Indiana – home of French Lick, Goshen and Elkhart

From St. Louis we drove to Mitchell, Indiana, a small town south of Indianapolis and bummed a parking spot at our friends, Richard “DA” and Marsha Young’s driveway, whom we met while in Torrey Oaks in Florida.  They took us to a nearby town, West Baden Springs, named after the famous mineral springs in Wiesbaden, Germany.  This town is were Larry Bird, the basketball player was born and raised.  We visited the French Lick Resort, an absolutely gorgeous hotel with an amazing dome for its roof.   Nearby is the Pete Dye Golf course, host site for the 2015 Senior PGA Championship, which we missed by a week.  

All the rooms of the French Lick Resort face the lobby, which is just grandiose and definitely has a Roman flair to its decor.   (Bummer – The picture of the four of us showcasing the dome on the background was just too dark to post).  Its gardens are beautiful and the golf course, designed and named after Pete Dye is spectacular.  This course is atop the highest points in Indiana and offers beautiful views of the countryside.

When we left Mitchell, we drove to Goshen where we stayed for at least two weeks.  Goshen and nearby Elkhart are two cities in Indiana, probably also known as RV country.  Almost every RV manufacturer is housed in one of these two cities, so you could probably find anything and everything related to the rv’ing industry.

Heartland, the manufacturer of our RV, held its national rally at the Goshen Fairgrounds.  We enjoyed full hookups, which means, water, 50 amp electric and sewer connection.  We also got to see many old friends and make many new ones.  What we didn’t bargain for was the incessant rain and mud thereafter.  According the campground management, our site, unfortunately, happened to be one of the worst in the park, so they mulched it for us so that at the very least we could go in and out of the RV.  We had the opportunity to tour the factory and see for ourselves how our homes on wheels are put together.


We later visited the RVMH Hall of Fame Museum and was amazed at how far the industry has come.

We took a drive out to Shipshewana, which is truly Amish Country. We visited a grocery store called Yoders and was amazed at their meat and cheese selection.  The meat was very fresh and of course, the cheese???   Oh my!!!  I should’ve been born a mouse.  We  ventured through their bulk store.  Almost EVERYTHING is packaged in see thru bags, all labeled, weighed and priced.  Just so not Publix.  The entire store was decorated with old fashioned toy riding cars and trikes.  That was really cool to see.

Before we left Goshen, we had an independent suspension system installed on the RV, along with disc brakes, bigger tires, and replaced our king mattress with a new Denver mattress.

Our next stop, Michigan.