May 2 – 5 (4 nights, Lexington, KY USA – Kentucky Horse Park Campground)
We are driving to Kentucky today and hopefully the GPS will take us out of here on a more direct route. The roads in this part of WV are very narrow with no shoulders so it was an exciting drive out of the mountains to the Interstate. We made it without any incidents and headed North and West to Kentucky. The scenery really started to change from mountains to rolling hills and valleys with large expanses of green pastures. We found the Kentucky Horse Park Campground with no problem and they had plenty of open spaces. The park is on the same grounds as the world famous horse park that among other things, serves as a retirement home for thoroughbreds that are done racing.

It is still raining off and on so we decided to stay home this afternoon and do laundry. $2 to wash and $1.50 to dry and the dryers did not get the clothes dry in one cycle so we had to put in another$1.50 to finish them off. With the laundry done we took a walk around the park to get our daily exercise done. We decided to go out to eat for dinner so we asked our trusty GPS for the location of all the nearby restaurants. We picked the closest Asian restaurant; a Chinese Buffet several miles up the road. We found the place, walked in and checked out the food and it looked good so we decided to stay and eat. When we finished dinner and walked outside the rain had stopped and the sun was just setting. The sunset was spectacular as it usually is just after a storm. We did not have our camera with us, darn..n...n....!

May 3
Today is Kentucky Derby Day over in Louisville. We are not driving over for the race but we will be watching it on TV later in the afternoon. First though we need to do some grocery shopping. Sim has been investigating Asian grocery stores in the area so we will be going to find one or more of them to stock up the pantry. First though, we went to the Farmers Market in downtown Lexington. It was a fairly small market that did not have a very large selection, but we did buy some tomatoes and a couple of other veggies. Then we headed off to the Yu Yu Asian Market. Sim was in heaven as the Yu Yu had many vegetables and greens that she wanted and needed. They even had real Thai Basil so it looks like Sim will be cooking up a big batch of Chicken Basil in the next day or so.

Back at the coach Sim cooked while I was watching the Kentucky Derby coverage on TV. Congratulations to Big Brown but our hearts go out to Eight Belles. Eight Belles out ran all the male competitors, except the undefeated Big Brown. But, it was a tragic end in that she was immediately euthanized after the race as a result of a severe injury to her front legs.

May 4
I wanted to get up early today and go over to the Keeneland Rack Track early in the morning to watch the horses workout on the track. We got up, had breakfast and were out the door by 8:30 which is pretty early for us. We found the race track on the Keeneland grounds and there were about 15 jockeys working out the horses. As we watched, more horses came out. Some even came over to where we were standing and let us say Hello to the horses. They sure are beautiful animals. After we left Keeneland we drove the Bluegrass driving tour route around the outskirts of Lexington. This road goes by many of the beautiful horse farms with their classic white and black fences. We were amazed and awed by the beautifully maintained farms around the area. We stopped 5 or 6 times to say Hello to the horses grazing in the pastures along the road. Sim said there was nothing more elegant and classic than the KY derby and bluegrass farms.

After we finished the drive , we headed back to the KY Horse Park and went over to the Park area to see what was going on. They have some daily shows that showcase various breeds of horses. We sat and watched a short show with Arabians, Morgan, and Quarter Horses among others. We also met some past champion thoroughbreds that now live at the Horse Park. Most notable was Cigar, who earned just shy of $10 million in his career. In one year he raced, he won 10 out of 10 races run.

May 5
We decided to stay in Lexington one more day. And today we are going over to the state capitol city of Frankfort. In Frankfort is the Kentucky Library and Archives. I am hoping I can find out some more history on my fathers side of the family. Some years ago my mother researched our family roots and was very successful tracing her side of our family back to the 1650s, but my fathers side hit a dead end here in Kentucky with my grandfather. I am hoping that I can discover more while we are here.

We spent the morning researching, but only had minimal success. Apparently they had more important things to do during the Civil War time than keep birth and death records here in Gallatin County during the time of my Great Grandfather. We were getting hungary so we drove to downtown Frankfort and got some lunch at a small cafe before heading back to the Archives to continue the search. I did have some luck in the afternoon using Ancestry.com and now have more information than I had before. When we will be in Indiana, I need to stop at wherever they have their Archives to search more. I believe my Great Great Grandfather was born in Markland, IN.

The weather was still nice and warm this evening, so it was hard to keep ourselves inside the coach after we got back from Frankfort. We decided to explore more of the KY Horse Park. It didn't seem Sim would ever get tired of walking and looking at horses, green grass, and the well kept park. There were a few historical sites about the original park owner. Apparently, he was a prominent gentleman who served in the Civil War. Native Americans also resided in the area. On plaque had a quote from an early settler about how to survive living on the land with the Indians. “it takes 7 White folks to fight and defeat two Indians, but it take only 1 Kentuckian to do the same.” Warning! don't provoke Kentuckians.

May 6 (1 night, Evansville, MO USA – McDonalds parking lot)
We are driving down to Bowling Green this morning. The plan is to go to the GM plant and tour the facility. This is where they build the Chevrolet Corvette and the Cadillac XLR sports coupe. We left the Kentucky Horse Park around 9:30 and found the road south to be scenic and in good shape. Lots of horse farms to see on the way out of Lexington. Driving south, we saw mostly forest with a few farms here and there. We stopped at a rest stop about 30 minutes north of Bowling Green for lunch and I called the GM plant to check on tour times and reservations. The last tour of the day was 1:15 so we had to hustle to get there. But we forgot that we had moved into the Central time zone and had moved back an hour. We got to the plant in plenty of time. The tour was very informative and interesting. Even Sim enjoyed it. Before coming here, Sim asked me why she would want to see engines, motors, and other cars parts, but she did have some fun. This plant is only an assembly house. All the parts are made somewhere else and shipped to Bowling Green “just in time” to be assembled into a Corvette or Cadillac. I did not have the heart to ask our tour guide why they had several thousand sq. ft marked “Bulk Storage” that was full of parts if everything came “just in time”. The tour took about an hour and it was well worth the $5 each. I wanted to order a new Corvette at the end of the tour, but decided to wait until the ZR-1 comes out next year. The ZR-1 will be the most radical Corvette to date with a supercharged 620 hp motor. Here is the catch! If you want to be the first person to own the Corvette ZR-1, you would have had to outbid a guy from Montana who won the right with a $1 million bid. He gets the 1st car, a driving class at Bondurant's school and a coffee mug. This guy is a Corvette nut. He also owns Corvette serial number 3. You might be wondering why there are no pictures inserted here. Guests were prohibited from bringing cameras on the tour.

After the tour we jumped back in the coach and headed north. Our plan was to find a Wal-Mart and stay the night in Evansville, IN. We got to Evansville and pulled into a Holiday Inn parking lot to get some free internet and check our email. It turned out we were actually in a McDonalds truck parking lot and we decided to just spend the night there. It worked out OK except trucks came and went most of the night and early in the morning so it was kind of noisy.

May 7 - 8 (2 nights, Cahokia, IL USA – Cahokia RV Parque)
We took off from the McDonalds parking lot fairly early. I felt bad that we did not buy anything at all from the McDonalds. It started to rain about an hour into our drive. We are going through part of Indiana and Illinois on our way to Missouri today. The road is really bad in lots of places. The rain really came down hard at times and did a nice job of washing all the bugs off the front of the coach. We got to St. Louis MO, crossed the river and were back in IL again when we got to the campground at a town called Cahokia. It is small with a lot of permanent residents. The pull through we have is narrow and the utilities are not placed correctly. The electrical circuit breaker tripped after an hour of use and the water facet drips badly. Oh well, we are only here for a couple of days.

It is still raining off and on so we are going to do some inside stuff this afternoon. First we headed over to the Anheuser-Busch brewery. When we approached to the plant, we could smell a strong mothball odor. I told Sim I wondered where the mothball smell was coming from. She told me with a straight face that mothballs are one of the ingredients used in making beer. We never did find the origin of the mothball odors. The tour is free and you get free beer samples after the tour. We joined about 30 other people for the tour, that turned out to be a lot of walking outside. Luckily we brought an umbrella so we stayed dry. And it was 75 degrees outside so it was not too cold to be walking around outside. The tour was pretty interesting, and we learned all about brewing beer. I enjoyed a cold one after the tour. Sim tried to sample my beer but once again said it tasted horrible and wondered why I liked it. She tried an O'Douls non-alcoholic brew that she did not like either. It was funny to see her facial expression after sipping the beer in comparison to sipping the soda.

It is still early so we drove over to the Gateway Arch. We found a place to park on the street because, once again, we do not fit in most parking structures with the kayaks on top of the Jeep. We walked along the Mississippi River to the Arch. The river is really running high right now. Some of the parking areas and road are completely under water along the riverfront. We saw this statue that really gives you a good perspective on how high the river is right now.

We went inside the Arch and found out that it is really the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and is part of the National Park system. We bought our tickets for the ride to the top observation deck. They have what they call a tram that takes you to the top of the Arch. What it really is, is a tiny little capsule that crams 5 people in for the 4 minute ride to the the top. On top, the view is really spectacular. It had stopped raining but it was still cloudy. However, you could see most of the downtown area and the riverfront. It was a little disconcerting to lean over and look out the window as you could look almost straight down. It was like you were hanging in the air.

May 8

I think we are going to the St. Louis Zoo today. It rained all night, but it is supposed to stop sometime in the early afternoon. We got going late but at least the rain has stopped. We found the Zoo and it is free, but they get you for $10 to park. The Zoo was not very crowded and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. They have lots of animals and the Zoo is laid out really well. They have indoor exhibits as well as outdoor and it was nice to go


May 9 (1 night, Lincoln IL USA - McDonalds)
The plan today is drive and drive towards Iowa and park for the night somewhere in Illinois at a Wal-Mart. We were driving along and spotted a Holiday Express, so we stopped to use their internet and try to locate a Wal-Mart Supercenter in the area. We parked in the truck lot of the McDonalds next to the Holiday Express and walked over to download our email and check on a Wal-Mart. We decided to just stay overnight in the McDonalds lot after talking to a couple of the drivers who were also parked for the night. No one came to ask us to move.

May 10 – 12 (3 nights, Davenport, IA USA - Campground)
Drove to Davenport, IA today. The weather is nasty. Rain and wind all day long. We drove to the campground where we had made a reservation to stay a few days. Our mail is being forwarded here.

May 11
It rained all day today. We decided to do laundry and some chores inside the coach. We pretty much did nothing at all today.

May 12
The weather has gotten a bit better so this morning we drove over to Le Claire. Le Claire is the birthplace of Buffalo Bill Cody. They have a small museum there and we walked around inside for an hour or so. Sim was bored to death, but I enjoyed it. We walked the downtown area but there is not much there besides the museum so we drove back to the downtown area of Davenport. After walking around downtown, and not finding a good place to eat, we headed back towards the campground. Along the way, Sim spotted a Vietnamese Restaurant, so we did a U-turn and pulled in for lunch. The food was pretty good and we had a relaxing lunch before going home.

It was still early, the sun had come out, and I decided to go play some golf. Sim was busy with domestic chores and some sewing, so she opted out of being my caddy and stayed home.

I found a local course and went to the Pro Shop. May is free lesson month and participating PGA pros will give you a free 10 minute lesson. I talked to the pro, and he was available, so I got a bucket of range balls and we walked to the range for a quick lesson. He ended up spending about 20 minutes with me. We changed my grip a bit and I started hitting the ball a lot straighter more consistently. I joined a threesome after the lesson and played nine holes. I wish I could say I shot a great nine holes, but I can't. I need to practice a lot more with this modified grip, but I am convinced it will help improve my game.

May 13 (1 night, Beloit, WI USA - Wal-Mart)
We are on our way to Wisconsin today. But I think we are going to find a Wal-Mart to park for the night before moving on. Along the way we made a wrong turn and ended up crossing a river and ended up in Illinois for a short time before we turned around to head back towards Wisconsin. That side trip did allow us to find a cool little island in the middle of a lake that was the perfect place to have lunch. After lunch we got back on the correct road to WI.

But before we entered WI, there was one more stop to make in Iowa. The Field of Dreams Baseball field, where the movie of the same name was filmed, is just west of Dubuque near the small town of Dryersville. We found it without any problems, but the parking lot is kind of small for a 40' motorhome towing a car. We did manage to get in OK, and spent an hour running the bases, taking pics and buying a T-shirt in the gift shop. It might be more picturesque in late summer with the cornfield up and going.

One more stop before we finally got to Beloit, was St. Donatas. As we were driving through this small town we saw a sign for Smoked Sturgeon. . The people in town were very friendly. The people eating in the restaurant even said Hello as we walked in to buy the fish.

We found a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Beloit, WI. There are signs posted in the lot that say No Overnight Parking, No Truck Parking, No Motorhome parking. There are about 6 big rigs parked so we pulled in and parked. I talked to one of the truckers and he said he has been overnighting here for four years and no one has ever asked him to leave. So, we decided to stay in spite of the signs. Lots of trucks came and went during the night, but no one asked us to leave.

May 14 – 15 (2 nights, West Bend, WI USA – RV Park)
We decided to go just north of Milwaukee to be close to the cheese region. We want to visit and tour a cheese making factory. There is an RV park in West Bend that looks good on paper so that is where we are heading. Got to West Bend, found the park and got a nice spot right in front of the lake. We have 30 amp, water, sewer and wifi; all the comforts of home. I decided to wash the coach after I read the park rules and no mention of NO Washing RVs or Cars was noted. I got out my bucket, soap and brush and spent the next 3 hours giving the coach a bath.

May 15
We got up early and headed off to the Widmer Cheese Factory. We heard that cheese making happens early in the morning so we tried to get on the road before 8:00 a.m. We arrived at Widmer to find the workers right in the middle of making up a big batch of Cheddar. We spent the next 3 hours watching the process and getting the inside scoop from Lenny, the Master Cheese Maker. They don't give tours anymore since the former official tour guide died a couple of years ago. We heard from Lenny that he was quite a character and if you mentioned that you were of Swiss persuasion, you were even invited to his home for food, Swiss movie, and music. So, no tour, but Lenny did get us a couple of hairnets and invited onto the factory floor for a closer look at the process. We finally left but not before buying some string cheese and a gift pack of assorted cheese for Webmaster Dennis and his lovely wife Katherine, whom I will be staying with when I fly back to California for my early June doctors appointment.

Next we are off to Markesan to visit Lenore Dickman's Bookbarn. We had seen Charles Osgood's Sunday Morning piece on TV last Sunday and wanted to see this odd bookstore ourselves since we just happened to be in the neighborhood. Lenore and her husband have a million or so books collected, displayed and or stored on their farm just outside Markesan in rural Wisconsin. We drove to the town and found City Hall to ask for directions. The City Clerk was in her office and when we asked for directions to Lenore Dickman's place, she said; Oh! you saw her on TV? Apparently, lots of folks have been stopping by since that piece on TV. We got a map and headed out of town. We got close but were not sure which farm was hers. We stopped at a Bait Store for more directions and eventually found the Dickman farm. No one was home it appeared and the bookstore was locked up. The main bookstore is a converted manure tank, and Lenore has 5 or 6 other building used to store and display books. The hours posted on the door say they are open on Saturdays and other times by chance.

Lenore did have some books out on a table in front of the bookstore and Sim browsed those. She ended up taking a $1.00 English grammar book and we left $.96 as that is all the change we had along with a note to Lenore. We did take a picture of Sim with her book and sent it along with a check for $1.00 to Lenore.

May 16 – 19 (4 nights, Sycamore, IL USA – Sycamore RV Park)
We are trying to get close to Chicago and maybe hook up with my cousin that lives in St. Charles. We picked a campground in Sycamore because it is fairly close to St. Charles. On the way to St. Charles we stopped at the Jelly Belly Warehouse. They have a free tour of the warehouse where you board a cute little tram and put on a paper hat and listen to the story of Jelly Belly. There is no candy making here as this is just a warehouse and retail store, but it is fun for kids. And you get free samples of Jelly Belles at the end of the tour. You can sample all of the flavors you want in the retail store. We sampled some of the more exotic flavors they had.

On towards St. Charles and maybe my cousin will invite us to stay in front of their house for a couple of days and then we can take public transportation into Chicago to look around.

I sent an email to my cousin to let her know we were in town. After a couple of emails and after I had to explain who I was, we found out that they were going to be out of town for the weekend. My cousin did not sound very excited to see me anyhow, so we continued to Sycamore RV Resort with the intention of staying one or two nights before moving closer to Chicago. We found the park just fine and got a spot for two nights but after talking to the park owner we found out that we could catch the train into Chicago just 20 minutes down the road, we ended up staying 4 nights.

May 17
We got up early and after breakfast headed for Elburn and the train station. Elburn is only 15 miles down the road from Sycamore. We had to stop in town and ask directions to the station, but we were early and made it in plenty of time. Elburn is the end of the line for the Chicago train, so we were first on the train. On the weekends, the parking is free, and you can get a weekend ticket, good for unlimited rides, for $5.00. The train leaves every hour on Saturdays and every couple of hours on Sunday and it runs until very late in the evening. The train ride is about an hour and twenty minutes. It stops at about 12 stations. The Cubs are playing today at Wrigley Field so the train filled up fast.

We got to downtown Chicago and headed out first for Millennium Park. On the way we found the Visitor's Center so we got a good map of downtown and a few suggestions of things to see and do.

We walked around Millennium Park, then headed out for Navy Pier. There was supposed to be a “Green Market” happening at Navy Pier, but it turned out to be some kind of “Green Movement” We found out they wanted $15 each to get in, and decided we were not that interested. We did manage to accidently walk in to a speaker presentation by Abby Goodman from the Democracy Now TV show on PBS. We listened to her berate the Bush Administration for about 20 minutes before sneaking back out the rear door. Sim was really interested in listening to the speech and would have liked to hear more, but she noticed me putting my head down in a resting position, so she said we should go eat since it was already past one.

We were really hungry and wanted to have Chicago's famous deep dish pizza, so we started to search for lunch. Two o'clock and we weren't finding a place so we settled on the Corner Bakery and split a panini sandwich for a start. As we headed for the Sears Tower we found a pizza place and went inside. We ordered a Pizza and were told it will take 40 minutes. Okay, we were still digesting the panini. Exactly 40 minutes later, our pizza came. It was a delicious cheese, Canadian bacon and bell pepper deep dish delight. We ate half of it and got the other half to go.

Off to the Sears Tower where we found a couple of hundred tourists waiting in line to go to the top. We got in line and were herded down an elevator and into another line that according to the sign on the wall where we were standing would mean a 45 minute wait. While we will wait 40 minutes for a pizza, we are not waiting 45 minutes to go to the top of a tall building.

May 18
Today is our anniversary. We have been married 11 years. For our anniversary, we are going into Chicago again. I know, not very romantic, but thats what we want to do.

Today we are going to stop in Oak View before we go on into Chicago. Oak View was the home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the preservation society has a walking tour of Oak View that includes many of the homes that FLW designed. We got off the train, found the VC and got directions to the FLW tour start. Sim had the idea that we should rent only one audio player. And while I listened to the audio, she would take pictures of the FLW designed houses, then I would give her a summary of the information after each house. I was a bit pessimistic about her idea, but I ,rented an audio player, got a map, and we headed out on the hour long walking tour. I listened to the audio and then filled in Sim with the core details. We enjoyed the tour, saw some really cool homes and got some good ideas for our house in Thailand. Actually, Sim's idea was good. This way we talked and discussed more during the tour. It was lunch time and we had seen a Thai restaurant called “The King and I” near the train station. Sim needed fresh Thai chilies, and she had the idea that she would probably get some from the Thai restaurant so we headed there for lunch. As usual, Sim struck up a conversation with the wait staff and we ended up spending a couple of hours eating lunch and Sim left with a bag of fresh Thai chilies.

Off to Chicago, where we spent more time in Millennium Park, walked the Marvelous Mile of high end shops and found the Water Tower buildings, which were the only two buildings that did not burn down in the Chicago Fire.

We haven't had our Red Hots yet so we headed for a place that was supposed to have good hot dogs. I had the address listed in “1000 Places You Need to See Before You Die” so we walked the 8 or so blocks, only to find a 7-Eleven instead. We walked inside and started talking to a cop that was there buying coffee and donuts, (just joking) and asked him where to get good Red Hots. He directed us to Portillos about 4 blocks away. We found Portillos and ordered a Super Dog with everything. Sim and I split it. It was worth the walk, indeed. Too bad they are not on my diet as I could eat those things a couple times a week.

We were tired from walking all day and we hoped to have a quiet and peaceful train ride back to the coach. We got two seats set facing each other to ourselves. It was nice and we could straighten out our legs. Soon after the train took off, a three or four year old girl started screaming. It didn't seem she would give up any time soon. A few people tried several ways to calm down the screaming girl. It didn't work. Someone had a great idea by clapping whenever she screamed. Then a whole bunch of passengers clapped and that was loud enough to get her attention and stopped her. Actually it was a fun ride although it was not quiet as we hoped. A group of young people whom we shared the same car with were doing some fun acts. They were quite entertaining and made the train ride seem shorter. By the time we got home it was about 10:30 p.m. We didn't go to bed until past midnight as my son, Joel, and I were talking via Skype.

May 19
Happy Birthday Sim. Because we got home so late last night, we slept in until around 11:00 this morning. Sim wants to go out for lunch, and since it is her birthday today, her wish is my command. I saw a sign at one restaurant that said Rotisserie Pork Sandwich and read it out loud. Sim looked at me and asked if I wanted to eat there, and then she smiled and said, too bad it was not my birthday. We went to China Buffet in the next town over and had a delicious lunch buffet with over 20 different entrees for a quite reasonable $6.25 each.

After lunch, on the way back to the coach we stopped at the local movie house to see what was showing because Sim had said she wanted to go to the movies. The Prince of Caspian was showing at 6:30 so we decided to come back this evening to see it.

We got to the theatre a bit early so we parked and were going to walk around downtown before the movie. I checked the parking meter to see the times it was in force and there was about 20 minutes left. So, I put a quarter in, thinking that would get me at least 20 minutes. To my surprise I did not get 20 minutes. Instead I got 12 hours. What? Is that right? Yep, 12 hours of time for a quarter. For a penny, you get 2 hours. We're not in San Francisco Toto. We watched the movie with only a half dozen other people in the entire theatre. Well it is Monday night and I guess Monday in not a big movie night. Oh by the way, the movie ticket was $6.

May 20 – 21 (2 nights, Sawyer, MI USA - Warren Dunes State Park)
We left the Chicago area and headed east towards Michigan. Our original idea was to go to Detroit. I thought it would be cool to go to Motown and to the museums there. After looking at the map it is about 250 miles and diesel fuel in Michigan is about $4.60/gal. It costs us about $.60 / mile in the motorhome. It is unfortunate, but the price of fuel is now influencing our decisions about where we go. So, Detroit is scrapped and we are headed for a state park called Warren Dunes that is right on Lake Michigan. We got to the park and found out we had to pay an $8.00/daily vehicle fee just to enter the park. We paid for two days then headed to the campground office. We had checked on the internet for availability for a couple of days and the reservation system said nothing was available. We knew that was not true and when we checked at the campground office we found the park was practically empty. We could have any site we wanted except two. But if the park officer assigned us a spot and we wanted to change, there would be a $5.00 charge. We drove around the park, found a spot we liked then went back to the office to pay $25.00/night for a “modern site” that had 30 amp but no water and no sewer. This Michigan State Park is no deal.

After we got settled we got the bikes off the Jeep and rode down to Lake Michigan, which is about a mile from the campground. It was windy and cold, so it was an invigorating ride. There is no one here so we had the beach to ourselves. I still can't get over how big the Great Lakes are and still compare them to the Pacific Ocean, without the waves however. There are several sand dunes opposite the beach with some taller than the others. Hiking is one of Sim's must do things if she has the opportunity. Climbing up to the top of the sand dune seemed interesting to her. We picked one dune (I suggested a not very high one) and walked up to the top.

May 21
It is nice today. The clouds are gone, the sun is out, but the wind is still cool. It is supposed to get up to 75 or even 80 by the weekend, but today it is still in the 60s. We decided to walk down to the beach via the nature trail. We headed off but did not find the trail and ended up walking the paved road that we used on our bikes yesterday. Opposite the beach are some fairly high sand dunes that beckon you to climb. Yesterday Sim said we should bring some cardboard and climb to the top of the dunes and slide down sitting on the cardboard. Well, we forgot the cardboard, so there will be no sliding today. At the beach we found a park employee and got directions to the trail head at the beach and did take the nature trail back to the campground. Sim cooked up a delicious lunch; chicken and pork satay, carrots and apple salad, baked potatoes and baked plantain banana.

May 22 – 24 (3 nights, Shipshewana, IN USA – Shipshewana South RV Resort)
We are driving to Amish country today. Northern Indiana has the 3rd largest Amish/Mennonite community in the US. It is not very far from Sawyer MI, so it is going to be an easy drive. The countryside is really pretty here with all the farms and white fences. Lots and lots of baby cows and horses in the fields. We found the campground without any issues, They were a bit surprised when we said we had no reservations. It is Memorial Day weekend she said. I said because fuel was so high many people were staying home. She made a big deal about struggling to find a spot for us and then did an up sell to a premium spot saying that was all they had. Right! $36./night full hookups, 50A.

May 23
Got in the Jeep and did a tour of the town and the surrounding area. Lots and lots of Amish folk here. Sim wanted to drive over to another town about 20 miles away and visit a Farmers Market. We drove there but aside from one vegetable stand, the rest of the “market” was a bunch of knick knack stuff that neither of us want or need. We also stopped at the Old Bag Factory. It used to make bags for feed and other commodities. Now it is a bunch of shops selling furniture, quilts and pottery. We went in the quilt shop and they have really beautifully designed and hand made quilts for $1300. We passed.

In the afternoon we got the bikes off the Jeep and took a nice 5 mile ride on the back roads and farm roads.

May 24
This morning we rode the bikes over to a place called Menno-Hof. It is like a Visitors Center, with a gift shop. But it also has a nice visual and audio presentation that explains the history of the Amish, the Hutterites and the Mennonites. All three originally are from the Anabaptist movement in Europe. Anabaptist means to be baptized twice. It was very interesting and we got a good understanding of the 3 different but similar lifestyles. They all strongly believe in pacifism. The Mennonites are the most liberal and more open to modernization than the other two. The Amish are the most strict to their original beliefs, and the Hutterites still have communal life styles. One of the things about the Amish is that they do not like having their picture taken. A picture is considered a graven image and they do not do anything that would attract attention to themselves. They don't have any photos of family or others in their homes. So all of the pictures we took were from a distance. They will tolerate that much as long as the faces are not recognizable. They don't mind pictures of their farms or houses.

Hungry after all that learning, we biked down the the 5 and 20 Restaurant at the corner of Hwy 5 & 20 and had lunch. Our campground hosts said this was where the locals ate.

May 25-27 (3 nights, Decatur, IN USA – Wal-Mart)
This morning we went for another bike ride around Shipshewana. We really like biking out in the countryside here. The farms are so neat and clean, well except for the cow poop. The people are very friendly and always wave and say hello. On the backroads, there are no cars, just the horse and buggies of the Amish as they go about their lives.

We decided to head south today towards Decatur. We are meeting up with Randy and Martha there. You remember Randy and Martha don't you? We met them in Mexico in 2006 and again in Utah in 2007. They are having their coach worked on at the factory and will be in Decatur for about 6 weeks. We took off from Shipshewana around 1:00 and made one stop in Fort Wayne. Sim wanted to buy some stuff at a Kroger so we could qualify for a $.10/gal fuel discount. We are staying at the Wal-Mart in Decatur for at least one night, and then probably moving on to the town of Bluffton for a night or two. Originally Randy was going to drive me to the Indy airport on Thursday, but it is just too far to ask him to drive. My flight is at 7:15 and we would need to get up and going at 4:30 a.m. So I think we are going to move down closer to Indianapolis to make my airport trip fairly short.

May 26
It was a memorable day, we got up in the morning and decided to drive to a small town called Scudder in Ohio. It was about 19 miles from Decatur, Indiana. So, we parked one more day at the Wal Mart. We took Hwy.33 to the town, but when we got to Rockford, we were asked to take a detour because Hwy. 33 was closed. We found out there was a parade coming by in a few minutes. We didn't have any thing to do or any particular plan, so we parked our jeep and joined the crowd waiting for the parade. Now continuing our journey to the town of Scudder. The scene looked more and more remote and once in a while you would see a house. Our GPS shown us that in 500 feet we would arrive at Scudder on the left. Sim said, “What and Where” as there was no sign to claim the town, besides there was not even single house. Wonder, what happened to the town? All there was was an empty field with an old barn.

We had a late lunch at Randy and Martha's coach. After lunch Randy drove us around town and stopped at various American Coach factories and golf courses. The green fees for was $20 including cart. We might play golf tomorrow. It started getting dark and Martha suggested we go see if the fireflies where out at the local farms near by. But, instead of fireflies, we saw 5-7 teenagers doing some suspicious things. They were also very curious as to why we were there. One of them stopped us when we started to leave and asked what were we looking for. Then we learned from him that the firefly season is did not start until July.

May 27
Sim and I got ready for golf and waited for Randy and Martha's phone call. The weather didn't look to promising for a golf game as it was a bit windy and overcast. By 9 a.m. Randy called and we agreed to opt out the option of golfing today. Randy & Martha talked to the American Coach office to allow us to park at their lot for couple days. We moved from the Wal Mart over to the American Coach Factory parking lot. Cool! we got a 50 amp spot. We played the card game Hearts all afternoon until we all got hungry. Martha made a super jumbo shrimp dish with an outstanding hot sauce. Sim made a dish of pork balls and napa cabbage soup to complement Randy and Martha's calorie/carb watching diet However, she made an egg noodles dish for us so our weight would be maintained. We ate and talked until 9 p.m.

May 28-June 5 (9 nights, Indianapolis, IN USA – Indy Lakes RV Park)
We were leaving Randy and Martha at 9 a.m. in the morning. We drove about 100 miles to Indy Lakes RV park in Indianapolis. It was an uneventful drive and we found the park without any trouble. Sim felt uncomfortable when seeing that the park owner carried a gun. I believe that he works in law enforcement because he also had a badge too. After settling in to camp, I made the arrangement for a taxi to Indianapolis airport. Next, I showed Sim how to empty the gray and black tanks, and other technical stuff. Lastly, we went to survey the area nearby to see if there were any bicycle, walking, or hiking trails, so Sim could do outdoor activities while I was away. There were not any trails. Sim said she could predict her future for the next 7 days that it would be long and boring.

May 29
We woke up at 4:30 a.m and Jim left at 5 a.m for California. I was holding down the fort by myself for the next 6 days. Yeah! hush...hush... An opportunity to experiment with the coach without Jim worrying I might mess up the mechanical system. Jim would regret leaving me with the coach alone. Nothing much to do around here so cooking would be my entertainment for day one without Jim. I cooked four dishes for meals for the next four days. Those kept me occupied for several hours and made my day go by a bit faster. There were a number of people scattered here and there fishing at the three manmade fishing lakes. I made one loop and walked all three lakes. They looked more like big fishing ponds to me than lakes. It is a catch and release fish game. Even if the fish were allowed to be kept, I didn't think anyone would dare to eat them as the water color was dark green like the seaweed used in sushi. Yuk...

May 30
It was very warm and muggy this morning. I listened to music, watched TV, walked the lakes, surfed on the internet, and ate. I did so many things, but still it wasn't even noon. Time didn't fly, it clawed at a turtle's pace today. There were a lot more people fishing at the lakes compared to yesterday. I was bored to death. I came to the conclusion that I perhaps made Jim mad and that is why he selected this RV park. The park had no access to walking, biking, or hiking trails. Also, the park didn't have any amenities or any kind of entertainment to give a bit pleasure during the guests' stay. Oh! that was not completely true because I was entertained by watching people fishing with their shirts off showing their big bellies, with a beer in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. What a lovely scene!!

The National Spelling Bee was on TV tonight. I enjoyed it very much although I could not spell any of the words given. Those kids must have custom-made brains. The thunderstorm and tornado Alerts kept interrupting the program, and I was a bit annoyed and I felt it was unnecessary to make that frequent interruption. Coming from a non tornado state and this being my first time experience, I didn't have a sense of urgency. By 9 p.m. every TV channel I got showed nothing else, but the tornado warnings. Meteorologists surely got my attention with their dramatic highlighted maps with the bright red, and yellow danger areas. I sat in front of the TV and with a magnifying glass and the Indiana map in front of me trying to see if I was in any danger. I was indeed alert. The first announcement was the possibility of tornadoes landing in Lafayette, SIXTY THREE miles northwest from our RV park. I thought no problem it was way... far from us.

About 10 p.m. a warning siren went off for 5 minutes. I was in panic mode and had no idea what I should do because it was not even raining here at that time although it was a bit windy, and the was some lightning. I am quite familiar with the situation of wind, thunder, and lightning because it happens all the time during the raining season in Thailand. The difference was I had never heard sirens going off in Thailand. We don't have this hi-tech system in Thailand. Not certain what degree of emergency the siren warning was so I just stayed inside the coach and if it was pretty serious, I hoped the park owner wouldn't forget to come to get me. In the meanwhile, Meteorologists announced the possibility of tornadoes touching down at Speedway, Brownsburg, and Danville, and they warned people to seek shelters immediately. When I learned these towns were about SIX to SIXTEEN miles east from Indy, I was really ALERT.

By 11 p.m. it rained really hard, thundered really loud, and lightning lit up the whole area. Now I was EXTREMELY ALERT and seriously thinking about where I should go for my safety shelter. Meteorologists reminded people to stay in the lowest part of their houses. Doh! that didn't help, no house for me. However, if parking next to a big tall tree counts our RV as a lower area, then I was safe. Phew!! Hopefully, the tornadoes would not rip off the tree. I further hoped the tornadoes would not land in any residential area.

Fifteen minutes past midnight, I was so tired with the whole tornado scene. They said the area was still under a tornado watch until 4 p.m. Whatever, I didn't care any more. What was going to happen, would happen. At least I would be gone while I was sleeping. So much excitement I have ever asked for. It indeed the time of my life. I went to bed and slept until 7:24 a.m. the next morning.

June 1
I woke up to a calm morning as if nothing happened last night. While having breakfast, I watched the morning news showing destroyed houses and buildings and felled electric lines and trees. There was debris every where. Although there were no casualties, a few people got injured and some lost their houses.

The park turned into a zoo of fishermen. They were sitting side by side fishing and competing for a $1000 prize. Martha had emailed me and suggested I should get one of Jim's fishing poles and try for the $1000. She said I was pretty lucky and who knew! Plus it would be hilarious if I won! I liked the hilarious part, but I don't know how to fish. Oh.. oh..!, I got it “the I don't know how to fish” was what made it so hilarious. There were no Asians in this park. In fact, there were only two ethnicity's ; White and Black. When I took a walk, most people looked at me twice. It was funny to see some people pretend and try not to look at me. I think they didn't want to make me uncomfortable, but you could tell they really did want to look. It didn't bother me and if they stared at me long enough I said “Hi” to them, or if they showed a bit interest in talking to me, I would have a conversation with them. Why not! make friends as you walk.

The wind picked up in the afternoon. I began to worry that the wind might knock down big branches from the big tall tree and would cause damage to our coach and our jeep. Whatever in the air caused my allergies to act up really bad. I had a marathon sneezing and itchy eyes afternoon. Since I didn't have anywhere to go and anything to do, I took a drowsy type of allergy pill. It downed me really good, and I didn't wake up until 6 p.m. Not bad, it made my day go by fast.

June 2
Martha sent me an email and said she and Randy were planning to come to see me today. As much as I was so thrilled with their visit, I felt bad that they had to drive 4 hours round trip. I, however, quickly responded to her email “please come.” Martha, Randy and I went out for lunch at a Japanese restaurant in downtown Indianapolis. After lunch we went to Penzeys Spices store. Both Martha and I love international foods and spices. We had so much fun learning about and smelling spices. We bought a few spices. Then, we headed to an Asian grocery store. We had a bit trouble finding it, but we found it at last. We spent an hour wandering around this small size Asian store. Randy seemed to have more fun than everyone else. I tried to convince them to buy a package of dried small fish, but they didn't. We got $40 worth of grocery and headed home at 6 p.m. Times really flies when you have a good time. It was very nice and kind of Randy and Martha to drive 200 miles to spend time with me. Good friends are hard to find. We are lucky that we found them.

It was steamy hot at night. I opened all the windows to let air in. Again the air brought something with it that triggered my allergy button. I was too lazy to take an allergy pill so I chose to sneeze and scratch my eyes until I fell asleep.

June 3
It rained all night last night. This morning we had a torrential rain storm. At 9 a.m. the thunderstorm warning was issued. At 10:30 a.m. Here we go again! The excitement I didn't ever want to encounter again. The Meteorologists announced the Thunderstorm Warning was now upgraded to the Tornadoes Watch in central and south-central Indiana. It was an upgrade we did not want to have. Around 11 a.m. there were two tornadoes that touched down; one touched down in a town in Morgan County and the other one landed in at a remote farm. By noon the whole state was highlighted in RED and every county was warned about either the severe thunderstorms or tornadoes. I learned a lot about tornadoes and was very familiar with the Indiana map in just the few days of being here. The tornado watch didn't expire until 3 a.m. I am truly miserable and miss Jim. He is coming home tomorrow so I can have a sweet dreams tonight. Good night and sleep tight.

June 4
I woke up with the news that the tornadoes made three touch downs last night at Edinburg, Moscow, and a town in Rush County. There was pretty extensive damage which left one dead and there was also some flooding and a lot of houses were destroyed. By now you should be tired of my tornado stories. Sorry I didn't have any other stories to tell, but the tornadoes. After all, my days without Jim turned out to be not as boring as I expected. Jim will be arriving in an hour. Yeah!!

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