We traveled from Upstate New York to Nappanee, Indiana to have warranty work done on our Newmar motorhome.
Erie, Pennsylvania
We stayed at the Erie KOA for a couple of nights on our way to Nappanee, Indiana. The campground had 50 amp service, 45 psi water pressure, slow internet, sewer, and we were able to get satellite. The campground was empty, until a group of Canadians celebrating their Thanksgiving arrived. We explored the downtown area and had dinner at a wine bar. Erie was a maritime center after the American Revolution, then a railroad hub during the American west expansion. During the Industrial Revolution, it was an important city for iron and steel manufacturing. Now, 10% of America’s plastic are manufactured in Erie.
Presque Isle State Park
In French, presque-isle means “almost an island”. Its a 3,112 acre sandy peninsula only a few minutes from downtown Erie. The park has lots of beaches, picnic areas, and a wonderful bicycle/pedestrian path.
Snapping turtle crossing the road.
Port Clinton, Ohio
The area is known as “Vacationland” and is a major summertime tourist destination. We stayed at Cedarlane RV Park which had 280 RV sites and was full. On checking in, we found out that they were celebrating Halloween that night, so we went to Walmart and stocked up on treats. There were at least 100 trick or treaters. The park put on contests, games, and live music.
Nappanee, Indiana
The birthplace of our RV. After driving 4 hours past miles of cornfields; we made it to Nappanee, Indiana. The city’s motto is “embrace the pace”.
We were in the middle of Amish and Mennonite country. There really wasn’t much to do here according to internet reviews, which mean’t we just had to look harder.
The Round Barn Theatre Amish Acres
We saw Sister Act in the sold out theatre. The play was very well done. Sister Act is about: “After witnessing a crime, “Sweaty” Eddie decides that his girlfriend Deloris needs to go into the witness protection program and sends her to the place he believes the trigger man will never find her – a convent called “The Holy Order of the Little Sisters of Our Mother of Perpetual Faith”. There is drama, humor, and its a musical. The round barn was built in 1911 in Bremem, Indiana and later moved to its current location in Nappanee. Amish Acres also has shops and a restaurant.
Newmar has a gravel parking lot with 50 amp service, 45 psi water pressure, and sewer. They have free wifi, slow, but better than most RV parks. The sites are close, a lot of traffic noise, and free. Trains go by all day and night. It took Sandy 4 nights to not frequently wake up to the incessant train horns. Starting about 4 am, there was a steady stream of trucks and cars into a work parking lot next to the RV sites. By 5 am the local warehouses were open and busy. Across the street each morning, a tractor moved new travel trailers, just to make sure we were out of bed by 5 am. The service technician comes by at 6:00 am to take the RV. They only work until 2 pm but are significantly more efficient than dealer service centers.
We took the factory tour, which was fun to see the process of building a motorhome. They did not allow photography on the tour.
Walking around Nappanee, Indiana was fun. Its an old city with some modern twists. There was plenty of city art to keep it interesting.
Next to Newmar was inTech RV. They take older retro trailer designs but build them with aluminum making them sturdy, lightweight and with modern features. Really cool.
Elkhart, Indiana
Elkhart is about a 30 minute drive from Nappanee, Indiana. They had a nicely done riverwalk pathway with more sculptures as in Nappanee. We enjoyed the larger than life American Gothic sculpture.
Seems like many cities pick a theme sculpture, which everyone paints and adorns uniquely. So far we have seen cats, dogs, apples, buffalo, owls, hearts, and elk creatively embellished.
Seward Johnson is the artist whose sculptures depict people engaged in every day activities. He highlights the mundane. He has created more than 450 life-size cast bronze figures which are displayed around the country. These were on temporary display and after a few weeks were gone. Glad we were able to see them.
Its fall. The leaves were changing, pumpkins everywhere, and corn waiting to be harvested. Indiana is a major popcorn producing state.
Syracuse, Indiana
Some of our Newmar warranty work required us to spend a few nights out of the RV, so they paid for us to stay at the Oakwood Resort in Syracuse. We enjoyed our retreat from the Newmar parking lot and 5 am wake up calls. Although its not a Westin, it was a very nice property. The resort was next to Lake Wawasee. Every evening and morning there were stunning views. It was an indulgence to take a long hot bath and sleep late.
Our warranty and maintenance work were scheduled to take a week. After 3 weeks living in a parking lot, with nighttime temperatures below freezing and train whistles; we were ready to leave.
