Michiana

Michiana, that’s how the locals refer to this border area connecting the two states. The rain began falling in the pre-dawn hours and its tempo only increased as the day opened up. It was still dark out at 7:00 when we heard the roll up doors creaking to life as the crew was getting their day underway installing Bigfoot leveling systems on the collection of RVs they had in the shop. We loaded up a day pack with some books and snacks and walked over to the main office waiting room while Andy and AJ got busy installing the leveling system on Wilson.

About two and a half hours later the installation was complete and Jeff took me over and explained the workings of the leveling jacks. Pretty straightforward, push the auto button and the jacks level up the coach. Good for rainy days like today because I don’t even need to go outside to get the RV level. As a bonus, I got the relay unit for the Tire Minder pressure monitor attached to the 12 volt terminals while the crew had the battery bay opened up. All in, an easy in and out operation.

The rain was still pouring as we headed south down the one lane road. We figured to at least get a few miles behind us before holing up somewhere trying to keep dry. We sloshed our way through quiet communities with large Amish populations. PJ went in to do a shop at Harding’s supermarket in Warsaw, IN while I sat at the table and researched campgrounds an hour or two south. The main criteria being a concrete or at least gravel pad so we don’t sink into the mud. As I sat there googling, at least a dozen horse drawn buggies went clopping past holding up traffic on the main artery through town.

Future RVs here in the motorhome Capitol of the world

Grocery Store parking

A young bagger helped PJ out to the RV with her groceries and we got them stowed and drove on through the downpour with Miami State Recreation Area plugged into the GPS. Narrow back roads through little country burgs lost in time, just my style of traveling. The corn’s all gone and a few late soybeans were being harvested. We arrived about 3:00 pm and did a drive through picking out the perfect spot. There are a surprising number of campers sitting out the rainstorm here in their trailers and motorhomes. We backed into space 140 and hit auto level and with a buzz and whir, the jacks went into action and instantly leveled up the rig. Cool.

Rain is relentless. The one basement bay has a bit of water in it. We’ll wait until we get the RV registered and slow our pace then contact a dealer and get the seal repositioned. That and the swivel knob to secure the shower door while driving are the only warranty items we’ve identified to fix and it didn’t really seem worth it to drive the extra 500 miles to have it done at Winnebago. The real deciding factor is the weather in the 40s daytime and 30s nighttime in Iowa. So we are going to veer south and head for warmer climes and to make better time heading home.

We lounged away the afternoon in blissful comfort. After several long driving days it was good to pull up early and have some down time. The rain beat a steady rhythm on the Winnebago’s roof drowning out any other outside noise.

Another blog post in the making