to see future Red Sox player Mathew schooling everyone on how to rip the ball:

 while youngest brother Jason entertained the fans in the stands:

And here we have Coach Steve telling the boys they played a good game and giving them some things to think about:

When I was your age . . .

Another day we all hit the pool area which is a short walk from their house:

Jason sporting his Mr Cool smile while working the ladies around the fountain pool:

This dare for Matt to dive off the high dive cost me $10 (looking good Matt!):

Later in the day Football Coach Steve working on some blocking techniques with Nick and others on his team:

Another day we stopped by to check out Matthew's football practice:

Nicholas sporting a big smile and his favortie 1st place baseball team:

Our last night we went to down town Arlington Heights where there are many nice bars and restaurants.  We had an excellent Mexican food and then hooked up with some of Steve & Christy's friends at another Irish bar in town:

Napoleon's RV Resort was a great place to hang out for a long weekend!  We really enjoyed our visit with Christy, Steve, Matthew, Nicholas and Jason!  Thank you guys for everything!  Looking forward to your visit to NH!

Now we're off to Goshen IN to bring the TinCan into the Keystone manufacturer for repairs.  As soon as they are done, we head for Cincinnati to vist the gang there.

More to come . . .

Door County, Green Bay WI

The trip from Minneapolis was pretty uneventful.  Beautiful country - 300 miles of farm houses with miles of corn fields in between.  We landed in Bailey's Harbor at Bailey's Grove Campground.  Very nice people & campground, full hookups, free wifi, some DTV, tight pull through sites for $35 with Good Sam:

On our way into Door County we were stopped at the draw bridge to allow some sail boats to pass by:

Door county is the tip of a peninsula which creates the southern shore of Green Bay.  Bailey's Harbor is on the south side of the peninsula which is the lake Michigan side (less than 5 miles across to the other side).  Once we were setup and the navigator was all read up on where to go and what to do, we headed for the quaint little village of Fish Creek:

We walked the streets and along the shoreline:

 Houses & businesses all along the streets had beautiful landscaping with many different colorful flowers:

We drove further east on the peninsula past another quaint village of Ephrain to the village of Sister Bay.  The local burger/bar & neighboring home made ice cream shop were packed with people.  We found this Tiki Hut on the water where you could walk out on the marina piers:

or sit and watch the sunset:

Another day we headed to Peninsula State Park with our bikes.  1st we climbed up the 76' Eagle Tower for a great view of the park and Horseshoe Island on Lake Michigan/Green Bay side:

We then hit the Sunset bike trail starting at Nicolet Beach and rode 5 miles along the shoreline to the Fish Creek entrance of the park.  The trails are all hard pack with wildflowers and great views of the water along the way:

The entrance fee ($10) for this park also covered Whitefish SP so we stopped to check it out too.  Nice park with a nice long beach.  Many kayakers were cruising just off the beach here:

The only downside was due to recent water temp changes there were hundreds of small alefish washed up on the beach which  not only looked bad but it didn't smell so good here!  From here we drove along the coast north around the whole peninsula stopping at Cana Island to check out the lighthouse on the way:

Rowley's Bay didn't have much going on but looked like a great place to launch a kayak.  Gill's Rock and Northport were mostly about ferries which you could take out to Washington Island where Rock Island SP is.  We kept rolling back down through Ellison Bay which had a little more to offer so it was a little busier.  We stopped at Sister Bay to walk the shore.  Many people enjoying the "beach" here (on a Monday afternoon - does anyone work any more?).

Another day here we biked from the campground down to Bailey's Harbor, then north 200 yds and right on some "rustic road" (according to the signs).  This was a great place to take a bike ride.  It goes along the shoreline with a public beach and marina along the way.  At the end of the paved road you can go left on a hard packed dirt road for another mile to a culdesac.  Nice ride but this is not on the recommended bike trails on the peninsula.  Later we hit Egg Harbor to walk around and check out the shops.  The view of the waterfront from the park there was beautiful:

After checking out the village, we drove a mile south to the Harbor Ridge Winery (& cheesery).  We sampled some excellent wine and cheese and left with our hands full of good stuff!  Later that night we went back down to Egg Harbor to catch the sunset.  Very unique sunset with what looked like rings in the sun:

and as it set further, the sky became more colorful:

Door County is a very nice place to visit.  There are so many unique quaint little villages to check out, biking, water activities and surprisingly easy to get around with all of the tourist here.  We're off to Arlington Heights, IL to visit with the Napoleons after making a lunch stop in Cedarburg, WI to visit the Wulffs.   More to come . . .

Apple Valley - Minneapolis, MN

From Eagleville MO we headed up I-35 north through Des Moines IA.  Contrary to all the rumors you may be hearing on the news, we're not in Iowa because Susan is running for President.  Just north of Des Moines we blew out a tire on the trailer which in turn badly damaged the other tire, took out the fender and made a mess of the trailer.  AAA was out within 30 mins after 20 mins on the phone convincing them that we do in fact have coverage for our 5th wheel trailer:

With spare tire on, we hit Goodyear Tire in Ames, IA (home of Iowa State U) and within an hour they had 2 new tires on and we were on our way again.  We camped south of Bloomington (home of the Mall of America) at a county park called Lebanon Hills in Apple Valley.  What a beautiful park!  Full hookups, really well maintained, free wifi and good DTV reception for $30/night:

One day we hit midtown Minneapolis to bike Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles.  The bike trails in Minneapolis and St Paul are incredible!  They have trails just for bikes with parallel trails just for pedestrians.  These particular bike paths were 1 way so you had to commit to going all the way around the lake.  There are bike trails that allow you to travel all throughout the Twin Cities.  The trails we rode were busy yet it was easy to get around without having to hit your breaks - they've really got the bike trail system figured out here!  The trails passed by beautiful homes and lakes:

Later we hit the Mall of America which was only 8 miles from our campground.  Huge mall, 3 and in some areas 4 floors:

with a huge amusement park in the middle of the whole thing:   

We walked around a couple of floors, stopped for an early dinner at the Cadillac Ranch and then walked the remaining floor. If you can't find what you're looking for in this place, don't bother going anywhere else!

Another day we drove up to the Lino Lakes area on the north east side of town for more biking.  We tried to follow the chain of lakes trail but the trail markings weren't too clear.  Regardless, the bike trails here were very nice too.  This trail is all country scenery.  Wouldn't do the drive again for this particular trail but if you're in this area, it's nice:

Bike trail bridge across a marsh area

Later we tried to check out the scenic route starting in the town of Stillwater.  We checked out the "scenic" route 35 north from there but turned around after 10 miles of country farm houses and cornfields.  It was nice but not what we were looking for.  On our way back we sat on the bridge into Stillwater while many boats (including steamboat replicas) went by while the bridge was up.  The town of Stillwater looked like a good place to walk around and hang out for lunch/dinner.  We decided to head back into the mid-town area to do more biking along the Grand Rounds trail.  We started at the Minihaha Park and followed the Mississippi River north.  Another great bike trail!

Our last night here we hit Saint Anthony Main area downtown.  Cool area with bars and restaurants along the street:

Across the street is the Mississippi river with down town Minneapolis in the background:

There are several waterfalls here too:

We sat at Vic's and listened to the Billy Johnson Roadshow for a while:

We're off to the Green Bay WI area to check out Door County for a few days.

More to come . . .