Joey has been a truck driver for years and loves everything trucks. He is passing on this love to Gabe. Which brings us to our next stop on our trip out to Decatur Indiana.
The Iowa 80 Truck Stop. The Worlds Largest Truck Stop!
There has been shows on the History Channel about this place and Joe ha visited here in the past, excited to bring us here and show us this magical placeJ There was more chrome than you can imagine, along with more truck drivers with that same glazed look in their eyes that Joe and Gabe had. And even better, they were open 24 hours!
Gabe found a shirt that he paid for with his own money. He can repeat the movie word by word, he has seen it so many times! Smokey and The Bandit:) His first car he wants a 1977 Trans Am.
Right next door to the truck stop was an antique Truck Museum. Gabe and Joe spent the following morning there while I sat inside the truck stop using their WIFI. Trying to catch up on these blogs! I’m just a few weeks behind and forgetting where we have been already! Must be all the fresh air we have been getting.
We headed out after lunch, going across Central Illinois, taking the scenic route across the farm lands.
Corn fields.......
More corn fields....
Great old towns we drove through......It has been awesome seeing the historic buildings in these towns and their town squares. Some fully restored. Coming from Port St. Lucie where there is no history or a real down town or town square as they call them in the mid west, it is a wonder to see.
We weren't going any where near Chicago. The roads there are horrible, so we took a better route.
There were windmills everywhere, beautiful against the sky.....
Just as much as I love to watch him fall fast asleep......
It was a long day of driving, but we finally made it to Decatur Indiana late. It was dark and trying to find the correct Fleetwood Plant was an adventure. There were 2 of them. On opposite sides of the town. Of course we went to the wrong one first! So we unhooked the car and went searching, leaving Gabe and Tina to hang out at the camper.
We were only about 15 minutes away from where we needed to be, but again it was dark and late and yes you got it, we were hungry. So lets just say my positive demeanor was slightly low and the rest of them were pretty miserable. I know what you are thinking, that what I have to deal with sometimes with my travel mates attitudes is just barely manageable. But I persevere and make lemonade out of lemonsJ It felt like a cereal dinner kind of night! Yay!
Fleetwood RV’s Decatur Indiana Shop where we were staying was a big building and a big parking lot. Currently it was filled with many other RV’s waiting for service. We were considered a “Drop In” and had to go to the office when they opened the next morning at 600am to sign in and wait for the 1st available opening. It was Tuesday. Labor Day was Monday. I was hoping that they could take us in quickly and we would be on our way by Saturday up to Mackinaw Michigan! Positive thoughts remember? Besides these guys were the ones who made our camper, they should be able to fix it!
9 days later………While the camper was in the shop....
It wasn’t what we had hoped or expected, but we went exploring and found some really cool things and met some nice people, made the most of a bad situation. Unfortunately it wasn’t our last stop for repair on our camper. Fleetwood couldn’t fix everything. We still had a few other things that needed to be worked on. Thankfully the group of people we met in that RV parking lot had been down our road before and had a place that they recommended we take our camper to and have it fixed correctly. It was in Lima Ohio, not far away. To a gentleman who used to work for Fleetwood and actually had a hand in building our camper!
So what did we do for those 9 days in the middle of no where? Well we explored.........................
During the day Gabe, Tina and I spent our time at the local library.
Joey would join us every now and then........
When he wasn't working on the camper.....ripping out the old carpet on the stairs and installing silver diamond plate
The Library was very cute, small, clean and older. Downtown was small and had historical buildings surrounding the town square.
We were privy to quiet a few conversations throughout the library seeing as we were there for 7 to 8 hours a day.
Amazing how a Library has gone from a place to find books and study, to a place where people do job interviews, tutor for the US Citizens test and GED test, read the newspaper and what we saw the most? The 6 computers available to the public, filled at all times of the day. Not for research, but to look up Face Book and to play Candy Crush. Amazing.
Some days we just hung out at the camper....
One day we took a road trip to Shipshawanee Indiana. It was about an hour and half away. They had a Flea Market, an Amish Market, an auction and a quaint down town. Reminded us of Lancaster PA. We walked around the markets but weren’t to interested, through out their parking lot there were more new items from Mexico and China than anything else. They held an auction every Wednesday from 900am till everything is gone. Unfortunately it was only Tuesday:(
Down town had some cool shops..........
Love This!!!
Beautiful side walks!
YUM! When was the last time you saw an old fashioned donut shop??? And no that doesnt' count Dunkin Donuts!
Joe spent his time working on the camper......
and talking to the mechanics and the other Rver’s that were waiting on their campers to be finished. One of them told him about a Flea Market this coming weekend. Not just any Flea Market. But a 143 ACRE Flea Market! REALLY! It lasted for 2 days and was open 24 hours!!! Located at the Fair grounds not far from where we were. It cost $5.00 each to get in and you can come and go as you please.
We ate lunch and headed in to the fair grounds. It was hard to decide which way to go first. There were tables and tents set up every which way. We wandered around the whole day and walked away with some really great stuff. If we had more room or actually lived near by we would of bought a lot more. We could of spent longer but storm clouds were rolling in, if we had stayed we would of ended up buying more things and had no place to put it.
Dinner was at a local fast food place. The “Kewpee” restaurant was a burger place stuck in the 1970’s. They were known for their square burgers and quick service. Come to find out Dave Thomas was inspired him to go into the burger business! There were over 200 after the great depression. Currently there are only 5. We were lucky to eat in one of them.
It was cafeteria style, where you order at the counter and wait for them to give you your tray of food then go find a seat. They had good burgers and fries and was reasonably priced. Their mascot was the “kewpee” doll. I agree with Gabe’s assessment, it was freaky looking.
We also did something we didn’t think we would have been able to. You see Joe and I are race heads. We love all kinds of racing, but especially winged and unwinged sprint cars, dirt modifieds and stock cars. We were only a short distance to Eldora Speedway in Ohio. Tony Stewart's race track.
We passed some really cool buildings and bridges along the way......
And an old time drive in Ice cream/Hamburger place......
And then we saw it in the distance.....
It was an awesome night! We were covered in a fine mist of dirt from the track and permanent smiles on our faces:) It wasn't something we had thought we would of done on this trip in a million years! But we ended up being at the perfect place at the perfect time:)
We ate at two other local places while in Decatur, Arnolds Drive In....it was a throw back to Happy Days!! The walls and ceilings were decked out in the 1950’s and 1960’s memorabilia. Vinyl booths and metal tables, waitresses dressed as if they lived back in that era. There was even a waitress outside on roller blades in case you wanted to eat in your car, where she would bring you a tray or at the picnic tables. Music? They had a juke box on each table. It was really a cool place.
My mom was here??? Nah....she spells her name Christine;)
And the Back 40 Junction.
Back 40 Junction was an all you can eat restaurant, family run and cheap. Food options were awesome and good. The waitress and the cook treated you like you were family! We came in late and ended up staying slightly past closing time, but no one pushed you out, they told you to take your time, no rush. Very nice people here in Decatur.
We didn’t eat out all the time. To much money. We did what no one else did in our campground parking lot. We grilled. Joe took out our little travel charcoal grill that we got from my mom and put it to good use. Once the smoke started the other campers started coming around to, looks good Joe, smells good Joe, when’s dinner Joe? He was the hit of the parking lot!
Joe, Gabe and I ended up heading back out to Shipshaweena on the following Wednesday for their Auction......we left at the crack of dawn so we could check out the auction items before they went up for auction....
Beautiful Sunrise....
Coffee Break........
We passed some locals on the way......
Have you ever felt complete power in your hand? All it takes is a paddle. It was thrilling and exhilarating! I could conquer anything with just a flip of my hand. And it worked out for the most part:) We ended up staying for 3 hours and walked away with some great antique finds. Do I have pictures. No:( But to give you an example......I purchased an old army amo box, made of metal, for $5.00. An old metal meat grinder for $2.50. We have seen them go for $35.00 in Antique malls. No I do not intend to use it but to showcase it in my kitchen:) I also purchased an old metal red water pump for $5.00, which we have seen for over $50.00 up to $75.00! Joe just shook his head each time I lifted my paddle. But don't let that cute face fool you. He had the paddle for about 5 minutes and ended up with an old metal cabinet for $5.00. It is very addicting. We had to leave with to much stuff with no where to put it!
Once we left the auction, we headed to the RV Museum in Elkhart Indiana. It was something Gabe found in his Travel across the USA book. It was only $1.00 pp to get in. His book was from 2006. The price we found out went up to $25.00 for a family of 3. Slight inflation increase??
It was alot of fun though, we saw campers from the early 1920's to modern day. Travel trailers, tent trailers and motor homes.
Joe and Gabe headed out for a boy day to the National Car and Truck museum in Auburn Indiana....
On the 9th day the sun came out, the birds were singing and we were headed North to Michigan finally!!! YAY!!!
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