Catching Up at the Big RV Rally

This post will cover two campgrounds since I a little tardy with posting due to laziness unknown reasons.

Old Location: Harrison Lake State Park; Fayette, Ohio

Current Location: Elkhart County Fairgrounds, Goshen, Indiana

I've been here at the fairgrounds since last Saturday (8-12-23) which was the day before the Rally officially began. The four day stay at Harrison Lake was a rest-up before the rally. It is a great campground in the middle of farm country but not a lot to explore in the area. I've stayed there before back in 2014 before that years rally. It is a good resting spot.

This is the campsite at Harrison Lake. I purposely reserved the same site I stayed at back in 2014. It is definitely still a "good vibe" campground. 

If you want to have a stable RV, park it so your two rear stabilizing jacks are on the concrete bumper. I wish I could say I planned it, but I didn't. It was just dumb luck but the really surprising thing is this has happened to me at least two other times over the years. What I believe is happening is someone is guiding me. I wish I knew who. 

Remember, Harrison Lake CG is in the middle of farm country. This old house is about a quarter mile from the campground entrance. It has been abandoned at least 9 years, because I remember it from when I was here last time. I asked several people about the history and finally got an answer. Apparently, the mother and father passed away and none of the children wanted to live in it, so they tried to sell it. When it didn't sell, they essentially abandoned it. A house that size and made of brick would have been an expensive house back in the 30's or 40's when it was built. It's just another story that may never be told.

I don't remember for sure which day this was, but I thought the sky with puffy clouds looked nice so I snapped a picture. As my mother told me many times, it was a "pretty day for little boys to play".

This rally was my long range destination point for this trip. It is my fourth time to attend this "International FROG Rally". I'm glad the attendance is down and they are limiting the number of attendees. One of the past rally's I attended had between 800 and 900 RV's which was way too many. I said back then that I wouldn't be back if the size continued to be that large. This year, there are between 300 and 400 RV's which seems to be about right. 

Forest River will do free repairs on your RV if it meets the age requirements. Since mine is relatively new, I got a couple of things taken care of. The cost and time savings was worth the cost of attending the rally. Also, they provide breakfast every morning for the 6 days of the rally and 4 dinners. All of the meals, especially the dinners, have been first rate and I've been super impressed since I don't remember them being that great in the past. In additional to doing a lot of walking and attending some seminars, there is lots of visiting with folks of similar interest, ie, RV'ing. We all exchange thoughts, ideas and pointers whenever we start chatting. I've been completely satisfied with the Rally and may return next year if I'm still RV'ing. Oh, they also give you free soft serve ice cream between 11 and 4 o'clock and there are 2 live concerts. Yeah, it's worth the cost. 

My campsite at the Rally. I arrived on Saturday and there was a junior rodeo going on near my site. I spent a couple hours watching it after I got camp set up.

This is a small portion of the people waiting for our table number to be called so we can go to the buffet line. Dinners have been great, and I'm planning to head that way after making this post.

This is just some of the RV's at the rally. 

You know you're in Amish country when you get behind one of the horse and buggies.

An Amish horse and buggy in line at the red light waiting to come out of the shopping center.

This is the barn at the edge of the Walmart parking lot. There are six other stalls on the other side. 

Free Ice Cream anyone?

I've planned my return trip by way of Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. I have reservations for September 17th at Fort Pickens Campground which is on a Gulf of Mexico barrier island near Pensacola, Florida and is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Between there and here, I have reservations at 9 campgrounds, with most being COE's. It will be good to get back on the road after being here 7 days.

This my route back south. I haven't decided where to enter Louisiana since I think I'll be avoiding the Baton Rouge/Slidell area due to heavy traffic and construction. Perhaps I'll cross at Natchez. I don't know but I have plenty of time to decide. 

Tomorrow is moving day and I've purposely made it a long drive of 218 miles. I'm hoping the drive will clear my head some. We will see. Oh, by the way, still a little bit of coughing, but probably 90% healed. 

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe, I'll Cya down the road.