Sunday June 21, 2015-Elkhart County Fairgrounds

Well, the big Heartland rally is over, so here is a short recap of what we did. We spent time with Tom and Marti since they had not been up here before. We took them to Shipshewana a couple of times to shop and to gawk at the many Amish people in the area. It was lots of fun for all.

We bought a new (to us) fifth wheel hitch from our friends Tony and Erika and got it installed with help from Tony and Tom. The hitch went in with few problems and it has worked out perfectly. I know that I'm getting out of sequence here, but we towed with it today and it is perfect! No annoying rattles and creaks, no pops when turning corners, and it is one of the best additions that we have made. I tried to sell the old hitch, but when it didn't sell I took it to a hitch dealer that I know in Elkhart but was told that it was too light (16k capacity) for him to buy and recommended selling it for scrap, which I did. The scrap yard was a mud hole and I was  glad to get out of there. Also luckily I didn't pick up any unwanted pieces of metal in my tires.

Speaking of additions, remember the problem that I have been having with the Winegard antenna? While here at the rally, I attended a seminar on Winegard antennas and met their sales manager. After explaining my problem to him, he made arrangements for a local technician to come by to check it out. The tech, Jamie, came over about 12:30 on Saturday. Long story short, he worked all afternoon before deciding that the antenna was indeed the problem and he and his boss agreed to sell us a new one at a greatly reduced price. It works perfectly. 

We had lots of good food at the catered meals along with good entertainment. There was a DJ that played lots of 50's and 60's music and everyone enjoyed that. Many people "cut a rug" dancing to the music. We had a Beatles group called Cavern Beat that not only looked like the originals, they had many of their mannerisms down and they sang pretty well too. It was a good time for all.

As I said, we had lots of good food, so Sunday afternoon we had a potluck dinner of leftovers. There was so much food that not only did about 100 people get fed, we were all given bags of food to take with us. I'm sure that there was still some left over, but we got all we wanted.

Just before the potluck dinner Sunday afternoon, we had a meeting with the remaining chapter leaders still at the rally, whom I've asked to be on my team for the Regional Rally in Branson MO in April of 2016. We got a lot of work done and discussed our plans for the rally. I think all of us are excited about it. I know I am.

We came home tonight to sit outside and say our goodbyes to the many friends that came by. We enjoyed the rally and seeing so many friends here. We will see some of them in the next couple of years, but most won't be seen until the next Goshen rally in 2017. We'll be looking forward to it!

So long.