Friday, September 2, 2016
We have been at Master Tech getting our coach windshield replaced since Monday, August 29. It took a couple of days for the glass to arrive then another couple of days to get it installed. Today, Friday, we are basically letting it sit and cure until Saturday. We have made friends with several other couples that have been here. One couple is still here. Today we all decided to go Amish Acres and take some of their tours and have their Threshers Dinner.
Amish Acres is a tourist attraction in Nappanee, Indiana, created
from an 80-acre Old Order Amish farm. The farm was purchased in October
1968 at auction from the Manasses Kuhns’ estate. The farm was
homesteaded by Moses Stahly in 1873.
The four of us decided we wanted to have our meal first so headed to the Restaurant Barn.
It was about 12:30 pm Friday when we reached the restaurant so not many people there. The picture above and the 2 pictures below show the size and workmanship of this beautiful barn.
The Threshers Dinner was two meats (we chose turkey and beef) along with mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, green beans, fresh bread, bean soup, pickled cauliflower and coleslaw. It turned out to me our only meal of the day. DELICIOUS!
We waited to go to any of the stores until after we ate. Good thing! None of us had any interest in the Fudgery so we did not even go in there. This building was actually built in 1853. Each piece of the building was numbered and reassembled here by the Amish.
This little log house was built in 1860 only 12 miles from here. It was moved to this location in 1973 by the same method as the Fudgery.
We also took a buggy ride around the property in this buggy. Below you see us on the road.
The next several pictures are the views during our carriage ride.
Several of the fields were divided by this type of cross fencing.
The donkey's name is Torpedo. He has quite a personality. He loves treats and expected our tour guide to give him some. He was noisy when he did not get his treat.
This 40 by 80 foot Schweitzer Bank Barn was built in 1876 from hand-hewed timber cut from this farm. This is one of the 3 original buildings on this property.
This is the original farm house constructed in 1874 by Christian Stahly, Nappanee's first Amish settler.
The whole experience, meal and tours, were very interesting. We were all glad we came.
Our friends will be at Master Tech at least another week. We plan to leave in the morning.
Wednesday, July 20 - Friday, July 29, 2016
We came to Master Tech to get our windshield replaced after shattering it a few weeks ago and to have the 3M shield removed from the front of the coach and Diamond Shield put on.
We are able to stay in our coach while the work is being done. Only downside of that is we need to be out of the coach by 7am. This is where we are parked in the evenings. We have 50amp and water with a dump on site.
It is a real mess to get this 3M shield off. Notice the scratches on the left middle of the picture. They scratched it in many places. They originally told us it would take about 8-12 hours to remove and it took them 4.5 days.
This is a beautiful sunrise we got a picture of one morning.
For our first time, we tried Steak 'n Shake for lunch one day!
Here's one of the beautiful sunsets we've seen.
We had to have the front repainted. Here's the new paint job.
The windshield still has not been put in.
They are finally starting to put the Diamond Shield on the front.
Here shows the dramatic difference between Diamond Shield and none.
Finally a week after the new windshield arrived the damaged windshield is being removed.
It was quite a process. The windshield kept cracking. All the yellow tape is over cracks. It is finally out. Next they cleaned the seals in preparation for the new windshield.
New windshield up and being fitted into place.
The installation process was interesting to watch.
Finally about 5pm, they had finished everything and moved us back outside. The front looks GREAT! We don't have a scar on the front curb side any more either.
We are looking forward to getting on the road tomorrow. We have been here 10 days. While we could sleep in the coach and had 50amp service, it was stressful to have to have the coach ready to move everyday by 7am. Glad we are done!
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
We were advised to get to the Shipshewana Flea Market if at all possible. We found out that it was open only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so decided we needed to get there today. (We absolutely won't be here next Wednesday! I'm ready to leave).
The flea market opened at 8am. We didn't make it there until just before 10am. It was HUGE. Below are pictures of the typical booths we saw.
Goose clothes???? Now I've seen everything! MAYBE!
Well after 2.5 hrs of looking around in the heat, we decided we had enough and left. But not until Dusty bought 2 summer dresses and a sports top.
We were also told we needed to go see Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana. I wasn't sure what to expect. We found it in downtown Shipshewana. If you had not seen in previous posts, we are in Amish country.
Parking places for the Amish buggies were everywhere.
This cute building is the back side of the Davis Mercantile.
There are 3 floors to the Davis Mercantile. It has several various kinds of shops on each floor. All the floors are this beautiful wood. This store had quite a number of family type statues.
The 3rd floor had this beautiful carrousel!
What a fun time! However it was time to get back to MasterTechRV and check on the progress. You know the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Monday, July 25, 2016
This evening we are going to the Elkhart County Fair with some new friends we've made here at MasterTechRV while waiting.
We are in Amish country, so on our way to the county fair we saw several buggies.
We arrived an hour early to be able to get decent seats in the Grandstand. As we are sitting there we see these large coaches and the parking lot behind the infield is filling fast.
Apparently they also have helicopter rides available. We keep seeing this helicopter taking off, making big loops and landing again.
Tic took a selfie of himself and me and Terri. Mark is in the shirt next to Tic.
Before the show started they had Elkhart parachuting group fly in. The video below is of the American flag coming in.
They had a local band as the warmup band. They were actually good.
Trace Adkins finally made it on stage about 9pm.
The sunset made the clouds really pretty.
This was taken at the same time as the picture before this. I was really enjoying the clouds this evening.
We have a good view of the stage. Trace performed until almost 10:45pm. GREAT show!
