For the past few days we have explored the countryside, visited a few stores, and enjoyed walking around here in the campgrounds.
One of the first things we did on Friday was check out the Rise and Shine Bakery I mentioned in an earlier post to be sure we tried one of those special cinnamon caramel donuts we've heard so much about. The shelves were full of them Friday morning, and they had samples available to try. I took one bite of the sample and had cinnamon sugar down the front of my shirt! Fortunately it brushed off nicely and I didn't have to wear a big smudge on me all day. Rather than buy a whole box today we decided to get one donut and a sticky pecan bun and we will make a final purchase before we leave Goshen that we will take back home with us.
Afterwards we traveled down the road a bit further and had breakfast at 5 & 20 Restaurant. It was a pretty good breakfast!
When we were in Shipshewana last September we had visited a hardware store and I remembered they had individual silverware pieces. For some reason both of my gravy spoons have disappeared (and I use these frequently). I thought they might carry something similar here. Well they had several different sizes, but they were either too small or too large - nothing just fit right. Sort of like The Three Bears, huh? I will have to continue looking for this item....I suppose Amazon will be the answer. I have to wonder where in the world two gravy spoons could have escaped to without me knowing it!
Dean and I have been walking every morning - a minimum of 2 miles but really trying to get in 2.5 and then again in the evening to pick up another 2 miles or so. We are easily getting in 10,000 steps + every day here. We pretty much walk the outer portion of the fairgrounds and it is about 2.5 miles if we take a few side roads up and down as we go. We try to go out about 6-6:30 am while it is still cool and breezy. The fairgrounds are really nice and beautifully decorated. I will take pictures to include in this post.
There are Heartland RV's everywhere - Landmark, Big Horn, Big Country, Explorer, Elkridge, Cyclone, Gateway, Prowler and a few others. I believe there are about 250 rigs registered, give or take.
We have wondered the grounds and found a number of folks we know from Texas and Oklahoma, as well as a few we met recently at the Branson rally just a few weeks ago.
As I'm sitting here writing this and looking out my window I realize what a beautiful site is in front of me - US flags - 6 of them! The wind is blowing them and and they really are a very pretty site!
We have met several people right near us, Paul and Sue are from Georgia (formerly Wisconsin). Last night (Sunday) they grilled pizzas and invited us over. We already had laid out something for dinner but we walked over afterwards (behind our RV--everyone was enjoying the shade from Bentley). I did try a piece of their homemade pizza and it was delicious.
Another couple Phil & Pam are parked just behind Paul and Sue. Phil was such a big help to us Friday evening. While we were in Branson at the KS/MO Heartland Rally we visited with an Oklahoma Chapter member, Lin about purchasing some steps he had replaced on his Landmark. Our Big Horn came with three steps out of the door and we really wanted the four steps. Lin had recently replaced his with a new set and was going to be selling the original 4 steps that came with his rig. We purchased them and Lin and Paul both helped Dean get them installed that evening. What a difference this will make for us. For instance, while we were at Robertsville State Park on our way here, it was about a 2 foot drop from the bottom step to the ground. We do have a stool that we keep for this purpose, but the ground was somewhat slanted and if you are not careful, the stool can scoot right out from under you, so we believer these four steps will be a safer alternative for us.
On Saturday we visited with friends we met last March in Jacksonville, FL at the RV Dreams Boondocking Rally - Jerry & Jill. It was good to see them again and catch up. They are from Wisconsin.
Then Saturday evening, a Sherman and Maggie stopped by. Dean is playing in a golf tournament on Monday with the Heartland group. Sherman and him are on the same team, along with two others. Sherman wanted to know if Dean was interested in having a practice round at the golf course on Sunday, and of course Dean was, so they made plans to meet up at 9:00 for a round. Dean drove to the golf course Sunday and I worked on the newsletter for our Escapee Chapter while he was gone. I was really surprised they did not make it back until after 3:00 that afternoon. I asked him how many rounds they played - just 18, but there was a lot of waiting as the course was very busy. Of course we don't have long wait times in Oswego so I was just surprised it took so long - not that I didn't have plenty to do. I took a walk around the fairgrounds and did some prep work for dinner besides working on the newsletter.
We also visited with Bernie & Judy from St. Charles, MO. We met them in Durant a few years ago and Bernie recommended a campground for us to stay at when we visited Custer, SD with our grandsons Logan and Tucker a couple of years ago. We stayed there and really enjoyed ourselves. It was good to see them again!
I guess that pretty much brings us up to date with what has been going on. Lots of visiting, eating, walking and just enjoying the sites here at the rally.
Today is the first day of events - at 1:00 is a First Timer Orientation Meeting. I'm not sure if Dean will make it back in time to go or not, but I'll go up and see what they have to say. Later at 5, there is a chili dog "Meet and Greet" provided by Heartland. I'm sure it will be fun and another opportunity to meet even more Heartland friends.
Here are some pictures I took of the Fairgrounds on my morning walk this morning after Dean left for the golf course.
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| This is set up similar to an 1800's garden with various vegetables being grown. |
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| There are groups of RV's all over the fairgrounds - most of them Heartland's. |
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| This is a nice long tree shaded sidewalk that is decorated with a variety of old appliances and beautiful landscaping. |
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| The grandstands where they hold horse races. They will be having some on Friday and Saturday night this week. We plan to walk over and watch them for awhile. |
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| More Heartland RV's. |
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| I really liked this garden area. |
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| Various new Heartland RV's on sale here at the rally. |
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| RV Weighing Site - where we had Bentley weighed. |
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| Park sitting area - very nicely shaded. |
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| More of the park area. |
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| More of the park area. Love the clock. |
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| Stage for music entertainment. |
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| More Heartland RV's along the entrance to the far side of the campgrounds. |
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| More beautiful landscaping. |
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| This is looking down the street towards our rig. We are the farthest to the top on the right - you can see our back window!
Dean had not returned from the golf course when it was time to head to the Rally Hall for the First Time Attendee's Orientation so I walked on up and found a seat. The meeting lasted about an hour. Dean was home by then. We needed to make a trip to Wal-Mart. Tomorrow night the South Central Region is having a get together and we are to bring snacks. I needed to get supplies for that as well as a few other grocery items. I also needed to stop by the post office for some stamps. I forgot to check my stash before we left home and didn't have enough to mail a few cards that needed to go out in today's mail. We discovered the post office was quite close to Chief's Ice Cream. We have heard The Chief has been around for quite awhile and it does have rave reviews, so we thought we'd stop by and just get 1 scoop each to eat on the way back to the fairgrounds. It seems that not only us several others in Goshen were thinking the same thing - what a line! Needless to say, we just headed on back. This will have to wait for another time, but I think it might be worth it to make sure we include this as a stop before we leave by the number of people we saw waiting.
Tonight they are having free chili dogs, chips and a snack for all attendees, so at 4:45 we made the walk to the pavilion where it is being held. The food was good and the company was even better. We had a great visit with Peg, Deb, Judy and Bernie along with a few friends of theirs. The temperature when we left for the pavilion was 92 degrees and it felt like it had not dropped a bit on the walk back home at 7:00 or so. We came straight into the air conditioning Bentley provided and haven't left since.
Tomorrow the various educational sessions begin on a variety of things and Dean and I will be splitting our time between the various ones we have interests in. We also are signed up to have some work done on Bentley. Heartland will provide service, free of charge, for two items. Bentley's entrance door is hanging up and needs to be realigned, and our water pump makes quite a noise when we have to utilize it (when we are not hooked up to city water). We believe they will both be pretty easy fixes for the Heartland Service crew - or at least we hope!
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