On to Elkhart with the ElkRidge

Sunday, March 17th

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We forgot to wear green, but oh well, we had more important things to address.

Today, we got up and started prepping Mammoth for her visit to the Heartland Factory. We had to remove everything from the coach, so we started gathering everything together so we could unload it easier once we got to the hotel in Elkhart. This, along with winterizing the coach again with RV anti-freeze, took a little longer than we'd planned so we didn't pull out of the park until nearly 10am.  We also had an issue with the water heater snap pin that holds the door closed. Turns out it was just too cold and brittle, and snapped right off! With some ingenuity, Tony found a suitable replacement with a small ring from my keychain.

The drive took us up to the outskirts of Chicago, and then along the edge of the state and Lake Michigan, through South Bend and then to Elkhart. for some reason the GPS avoided the Indiana Toll Road, and took us what seemed like a longer route. But it was pleasant, through the countryside. During the last day or so we have seen a large number of brand new trailers and 5vers. If you look carefully, you'll see they are being towed by transport drivers – they have a small sign on their trucks stating their company. These "in transit" coaches are sometimes pulled by a truck that seems mis-matched – towing nose low or high, or looking a bit overweight – Makes you understand why the rig may not arrive in "perfect" condition.

Luckily the winter storm system headed this way slipped further south, and we managed to not see any snow. We arrived at the hotel about 4:30pm, and got checked in just fine. We were able to get a 2nd floor room, which we thought would be more convenient then higher up in the hotel, for all of our trips unloading the coach. We were able to pull the coach along the side of the hotel and unload, and use their luggage cart to aid in our disembarking. It took 3 trips with the cart to get all of the items from the coach to the hotel room, but we got it done!

Welcome to Elkhart

the "stuff"

more "stuff"

Pulled up along the side of the hotel, we didn't have too far to move the stuff.

After unloading, we headed across the parking lot for dinner at Steak-n-Shake. It was pretty good, but my avocado slices were not ripe at all on my California burger. Oh well, what is a Texan in Indiana to do? At least the red velvet shake was very good!!