Honey Bear Hollow Campground

BAM, BAM, BANG!! I'm sure I jumped a mile at the sound of acorns bouncing off of Auntie Violet's metal roof last night!  We were parked underneath an oak tree at Honey Bear Hollow Campground near Peru, Indiana.  It was a gorgeous place, but who knew that acorns could be so loud!  They didn't fall singly either.  There would be a rain of half a dozen at a time ricocheting off the roof.  I looked for squirrels, didn't see any, so don't know why a bunch would come down all at once?

This was the gorgeous view we had looking out Auntie Violet's front window last evening --

Toni, one of the owners of Honey Bear Hollow, made us a wonderful pizza for dinner last night.  We were able to order it when we arrived, then walked over to the office at 5:30 to pick it up.

With the broken hydraulic line, we were unable to put the jacks down nor put any of the slides out without oil pouring out, so we spent last night -- and will again tonight -- with everything closed up.  Forry can sit nice and close in the passenger seat to watch TV and we cleared off a corner of the couch for me. I sure will be happier when we can spread out again!

We left a little after noon and headed north again on State Highway 31 towards Elkhart.  It was an absolutely beautiful drive --

I think I'm going to have to do some shopping and see if I can find a filter for my camera that will bring out the reds better.  These pictures just do not do justice to some of the colorful foliage.

We are parked tonight in the middle of a grassy area at Elkhart Campground.  We unhitched Toad and drove over to check out the route to Stuart's Service where we have a 9:30 AM appointment.  We also took a look at where Daughter Dawn and Todd lived while he was going to seminary at AMBS and saw the new building that will be offices for Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite Education Agency.

On the Road Again -- NOT!

We were making pretty good progress this morning, getting ready to leave Indy Lakes.  I had taken the garbage up to the dumpster; put the mail in the mailbox; traded the gate opener to the office manager for my $20 deposit back; and loaded the lavender plant and the doorstep into the Toad. We had put all the pictures, smoke detector. calendar, etc. away on the bed.  We pulled in the slide on the driver's side with no problem, but when we went to pull in the one on the passenger side -- nothing!  It raised up, but then wouldn't come in. Now, we can travel with the bedroom slide cattywampus and out a bit in the back, but not with the living room slide all the way out!

Stuart's Service in Elkhart where we have an appointment on Monday is not open on Fridays, so we could not even call them for advice.  We called Camper World who gave up the name of a mobile RV tech, who didn't answer the phone.  Forry went up to the office to tell them we would be staying another day.  They did NOT recommend the mobile tech we had called, saying that people here had many complaints about him.  But they did recommend we call a local RV dealer and ask for Jack.  While the dealer did not do off-site work, Jack did after hours.

Sure enough about 4:45, there was a knock on the door.  Jack had a few ideas about what we might be able to do to get the slide to go back in --

Finally he and Forry worked there way around to the back where Forry had seen quite a bit of oil leaking from the area of the bedroom slide near the radiator --

Jack ended up isolating and crimping off the leaky hose long enough for us to get the slide to go back in.  It looks like all of these hydraulic line hoses are bad and will need to be replaced when we get to Elkhart!

It was a $100 service call (plus a $20 tip), but worth every penny! We'll try again to head north in the morning...

Today at Indy Lakes

It was a bit busier day today.  We got ahold of Stuart Service in Elkhart, Indiana and made an appointment with Chuck to work on our errant bedroom slide next Monday. Since we have a few days to get there (it'll only take one long day or two short ones), we decided to stay on here until Friday instead of leaving tomorrow. That way we can go to visit the Indianapolis Speedway Museum.  I thought Forry was going to go see it while I was in Washington, but...

We are starting to see more Fall color around the area.  This is the view today looking out over one of the ponds here at Indy Lakes --

Daughter Mary Mae sent a fat box of mail that arrived today, so I spent a few hours sorting through it and then paying bills.  Later this afternoon we took a drive to check out the Interstate Battery store.  We will be stopping there on our way out of town to have our six 6-volt house batteries replaced. On the way back, we stopped at the neighborhood China Buffet for supper.  I'd say that on a scale of 1-10, it was at most a 4.  It was clean and the food was hot, but everything tasted exactly the same -- and was deep-fried beside!

A VERY, VERY Lazy Day!

I was SO tired today!  We didn't get up until almost nine, I ate my yogurt, granola and blueberries; then fell asleep sitting on the sofa drinking my coffee...

I finally gave up and went back and laid on the bed and took a morning nap.  So you can imagine how much day there wasn't left by the time I was awake and functioning again.  I did get a couple of loads of laundry done, but it was starting to get dark when I was hanging the second load up.

I spent a bit of time on the computer looking for a recommendation from HWH on where to get the back slide fixed.  They are actually based in Moscow, Iowa. We were thinking if all else failed, we could go to the factory, but they gave us the name of a place they highly recommend in Elkhart. Indiana.  Stuart Service is only about a day's drive from here.  By the time we had gotten that figured out, it was too late to chat with them as they close at 3 PM Central time.  We'll do that first thing in the morning.

I did have a chance this afternoon to chat on the telephone with Sister Sherry.  My niece Daphne and her boys are there from Virginia visiting at the Touchet farm.  It was sure good to visit with her. I am so impressed with the delightful young women my nieces have become.