Shipshewana

After we picked up the HitchHiker we spent 3 nights at Shipshewana South CG with Dave & Donna.

                     We spotted this rig below in the campground. 

We did one exploration after lunch one day to check out the Hall of Heros.  We drove by it the first time because it was behind a house. 

 We were the only people there and it's owned and ran by a fellow who once played Robin in either a Batman movie or TV show, I didn't catch which one.

                          How do you like this comic book hero?

The face lift is finished

We arrived in Bremen and Pla Mor campground May 6 and joined up again with Jeff & Susan.  We had to be very picky about our site as it's been raining and Pla Mor is all grass sites, we got one next to Jeff & Susan and charged into it, up a small hill making it into a pull through, success.  The four of us joined Dave & Donna Driver for a couple meals and socializing over the weekend, they have been in Shipshewana having their Mobile Suite serviced. 
After we dropped the HitchHiker off Monday morning and showed Mike at Mike's Custom Painting the touchup work we wanted done, he said it would be ready Thursday so we drove to Onsted to spend the time with Randy & Devyn.

 

The weather was great and the lilacs are in full bloom.  We planted some from Don & Zola's home behind Randy's house several years ago and this is the first I've seen them bloom.  We also got to see one of Devyn's soccer games before we returned to Bremen.
Here's Devyn modeling the eclipse glasses we ordered for the Nebraska eclipse rally.

Continuing to Bremen, IN

We have been weather traveling.  What I mean by that is that we travel when it's not too bad, lots of storms with rain and wind, cold too!  We had to leave Tom Sawyers Wednesday morning as they were closing the CG Thursday due to the rising Mississippi, they expected 4 or 5 feet of water where we were parked.  No problem.....we're otta here. 
We traveled to Johnston City, IL against a steady 30mph headwind gusting to 40mph getting 8.0 mpg and spend the night at a small city park called Arrowhead, we have been here before.  The weather was bad se we spent another night waiting out the rain and wind.  $12 a night for 50a and water, great price.
We next went to Rantoul, IL and Prairie Pines CG, been here before too, its a closed Air Force base.  Our mileage improved to 8.1mpg, ha ha.  We wanted to go to another CG that had gravel sites so we wouldn't get stuck but they were full so we took a chance back at Prarie Pines.  It turned out there was no problem, we cut through one site to get into another so we were on gravel most of the time and the ground was much firmer that I thought.  We saw a tremendous amount of water sitting in farmers fields and all the rivers and streams we crossed the last couple days were overflowing.  The sun finally came out so off we go to Bremen.

Tom Sawyer in West Memphis Arkansas

Judy enjoys staying on the Mississippi and watching the barges so we headed to Tom Sawyers CG in West Memphis.  We stopped at a Passport America CG in Texarkana, TX overnight to breakup the long drive.  No pictures of that place as it was a dump but what do you expect for $15 full hookups?
Jeff and Susan spent 2 night and we spent 3 nights at Tom Sawyer.  The weather had been wet and cold and it was nice the last day so we decided to stay another day.  They had to get to Bremen before us as they had to finalize their paint job and move into an apartment for a month.

Here we are parked next to Jeff & Susan.

Ya think it was windy looking at this next picture?  Clayton would have fun boating in these waves.

 

 

Wandering back to Michigan

We left Ingram and the rally Thursday April 27 and made the short tow back to Salado and Union Grove COE park for an overnight stay and to have one more schnitzel meal at Opa's Schnitzel Hut.  Jeff & Susan Collingwood are with us and we took them to Opa's.  We'll be traveling off & on with them back to Bremen, IN as they have an appointment 5/8 along with us at Mike's Custom Painting.  We are getting a face lift after 5 years (yep, it's been 5 years since we have the HitchHiker painted) and they are getting theirs painted. 

Here's a weird cactus blooming, the flower is 7 or 8 feet tall.

Here's Judy, Dee, Barb& Roberta in a wildflower field on Fredericksburg before we left the rally.

 

Meanwhile back in Michigan Devyn and Dan are getting ready to graduate from high school and attend prom.

The TX Hill Country Rally is history

The rally officially ended the morning of April 17 but we stuck around with several other couples some staying until the end of the month.  We left on the 27th.  Jeff & Susan Collingwood accompanied us back to Union Grove COR park because we wanted to eat schnitzel one more time.  We did and it was good!
We had more potlucks at the rally below and also an Easter ham meal. 

 

 

 

 

Judy read about a 14 person bike ride in Fredricksburg and lined up 14 riders, here's the bike.

And here's the riders.

And here they are pedaling their you know what's down the road.  OK, it's got pedals but it has an electric motor so they can get around.

 

 Of course they had to stop at a couple of the hundred wineries in the area. 

And now they are a jolly group.

Here's the closing ceremony.

And here's the last poker game.

 

We went to war and had a potluck and Devyn's 18!

On Palm Sunday several of us drove to Fredericksburg and the National Museum of the Pacific War for a reenactment of a WWII pacific island.  We went 2 years ago and found it very interesting so many of us returned to see the new $8M reenactment center.  As one announcer said........."We did what we did because they did what they did."  When the US flag was raised at the battles end the National Anthem was played and the audience all stood and paid proper respect.  It was a very good reenactment!

Everybody loved this fellow below. I remember him from 2 years ago when he had a cigar butt in his mouth all the time.  He was a retired Marine gunny sergeant and looked, walked and spoke like one!

 

Sunday all the HitchHikers gathered for a potluck in the clubhouse.

 

 

 

Meanwhile back in Michigan Devyn and Dan went on a spring break Caribbean cruise with his mom and aunt.  The BIG news is that Devyn turned 18 yesterday!  The baby (can't call her that anymore) is growing up, out of high school in 5 weeks and off to college in 4 months.