Newmar

We left the Hockstra’s and the beauty of their lake house to head down to the Newmar Headquarters in Nappanee, IN.

Last year while we were getting the interior cabinets painted so that they matched the doors and drawers we noticed that they did not paint all of the paneling. We thought it stilled looked unmatched and Newmar agreed to paint those panels as well. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get to it last year so we had to come back this year. Along the way we also noticed that a weld had broken along the exterior doors and our oasis (water heater) was leaking so we added those to our list.

We got to the Newmar campground later than usual and all the spots were taken except for the CEO’s and his spot said “Reserved”.

We decided to park there anyways because we knew that Casey would rather take care of a customer than have his spot. We discovered that friends of ours, Rich and Jackie Frigon were there as well and that we would hopefully get together for dinner some time over the week. We had met them years ago at a Newmar international rally. The last time we had seen them was in 2019.

Well, by Monday morning our service technician, Rory informed us that they would need our coach for at least 1.5 weeks as they had to disassemble furniture, lights and window treatments before bringing the coach over to assembly to repaint it. We had to get a hotel that took dogs for the duration. Not an easy task so late in the game. Katrina found us a room at the Oakwood Resort on Lake Wawasee in Syracuse, IN. It was a two room suite but we could only stay there two nights before we had to more to a one bedroom suite. The suites were all they had! During the day we drove up to Shipshewana to do some shopping, particularly for knives and kitchen wares for our new house. We also stopped at the Amish butcher shop to pick up some cheese and meats. Outside of the meat shop, there were some hay bales that were decorated:

We headed back to the Oakwood Resort and after we got settled into our room we went their restaurant called The Pier and Back Porch and got to sit outside since the weather was so nice. I ordered the blackened salmon grilled cheese sandwich – outstanding!

I think that I will need to try that back at home.

The following day Katrina found a place to play pickleball. She met up with Stan Brown who was attending a rally that was nearby at North Trace RV Resort. That evening with met up with Janice Bradley at the Country Heritage Winery in Laotto, IN.

We had visited the place a couple of years age when it was only a winery.

Since then they added a distillery and a brewery so it was great to revisit the place. The food was good and the drinks were outstanding. I had the double smash burger while Katrina had a salad.

The next morning we had to switch rooms at the Oakwood Inn and then joined the rally folks for a boat ride on the Lake Wawasee aboard the SS Lilypad. It was nice seeing some friends (Carl and Denise Reed) and making some new ones as we toured the lake. Nice lake! The group was heading out for dinner afterwards but Katrina and I grabbed a take out Asian pizza from the Frog Tavern. It was actually pretty good!

The following day we moved over to a cabin at North Trace RV Resort that we could stay at for four nights.

It was small but nice to have a washer, dryer and full kitchen.

It’s a new place developed by Steve Showalter and he did a great job! They even have three pickleball courts:

Check it out if you get a chance! We had a wonderful tapas dinner with Stan at The Lakeside. So nice to catch up with him!

On Friday Katrina, Stan and I headed over to play some pickleball. Boy, I was rusty after not playing since May. Later the three of us went to the Apple Festival in Nappanee, aptly called the NappleFest. We walked around and looked at the craft tables and grabbed an ice cream.

While we were watching a ventriloquist under the big tent, Janice joined us. Katrina and her continued shopping, Stan headed home and I found a bar. Katrina found this cute alley that had shoe art displayed:

I really hope that Katrina didn’t get any ideas for our master closet in the new house! After Katrina and Janice purchased some goodies they joined me for dinner at the Hunters Hideaway. The food was decent!

It rained the entire day on Saturday. Good thing that we had the cabin to honker down in. Katrina, Bear and I watched a lot of TV! I ran up to the North Trace lobby and purchased a couple of t-bones and Katrina cooked them up. We had a wonderful dinner and didn’t have to get wet! – rained all day. The rain brought on a beautiful sunset:

We hung around North Trace the next day. Katrina got out her pickleball machine and headed over to their courts. One of the gals came out of the building and took some pictures of the courts being used so you may see her in a promotional piece! That evening we went to the Sleepy Owl Supper Club for dinner.

The place was packed but we got a seat in the overflow room by ourselves. We felt very separated until a table opened up by the bar and we got to sit with other people. It felt like we got to move to the adult table at a family gathering at Thanksgiving! The place was pretty good!

Since the cabin was rented to other people on Monday we had to move back over to the Oakwood Resort. What a pain in the ass moving all the time! The only good thing this move was that we had to kill some time so i was able to go to Pat’s Chicago Dogs for lunch. They were pretty authentic! In the afternoon we went back to North Trace so that Katrina could practice some more pickleball. When we unloaded the bed or the truck we realized that our cover leaked and the five gallon bucket we had in there to store our hiking shoes was completely full of water! Our shoes were starting to get slimy – Uck! So while Katrina practiced I washed our shoes. We got out of there with enough time to meet up with Janice at the Das Dutchman Essenhaus for dinner. It’s an Amish establishment with good old fashion meals. The best part was that we got to sit in one of their carriage tables. Check this out:

Afterwards we did a bit of shopping in their store then said our goodbyes to Janice!

On Tuesday Katrina and I found a place in Goshen, IN to get some pedicures. Much needed for sure! From there we stopped at The Roost (a converted gas station) for lunch before heading to Newmar to get an update on the Busse Bus II.

Looks like one more day! That evening we sat at the bar at The Pier & Back Porch for a drink and appetizers. Peel and eat shrimp and tuna. Not bad!

The following day we checked out of the Oakwood Resort and headed to Newmar to get the coach. We were fortunate that Rory worked like a dog to get our coach completed. He even got the Busse Bus II washed for us! Since we had to repack and move the bikes we decided not to leave until the morning. That evening we went over to Ruhe 152 Italian Bistro for dinner. It’s arguably the best restaurant in Nappanee and we had a great meal!

The next morning Rory finished up a recall and brought us our bill for the past 10 days. Zero dollars – all covered under warranty! Wahoo!

We were so excited to get back on the road to continue our summer travels. Off to southern Indiana to visit some of Katrina’s family.