31 Aug - NSTR Road Trip to Elkhart and Back

 

Nothing Significant to Report (NSTR) today.  

Without boring you with all the details, we made a two hour drive back to Elkhart today to address a tire issue which took us back to the Alliance RV facility.  Walking into the entrance of Building 1 is like "old home week".  We were greeted by the Alliance staff from the owners to the VP's to the receptionist.  They all address us by our first names and even know Liberty's name!  These folks are just like family - we call them FamAlly (family Alliance).   

I've made quite a few trips around the sun, in fact I just finished my latest one, and I have never done business with a company like Alliance RV.  These folks define "customer service".  We have seen the opposite ends of the spectrum on this after our less than desirable experiences with our previous RV and associated dealer(s).  Again, not going into details here but we could not be happier with our Alliance Paradigm 310RL.   

Tomorrow we plan to travel north along Lake Michigan and visit four lighthouses.  Others along the shore we will reach back from Traverse City, our next destination.  Tomorrow is also out last day here, so after we return from out lighthouse jaunt we will dump and flush tanks and do all that pre-departure stuff .

30 Aug - Holland Harbor Lighthouse and Grand Haven Lighthouse

 

We had a nice drive down to Holland MI today to visit the Holland Lighthouse.  This lighthouse is located on private property and it is closed so our view of it was from across a channel, but we were pretty close.  We accessed it from Ottawa Beach where there is a boardwalk. 

The beach with the lighthouse in the background

The beach was busy for a Monday

This lighthouse is one of Michigan's most photographed lighthouses and is affectionately known as "Big Red" for obvious reasons.  The original structure was built in 1870.  The channel it protects had silted in and a group of Dutch settlers hand dug the channel so ships could pass.  In 1880 a new light was installed atop a metal pole.  By 1900, over 1000 ships used the port.  In 1907 the current structure was built.  The lighthouse was automated in 1932.  The Coast Guard recommended it be abandoned in 1970 and a group of citizens rallied to save it.

Located further out, at the inlet to the channel are a pair of marker lights.  

I mentioned this lighthouse is located on private property.  The residence there is quite magnificent!

There was no visitor center and the DNR officer we talked to was clueless as far as a lighthouse stamp, so that was a wrap.  

Grand Haven Lighthouses:

Finishing at Holland we headed back to Grand Haven.  There we found the south pier of the Grand River and the Grand Haven Lighthouse, actually both of them!  They were built in 1839 and both painted red.  The inner light is the typical lighthouse cylindrical shape. 

The foghouse outer light is shaped like a house on a big concrete block. 

The lighthouses are accessed by a long concrete pier and are connected by a catwalk which also extends to the shore. 

A small memorial to those who lost their lives on the pier over the years

Locked entrance to the catwalk visible in the background.

Across the channel is a marker light

Also on the other side of the channel is this awesome looking residence with a faux lighthouse atop, with a sign that says "Pier Pressure"!  I like the four boat garage!

We were able to get Doreen's Lighthouse Passport stamped at the Grand Haven Visitor Center downtown before heading back to the campground for the rest of the afternoon.  We took Liberty on a stroll along the river walk, and then pizza outside on the picnic table for dinner.  We are welcoming this cooler and less humid weather.  

Tomorrow is up in the air right now but we have a couple more days here and some more lighthouses to explore north of here.   

29 Aug - Back on the road! @ Grand Haven MI

 

Today we pulled chocks in Elkhart IN and drove 127 miles north to Grand Haven MI, stop #29 of 35 on our trip.  We had a fabulous time at the Alliance RV Rally and I will publish more info and pictures once I get time to sort them out.  We are both exhausted after nearly two weeks of pre-rally and rally.  It was an absolute blast and great to see old friends and meet new ones.

We are at the Eastpointe RV Park which appears to be fairly new.  It's manicured,  All the sites are paved, roads are paved, grass is neatly trimmed etc.  We were directed to center our coach in the paved space and do not extend behind the rear of the pavement.   Once unhooked I leveled the coach, connected the utilities like I always do, extended the slides (which overhang the pavement on both sides - sorry about their luck).  Flag pole went up and the garden flag went out.  Just a few minutes later the golf cart patrol showed up and promptly removed my garden flag and laid it on the picnic table.  Well, all righty then! The sites are nice but very close.   Glad we are just here four nights.  

The focus for this stop will be lighthouses.  Doreen has mapped out all of the lighthouses up and down the coast of Lake Michigan in this area and we will travel to see them the next couple days.  Thursday we move on to Traverse City MI.  

More to follow.

17-28 Aug - NSTR Alliance RV Rally

 

We are at the Elkhart IN Campground attending the Alliance RV Rally.  This is an annual event where owners of Alliance RV's come together from all over the United States.  There are seminars, social events, and all sorts of good times.  So my blog posts may be a bit fragmented over the next week or so.  There may not be a lot to report that would be of interest.

The rally does not officially start until Tuesday next week, but those of us who attended last year learned to arrive early if able, as the RV sites fill from front to back.  The early bird gets the proverbial work as far as camp sites.  We are parked up front, near the events.  Those arriving next week will likely be parked in the "back 40".  It is fun to be here and greet folks as they arrive.  We are glad we got here yesterday.

A little foggy this morning here

Today we had a leisurely start, met some new Alliance friends, called FamAlly, walked the dog a bit and that is about it.  This afternoon we headed out to restock the fridge a bit and a stop at Culvers for an ice cream treat.

Later today more friends rolled in including George and Donna Walker, the great folks we met up with and had dinner with in Cape Canaveral FL earlier this year.  This evening we had quite a gathering including Curtis Carlson and his friend Jess Brock and her children Taiylor and Brennon.  So awesome to see everyone.

In the near term, we will have dinner with Doreen's relatives on Thursday, then Friday daughter Jennifer and her family plan to drive down.  Sunday we will drive up to Jennifer's house.

So in the blogs to come, until we depart Elkhart IN  there likely won't be much touring.  I may even consolidate days if there is not much to report.  

16 Aug - Arrived at Elkhart IN + Stats

 

Stop #28 on our adventure!  This morning we punched out of Camp Atterbury very early as we had an 1100 hrs appointment in Shipshewana IN to get a modification done on our RV refrigerator.  So rise and shine was 0500 hrs and we hit the road at 0600 hrs.

The drive to Shipshewana was uneventful.  We arrived about 1030 hrs and even though our appointment was at 1100 hrs they were expecting us and got right on it.  

Our RV is equipped with an RV-style refrigerator vs a residential-style refrigerator.  It will either run on 110VAC shore power, or 12VDC battery power + propane.  This type of refrigerator is what is considered an "absorption" type refrigerator and the key to it operating is how efficiently it gets rid of heat outside.  One modification that can be done is to add a couple "muffin fans" outside to improve airflow over the outside coils.  So that is what we had done.  The technician verified everything was working properly, tested the thermostat, installed two fans and reset the inside thermostat.  

Additional fans installed.

We were very impressed with these folks.  They are Amish and their work ethic is enviable.  They wasted no time even though we were early, got right on it, explained everything as they worked, thoroughly tested everything before and after, and charged a very reasonable rate.

Once we finished up there the drive to Elkhart Campground was just 30 minutes or so here.  They were expecting us so check-in was a breeze.  We made our way to our camp site and set up quickly.  We kind of have this whole tear down set up thing down to a science after all these stops!

So the reason we are here is to attend the Alliance Rally.  Alliance is the brand of RV we own.  There are approximately 170 Alliance RV's inbound to the rally and they are expecting about 400 attendees total including the Alliance employees and other vendors.

The rally will run 24-27 Aug with technical presentations, factory tours, social events, meals, a band at night, etc.  It is a total blast!  We attended last year which was their very first year, with about 50 coaches here.  This year will be about 170, so it has really grown.  I was asked to do a one hour presentation on RV Maintenance and Care and will be honored to do so.  

The Elkhart Campground has over 250 pull through sites and Alliance is taking about 170, so we will be the majority here!  It is so fun to meet in person those who we have been corresponding with on Facebook!  I also serve as one of the admin folks for the Alliance Owners Group on Facebook, so again, it is fun to meet those who we only know by name.

There is a "bags" tournament, bingo and so many other things to do.  Alliance will have one of every model RV they make here on-site for us to walk through.  The other exciting thing to do at the rally is to meet the wonderful folks who make up the Alliance Team.  We speak to so many of them on the phone throughout the year but here we can shake their hand, give them a hug and thank them in person for everything they do.

Our 310RL all set up here at the rally

We have a nice site with a bit of shade yet still have satellite connectivity

In a few days this whole area will be solid Alliance coaches!!

Our daughter Jennifer lives about 1:30 north and east of here in Battle Creek MI so we will drive up there to see Jennifer, James and our grandkids.  Due to COVID we have not seen them since this time last year.

Doreen also has a cousin in Ann Arbor MI, Jeanie Powers and her husband Denny.  We hope to see them while we are here.

Trip Stats:  

This is campground number 28 of 35!

# States Traveled Through So Far This Trip: 18 (IA, MO, IL, KY, TN, GA, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, DC, DE, PA, WV, OH, IN)

Baseball Parks Visited So Far This Trip:  7 (Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Columbus Clippers, Indianapolis Indians)

Lighthouses visited:  28

Lighthouses climbed:  7

Point to point travel miles:  4545 miles

  - Avg point to point travel miles:  166 miles

Vicinity miles:  5701 miles 

  - Avg vicinity miles:  228 miles

Total miles driven:  10246 miles

Total point to point driving time:  101 hrs 14 minutes

Total diesel fuel purchased: 842.788 gals

Total diesel fuel cost:  $2584.46

Average diesel fuel cost/gal:  $3.064

Max diesel fuel cost:  $3.499 (East Pearl PA)

Min diesel fuel cost:  $2.799 (Townsend TN)

Avg MPG:  12.25 miles/gal

# Nights at end of this stay:  170 (Includes Griffs)

Lodging cost:  $7365.86 (includes Griffs)

 - Avg lodging cost/night:  $43.33/night

15 Aug - Indianapolis Indians Baseball Game

 

Today we drove north from Camp Atterbury about 40 miles to attend a AAA baseball game at Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians.  Now this is a bit corn-fusing but the Indianapolis Indians are unrelated to the Cleveland Indians.  In fact, they are actually the AAA-affiliate to the Pittsburgh Pirates ball club.  

If you followed our blog for this year's trip you will know we have a passion for the game of baseball.  So I am going to digress a bit for the sake of history.  That passion started many years ago for me as a child and I loved to play baseball.  In the summer when we were not playing organized "Little League" baseball we had our gloves on the handle bars of our bicycles and we would scare up a game whenever we could. 

I became a pretty good pitcher myself and I had a really good coach.  Yep, Lefty, my father!  Lefty was also a very good baseball player as a youngster in the Urbana Iowa area in the 1930's and early 1940's. 

He pitched left-handed hence the nickname "Lefty".  The newspapers called him "sensational"! 

He was so good that in September 1940 he was drafted by the Cedar Rapids Raiders farm team to play for them.  

In 1941 he signed a contract with the Appleton Wisconsin Papermakers ball club, Class D (today's AAA equivalent) affiliation with the Cleveland Indians.  

Then along came 7 Dec 1941.  The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the battle cry went out to every able-bodied American male to "take arms"!  Lefty and his brother (my uncle) Bernard enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and went off to fight in the South Pacific.  During my father's Marine Corps training he pitched for the Marines team and my son Dan has his uniform.    

So our passion for the game continued to grow.  Fast forward to today.  Our connection to the Indianapolis Indians, besides the pure love of the game, is there pitching coach, Joel Hanrahan!  So how did that come to be?  Well our son Dan played high school baseball in Norwalk where all of our kids grew up and attended school.  Dan was a very talented baseball player, pitching a "perfect game" at the age of eight years old.  No runs, no hits, no errors, and no walks in the six inning game.  There was not a position he couldn't play but as time went on he seemed to find his niche as a catcher. 

As a high school freshman he caught Varsity games and one of the awesome pitchers the Norwalk team had was this young lad named Joel Hanrahan, a big ol' strapping right handed pitcher.  Man, could he throw the heat!  He once threw the ball so hard he actually broke a bone in Dan's glove hand!  

Joel was drafted straight out of high school to the Major League Los Angeles Dodger's organization. You can check out the video of his 20 Jun 2000 signing here:  https://youtu.be/5PmmsVCTpTw

Image credit:  http://t0.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcRDw23i00nhhHEKhtpJZmuUKyksKcK6qmaz-AnPvL3km8y3u7cGD5uRShMnQwQj

From there he progressed and was traded to the Washington Nationals where he evolved into a closer and was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, also in the closer role and nicknamed "The Hammer".  He was selected to the All Stars two years.  We was traded to the Red Sox but was diagnosed with flexar tendon strain in his elbow which required Tommy John surgery.  He was traded again to the Tigers and a second Tommy John surgery ended his playing career but over the years he was brought back into the fold by the Pirates and has progressed to his current position of pitching coach for their AAA Indianapolis Indians team.

So, lets start this again!  Today we drove to Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians.  It was a beautiful day, a bit cooler which was welcome.  We parked at the Indianapolis Zoo and walked across the river to the ballpark.

Victory Field opened in 1996 and was the spark for the downtown revitalization for Indianapolis.  It replaced Bush Stadium which had also been called Victory Field for the past 25 years.  It seats 13,300 with added lawn seating in the outfield area totaling 15,696.

Gates opened at 1230 hrs and we made our way to our seats which were next to the home team dugout. 

Soon Joel emerged and greeted us.  He is doing great and looking great!  He obviously enjoys what he is doing and the Pirates obviously respect his coaching ability as they draw their major league pitchers from Joel's tutelage.

Joel heads out onto the mound to have a chat with the Indian's pitcher.

Another visit to the mound!

Joel's wife and son were attending the game and we stopped by to see them also.  We met his wife when they got married and Doreen has maintained contact with them over the years.  

We had a great time at the Indians ballgame today.  Doreen even got her picture taken with the mascot, Rowdie!

Later in the game we had to leave as Liberty's bladder clock was fixing to expire.  St Paul Saints would go on to beat the Indianapolis Indians 8-0 with five of those runs bein scored in the first inning (hence the trips to the mound)!

Tomorrow we pull chocks very early as we have an appointment in Shipshawana IN at 1100 hrs.  From there we will go to the Elkhart campground until 29 Aug for the 2021 Alliance RV Rally,