June Road Trip Part 2

Click here for pictures. 

Sunday, 6/25/2023: Elkhart, IN

We left Rochester, MN at 8 am CT after eating breakfast at Cheap Charlies Cafe. First, we found the giant medical scooter and took a picture.  Then we headed toward LaSalle, IL so we could go around Chicago. From that point, we went east to Elkhart, IN. The traffic was terrible even though it was a Sunday. We stopped at an antique store in Elburn, IL for an hour. Plus we crossed the time zone and lost an hour we reached Elkhart around 7 pm ET and stopped at Arby’s for dinner. We arrived at the Hampton Inn in Elkhart ($109). Don wasn’t impressed with the hotel and thinks it isn’t up to what used to be Hampton Inn standards. We were exhausted. 

Monday, 6/26/2023: Elkhart, IN

We took our time getting up and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we got gas on the way to the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum. We got there when it opened at 9 am and enjoyed all the exhibits. When we finished with the RV side, we saw a man in an official shirt so I stopped him and told him that I didn’t see any Casitas in the model RV display shelves. Then we started talking to him and he was SO interesting. It has been about 6 years since we had been here last time and he said it almost went bankrupt. Luckily, he agreed to become President of this nonprofit organization and helped get it back in the black. I know we were keeping him from his job but he was so welcoming and friendly that we couldn’t help talking with him. After he finally escaped from us, we went to the other side of the building to see the Manufactured Homes exhibits. 

When we left there, we headed to Dayton, OH. We took backroads and mainly stayed off the interstates. We ended up at an Arby’s for lunch. Traffic in Dayton was still busier than we were used but we found a Comfort Suites across from the Dayton Mall for $89. It was heavily under renovation but we got a handicapped room on the first floor which was pretty big. I think it was one of the newly renovated rooms. I’m not sure any of the other rooms in our hall were finished. After we checked in, we went to the Antique Village where Don shopped for 2 ½ hours. He found some treasures and then we returned to the hotel. Across the antique store was a Sam’s Club where we filled up the car. 

Tuesday, 6/27/2023 Dayton,OH

After breakfast, we went to the Museum of the Air Force. The air quality was so horrible that the whole city looked odd in a spooky smoggy haze. We were at the museum for 4 ½ hours. When we left, we decided to head home due to the air quality. We both had headaches and Don was having trouble breathing. The traffic in Dayton and Cincinnati was horrendous and it wasn’t even rush hour! I thought we might spend the night outside of Knoxville but neither of us was tired so we continued on. We finally got home around 10:30 pm. 

Traveling Home

On June 5th my knitting retreat ended and we traveled home. The first day we drove 12 hours (13 if you count crossing back into the Eastern Time Zone!) and through 5 different states (MN, WI, IL, IN, MI). Here is the link to my pictures.

6/5/16:

We left Minnesota around 7am and headed east, first stopping in Wisconsin for lots of cheese curds at the Ehlenbach Cheese Chalet ($7/bag). Soon we hit Chicago (I thought the traffic wouldn’t be too bad on a Sunday) and the traffic was horrendous! I will drive hours out of my way next time to avoid Chicago at all costs! Don was not a happy camper! Then we stopped at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for a little while. It was okay but maybe we were still exhausted from the Chicago traffic to really enjoy it. In fact, we were too tired to hike the sandy trails so we drove around and saw the Century of Progress homes built from the 1933 World’s Fair. Eventually we ended up at Detroit around 8pm. It is so nice to be in my home time zone again!! We were unhappy that we spent $14.40 in tolls in IL and IN though! We finally made it to the Hampton Inn Detroit/Southgate and will stay here for three nights using out Hilton honors points (20,000/night which is pretty cheap).

6/6/16:

We got to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan at 9:30. We bought combo tickets for the village and the Henry Ford Museum which came to $75. We spent all day walking around the village and into the historical buildings (most had been moved here from the original location and some were reconstructions). It was well worth the money and we left around 5pm. Then we went back to the hotel room to rest before going to Secret Recipes Family Dining for dinner which was fabulous!

6/7/16:

We arrived at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan at 9:30. The first thing we saw were several Presidents’ limos – Reagan, Kennedy, Eisenhower, FDR. They were Don’s favorite things to see. My favorite thing was the actual chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated. There were several sections: cars, trains, planes, furniture, clocks, engines and dollhouses. It took all day to go through the whole museum and we left at 4:45pm.

6/8/16:

We left Michigan and headed to Ohio. We got to Jackson Center, OH for the Airstream factory tour. Of course we were a couple of hours early so we went to Bodkins for lunch at The Inn Between and had a wonderful lunch. We had chopped sirloin, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans for $5.95. There was not much on either side of the interstate to visit (no antique stores, grocery stores, or any kind of store) so we parked on the side of the road and hung out for an hour. Then we took the 2pm tour which lasted for about 2 hours and it was fabulous (and free)! I would highly recommend the tour to anyone in the area. We met a lot of nice people who were getting their airstreams serviced so they took the tour while they waited. They could camp for free overnight if their camper was getting serviced. Otherwise it was $10 per night.

6/8/16 - 6/10/16 - Dayton, Ohio
Please see last week's post about Dayton, Ohio. We had such a great time and I had so much to write about that I didn't want to overwhelm you with all the details in this post. 

Things I Learned:

1.     Avoid Chicago at all costs!

2.     Make sure you have a drink and napkin when eating cheese curds.

3.     Cheese curds are very salty.

4.     Have plenty of cash available for tolls in IL and IN.

5.     Henry Ford was friends with Thomas Edison and Henry Firestone.

6.     Henry Ford collected historical buildings and brought them to Greenfield.

7.     This village was once known as Edison Institute and used to be a school.

8.     Bring water and snacks when going to the Greenfield Village.

9.     The post office was a working post office.

10.  Going to both – The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village were both worth going to. Plan on spending a full day at each.

11.  The workers at the Airstream factory work 9 hour days Mon. – Thursday and then work 6-10am on Fridays.

Traveling Fun

Last week we left and headed north on a road trip.  You can see pictures from our trip HERE.

6/10/15:

We left at 6:15 am and rather than stay on the interstate, we took a smaller road through Cumberland Gap National Park. It may have taken us about 10-15 minutes longer (and 15 miles shorter) but Don was much more relaxed since their wasn’t as much traffic. Plus the scenery was beautiful. We had hoped to get up to Fort Wayne, IN for the night but after some research, we discovered that there was a National Museum of the Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. So, I found a coupon for the Drury Inn and we stopped there only to find out that they were fully booked. We then went to a Hawthorn by Wyndham with another coupon but really didn’t like the looks of it so we ended up booking a room at the Hampton Inn near the Dayton Mall. After dinner at Bob Evans (which was pretty good or we were both pretty hungry), we decided to walk around the mall for some exercise. We walked past the Dayton Drones store on the first lap and decided to stop there on the 2^nd lap. After a lengthy discussion, we ended up buying 2 drones and having Matt give us flying lessons. It is pretty cool!

6/11/15:

We got to the National Museum of the Air Force (free admission, free parking) at 9am when it opened.  We did have to go to a metal detector and there was a military guard with a huge gun in his hands observing us as we went through it. We spent about 3 ½ hours walking through it rather quickly, which was about 3 miles in the 3 buildings. Then we walked to the outside exhibits for another mile.  I don’t know which one of us looked old and tired but it was worrisome when the 90 year old volunteer told us that if we got tired we could get a scooter for free. We could have spent another day here because there was so much to see and read. 

We left there and headed to Auburn, IN where our Hampton Inn was located. We got there at 4pm and had time to clean up and then head to Don Hall’s Old Gas House restaurant in Fort Wayne to meet up with our friends Debbie and Mike. We haven’t seen them in 6 months since our last cruise.  The prime rib was fabulous and we had a great time. Unfortunately the horse and carriage ride was cancelled due to extreme heat so instead we went to their local baseball game to see the Fort Wayne Tin Caps (A-team for the Padres) and had fun. We even enjoyed the apple dumpling and apple crisp for dessert. They drove us back to our car around 9:30pm and we were back to our hotel a little after 10pm. It was a fun day but I was tired.

6/12/15:

We checked out of our hotel at 8:15 and got to the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN at 9:30am. We spent about 2 hours there and it was a lot of fun. We saw campers from the early 1920s to present day. It was well worth the entrance fee. Then we headed north to Grand Rapids. We got a room at theComfort Inn Airport for $69. Then we drove downtown and walked around. There was a Relay for Life going on along the river and we also went into the Ford Presidential Museum store. Then we came back to have a bite to eat at the Steak and Shake. In the evening, Rista (Susan) and Mr. Chicken (Scott) came by to knit with me.

6/13/15:

We left the hotel at 8:00 and stopped at Walmart for some things. Then we got to the Ford Presidential Museum by 9am. It was interesting but involved a lot of reading! We left there at 10:30 and headed to the coast of Lake Michigan and The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We drove the 8 mile loop road there and saw the sand dunes. At one point, we even walked a little in the dunes.  By 3:30, we headed east to look for a hotel room and finally stopped in Grayling, MI at a Super 8.

6/14/15:

We headed north to go across the Mackinac Bridge, which was beautiful. The toll was $4.  Lake Michigan was on one side and Lake Huron was on the other! Then we headed up to the Soo Locks in Sault St. Marie, MI. The parking meter was .25/30 minutes so we put .50 in the meter for an hour. After going to the visitor center, and going to the observation platform, we went to a gift shop across the street. I think it is amazing how these locks work! We were there about 45 minutes. After that we went to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior. We walked to an overlook to see Miner’s Castle and then the lower overlook to see the pictured cliffs. While we were there we watched a ranger give 4 young adults citations for climbing over the barrier even though it clearly states you will be prosecuted if you do. Then we left there and arrived at Green Bay, Wisconsin and stayed at the Comfort Suites on Bond St. ($94/night).

6/15/15:

We went to the National Train Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  It was nice because with AAA we got in  Buy One Get One Free and then paid $2 each for a train ride. There was the Dwight Eisenhower and the Big Boy which was cool but I still think we liked the Transportation museum in Spencer, NC better. We left there around 10:30 and headed to Chicago.

Things I Learned:

• Exercise is good after riding in a car for 12 hours.
• When traveling you need to be flexible.
• Start looking for lodging before you get tired and cranky in case it takes longer than expected.
• Drones are not as expensive as I thought.
• Personal customer service can really sell a product.
• It takes 2 days to see all of the National Museum of the Air Force.
• There are a few other parks in Dayton, OH that I would like to see on a return trip
• In the spring of 2016, they will have a 4^th building open that features 3 or 4 Presidential airplanes (Kennedy, Ford, Roosevelt, and possibly Obama)
• The Sand Dunes on Lake Michigan dropped straight down about a 60 – 70 degree angle.
• The Soo Locks help ships move from Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes.
• I have now seen all 5 Great Lakes.
• Rangers really will enforce the rules if they catch you breaking them!
• The white furry things flying around were cottonwood seeds.

Original photo by Pat Hensley