We have several things we want to accomplish while we are here in Shipshewana so we started on a quest to whittle our list down today. Our first stop was at Lambright Chairs, located just a couple of miles south of Shipshewana. We have stopped on previous visits to look at their chairs. We have really been impressed with them and after looking at other options, we have decided these are the ones we want for Bentley. After talking about it for almost two years now, we picked these chairs for several reasons, 1) they are narrower than typical recliners/theater seating, which gives us extra room--our rig is only 36' in length; 2) we currently have a love seat with no arm or center "console" and we really miss having our own two armrests, and 3) we miss having a table between us to put our coffee cups, iced tea, or a lamp on, etc. We chose some color samples to take back to Bentley. Hopefully, we'll find one we like. (We choose a color called Saddle - which is a lighter brown - but will look really nice with our wall coloring and a nice offset with the dark brown couch we have).
Next we decided to visit the three RV Surplus stores we located in the area, starting with one located a few miles south of Lambright's. We have a few things we are looking for - 1) our fireplace needs to be replaced (it quit working); 2) I'd like to change out the clear glass panels in our shower to ones with a design on the outside (no matter how hard I try there are always streaks left on the clear panels-and a designed panel would hide those); 3) and a glass light cover to replace one of our ceiling lights (that fell off during transit and shattered). RV Surplus was the smallest of the three we visited today. We found a light cover we hope will work and an electrical receptacle for one Dean needs to replace. Unfortunately, when we returned to Bentley we discovered the light cover was not the right size. It only had two insets and our light requires three insets in order to screw it on so it will stay. Fortunately, it was very inexpensive.
The next two surplus stores are north of Shipshewana. Since it was close to lunch, we returned and stopped at E&S Sales - a bulk grocery store just a short distance from the campground. I bought a loaf of homemade wheat bread and a few other items. We returned to Bentley for a sandwich. The wheat bread made a good one!
After Gunsmoke, (once it starts we can't leave until it is over - even though we've probably seen them all at least 10 times - lol!) we set out to visit the other two RV Surplus stores on our list. The next one was in White Pigeon, Michigan. Yes, we are that close to Michigan. Bontrager's Surplus is 12 miles from our campground. As we headed north, the clouds kept getting darker and darker.
 |
| Storm that hit as we arrived at Bontrager's Surplus. |
Just as we turned into their LARGE surplus complex, BIG drops began to fall and we had to run to get inside before the sky broke loose and it POURED!! We made it inside just in the nick of time! Wow, this surplus store was quite the place. You would think as much as they had we would find one thing we were looking for, but that was not the case; however, we sure enjoyed looking.
From Bontrager's our next stop was in Elkhart, IN to Factory RV Surplus. Another really nice set-up, where certain items were in dedicated rooms. Dean did find some breakers at a great price - the same kind we have already had to replace in Bentley. Since they were so reasonable, he bought two for extras, just in case!
After dinner, we watched TV. I was too tired to do a blog post last night - and it was probably just as well. A second storm moved into the area. The lightning was horrible and I was very happy when the storm moved on, even though it continued to rain for awhile. I enjoy the sound of rain in Bentley. We were tired, and I think we were both asleep soon after our heads hit the pillows.
August 7, 2018 - Breakfast at Country Corral; Election Day!; Back to Lambright's; Visit to Focal Wood Products; Dinner with Friends; More Rain!
Since we plan to leave as early as possible on Friday, Dean decided we need to eat breakfast out this morning. He did some research and found a restaurant here in Shipshewana called Country Corral with very good reviews. Located north of us in a large building that housed several other small businesses, it seemed to be a popular place by the number of customers inside. Dean ordered a scramble that he said was delicious, and I chose some wonderful french toast. Our breakfast was less than $9 for the two of us. We love those prices.
Before leaving Oswego, we obtained our absentee ballots with the idea we would do research before filling them out. That is one negative about not being in your home area - you do not get the advertisements, hear the local news, etc. and we didn't know much about any of the candidates, except the local ones. I perused each of their websites, sharing what I found with Dean, and we each completed our ballots as they had to be mailed by today! Nothing like waiting to the last minute, is there?
Our task after completing the ballots was to measure out the space we have in the slide located on the driver's side to see how the chairs we plan to purchase from Lambright's would fit with a table between us. After measuring with both the current wood filing cabinet we have, and with the idea of a 10" table between us, we decided we could probably make do with either one. The cabinet we are currently using is over 35 years old. It's still in decent shape and provides quite a bit of storage. Later if we decide the table is too wide, we can always downsize to a smaller one. We also turned the dining table back the way it was originally installed where it extends into the room toward the island, rather than the entire table being extended within the length of the slide itself.
 |
| After I turned the table this morning. Previously we had changed it to set lengthwise in the slide. This provides more room. |
After making the final changes to the table set up, we made the quick drive to Lambright's and ordered the chairs we decided on.
 |
| This is the one we ordered for Dean, mine is a low back and the seat depth is 34" deep. Note the optional computer table we also purchased. |
We opted to purchase computer tables for each of the chairs. They will come in handy for both computer work and as TV trays. It will be approximately six weeks before they will be ready, which is the end of September. That works perfectly with our schedule to return through Shipshewana on our way back to Kansas.
Our final planned stop was at Focal Wood Products in Nappanee. They make RV furniture, including desks and we are seriously considering one of their products at some time in the future. It would be a great addition to Bentley, providing both a desk and dining table for us, plus some additional storage that would eliminate a few items I have sitting on the floor behind our current 2 drawer filing cabinet. I do not have a place to store my air fryer, and I'd like to free up the pantry space where I store the Instapot. We've got some time to think about it, but today we wanted to get measurements, and ask questions to see how well it might work for the space we have available.
We made it back to Bentley shortly after 4:30 after driving through another rainstorm. It was apparent it had already passed over the campground by the amount of water standing everywhere. We are meeting Mike & Kelly Barnett, owners of Performance Trailer Braking - the company we purchased our disc brakes from, at 5:00. They own a Heartland Landmark and are chapter leaders for the South Texas Heartland Owners Club. We met them at the Oklahoma City rally last year, and I've followed Kelly's blog for several years. We are meeting at 5 & 20, a restaurant less than a mile south of the campground. Timing was perfect, they walked in the west door almost the same time we walked in the east door. We visited for awhile while waiting to be seated. Kelly, Dean and I had the Turkey Manhattan - an open faced turkey sandwich - turkey, bread, mashed potatoes and lots of yummy gravy! It was delicious. Michael chose the fish dinner. We had a great time visiting and getting to know each other better.
Back at the campground, we settled in shortly before another bout of rain came in. I left the front door open when we got home since it was so nice outside, and we left it open until we were ready for bed.
 |
| Looking out our window during the rain. This park is a busy place with RV's coming and going daily. |
No comments:
Post a Comment