Day 63 – Elkhart, Indiana

More excitement than we really needed this morning.  In the early morning, I heard some rumbling outside, and I knew it was thunder and lightning; this didn’t really bother me, ‘cause Don has explained to me now it works and how we’re very safe from it.  Then it started to rain, a sound I’m very accustomed to.  I went back to sleep very easily, until Don got up and started moving around, making coffee, turning on the TV, and generally making a disturbance.  He had only been up for a half hour or so when the storm started to intensify, with increased lightning, very heavy rains, and some heavy wind gusts.  With all the recent tornado activity in this part of the country, we started to get a little concerned.  All the noise got Geri up, too, and she whipped out her iPad (or iPhone, I can’t tell one from another) and found that there was a Severe Weather Alert for our area.  Out the window, we saw one of our fellow campers wrestling with his awning, trying to get it stowed before the wind took it away.  The rain was pouring down, the wind was howling, and there seemed to be constant thunder.  The TV went out for quite a while, and Don was watching to see if our shore power was maintained. 

The storm continued for a couple of hours, and only started letting up around eleven or so.  Don got his big scrub brush out and started scrubbing down the coach, hoping for another shower to rinse it off.  Too late, he just succeeded in spreading the dirt around so that it was more obvious.  Geri got the laundry together and headed down to the laundry room to get started with the wash.  Don took the opportunity to work on some of the items that he was going to have done by local techs, and got enough of them done that he decided not to have any work done locally, except for the tire replacement, which he got some bids on. 

After lunch, Geri and Don had to do some shopping for equipment for the coach, which they were sure they could find here in Elkhart.  They asked me to go with them, and, though it was getting pretty hot outside, I agreed to.  We turned out going from store to store to store trying to find the parts Don was looking for, and no one had them!  The funny thing is that the main thing he was looking for was a light fixture that is made in the city of Camarillo, about ten miles from home!  We did get a good tour of Elkhart out of it, though; it looks like they’re doing a very nice job of renovating their downtown area, with a really nice theater and other upgrades of older buildings. 

When we got back to the coach, it was dinner time for me, and time for Don to start dinner for them.  He cooked up some bratwurst sausages, which he served with red cabbage and Bush’s Beans.  Made for some very good plates, except I didn’t taste much bratwurst.  We noticed a steady stream of AirStream trailers coming into the park during the evening, and by sundown there were several rows of them in front of us.  Looks like an AirStream convention!  Don is pleased to see these fine trailers being cared for so well, as they really are attractive.

No work scheduled for tomorrow that I know of, so they should be doing some touring, probably to the new RV Museum that was under construction the last time they were here.  Personally, if it’s as warm as it was today, I think I’d rather stay in the air conditioning.  If it works out that way, I’ll interview them and give you a full report on their wanderings tomorrow night!  Ciao, all!