Sunday August 14, 2011-Moving day-Country Roads RV Park to Elkhart County Fairgrounds, Goshen Indiana

We got an early start for getting ready to leave this morning because we need to be in Goshen by 3:30 for a meeting at the fairgrounds. We actually pulled out a little after eight o'clock after any hugs and handshakes. These Wisconsin people are very friendly!

We made very good time down the freeways until we got to Chicago. About 20 miles out, we ran into road construction. Even though there was no one working today, the mere signs on the road caused traffic to back up and even stop in a few areas. There were signs before the construction area directing trucks into the left lane. When we tried to move over, several cars darted in front of us so THEY could get into the left lane, leaving the right lane open for a long time, until these same people decided that the signs must have been right and darted across the center lane that was being resurfaced and had cones put up to try to keep cars out. It was dangerous when they did this because of the drop in the center lane that was in preparation for the new pavement that will be put down. I had already been warned about the drivers in Chicago, but this was way outside of the city!

When we got to the outskirts of Chi-town, I my GPS friend was silent and we missed a turn-off and ended up downtown. Big Mistake! I still listened to my GPS and took an exit off the freeway, thinking he was going to direct me around the big traffic back-up (he had a delay sign on the screen-first time this feature had worked) so I took it. He directed me to take a couple of turns that I questioned but did anyway and before I knew it, there I was, in a RV'er's biggest nightmare, staring at a low bridge a block away! I swerved off onto a side street with several finger gestures pointed my way. I guess many of these people had never seen a very pretty large trailer in their neighborhood.

We were soon out of our nightmare tour of downtown Chicago and back on the freeway. I hadn't gone very far when I saw the welcome sign of Indiana-next exit. Thank goodness! My GPS was still squawking "Recalculating" so I gave him a time out to think about his mistakes and turned him off. It was much easier and less stressful to just figure out where we were the old fashioned way with a map and watching the signs to decide which exit to take than to listen to the incessant squalling of this machine. I guess he was indeed embarrassed because when he had served his time and I turned him back on, he was much quieter and didn't miss another turn.

We ran through rain much of the afternoon, just enough to badly soil my clean truck and trailer, but we were again on the open road and making good time. Incidentally, I got some good mileage on this trip. Most of the way was over 11 mpg, so there were some good things happening. We made it into Goshen without any further problems and to the fairgrounds. We pulled in and got assigned to a site-grassy, with 30 amp electricity, water and nothing else. I shouldn't complain I guess because I barely got signed up before the rally starts.

We are volunteering at this rally and took jobs serving food. We missed the volunteers meeting and didn't have a chance to request the jobs that we really wanted, but these will do. I met Jerry, one of the coordinators of the rally and got everything worked out to have some Heartland participation here, and then went back to the trailer and finished getting everything set up.

We were tired when we got home and when all the work was done, we had a cup of coffee outside. It was very pleasant sitting outside. We have evening shade in our site and it was very cool tonight. We met another couple from Texas who are also volunteering and had a nice visit with them. We will be interested to see how many Texans we will see here. So far, only one. Most of the people will arrive tomorrow, so hope things will change.

So long.