October 7, 2008 – Shipshewana Campground South, Shipshewana, Indiana

If this sounds different, that is because Larry is writing it today. We started the day with packing up and hand cranking in the slide-out so that we would be at the Forest River factory by 8:00 am. This meant we had to leave here by 7:30. No problems getting there, but than we had to find where to drop the 5th wheel off. Seems that there are two large factory buildings that are connected by a rock road. No signs on any doors, so I went in the first building and ask the first person I saw about where to go. Found we needed to go to the second building. Went to the second building and still no signs on any door, so I just picked a door and ask for our contact. They said to just drop it where I was parked outside the door, give them the keys and a phone number, and they would get it fixed and call by the end of the day. NO Paper Work except for my name and number on a piece of paper.

So, we were headed back to Shipshewana for breakfast by 8:30. On the way to the factory and back we did see lots of horse and buggies,

an Amish school with bikes and a place for the teacher to keep his horse during class,

and many people on bikes that were on their way to work.


After breakfast, we headed to the Shipshewana Flea market that is held on Tue and Wed. They said that over a 1000 vendors are in attendance, but I think that is during the summer. It was large, we did find some things to buy, but the weather was cold. Their main season is over and I think some vendors where probably at places like the Covered Bridge festival. So, all the stalls were not open and it was really not that busy. I get the feeling we are headed back here in the spring.

Since I was told they start working at the Forest River (and other RV) factories about 5:00, they to are leaving by 12:30 for the day. The starting time is in part to allow the Amish workers that farm time to get home and do that during the day light. Although they had not called us by noon, we headed back to see if they had finished. When we got there, the slide was out, a new motor was setting on the ground by the tire, and I could tell the original one had been removed and re-installed. I finally found the two men who had been working on it and was told the original motor was okay, it just had a bad connection with-in the case. They had removed the motor and fixed the bad connection and put it back on the RV. And, they noticed that the header beam for the slide was warped and the seal hanging up when you retract the slide. So, they removed it, and installed a new larger header beam that should not warp and do a better job of sealing. Since the warranty is only one year for the 5th wheel, I almost hated to ask what we owed. But I did and was shocked when they said; No Charge, just let them know if I had any other troubles. I have heard horror stories about Forest River, but they sure treated us right.

We took the RV back to the campground and than headed in to Shipshewana to see some of the stores that were closed last night. We did find a Quilt shop for Karen today and I had a nice talk with the owner’s husband. He was helping out while he is off for two weeks because of the slow down in production at the RV factory where he works. Interesting to hear his views of the economy, how it is impacting his work and the tourist trade here, and just answering some of our question on life style that we have asked ourselves as we traveled the back roads to and from Forest River.