On May 20th we drove 615 miles to White Pigeon, MI. We had a 6:30 AM appointment on May 21st at Quadra Manufacturing to have Big Foot levelers installed on the RV. You can see our Lazy Daze in the far back right corner of the parking lot where we parked overnight.
They were finished with the installation by 10:30 AM so we had some time to spare and stopped at the RV Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. We happened upon the RV Museum by chance and it was very interesting and well worth the stop for the couple hours we spent there.
The RV/MH Museum in Elkhart, IN.
There were lots more to show but here are a few.
The oldest RV in the museum was a 1913 “Earl” Travel Trailer.
How could you stay in your seat and control these rigs on the rough roads back then. That wood bench doesn’t look very comfortable either.
We were amazed at the rounded corners a lot of the units had back then. This 1935 “Kumfort” Travel Trailer has an all-steel welded body and looks like a modern Scamp or Casita.
Is Sandy already thinking about a new rig? At least it has light colored interior.
This 1928 Housecar came complete with residential chest of drawers and the shelf in the lower right corner is a fold down secretaries desk. The interiors of these old rigs were amazing.
Pretty modern bath for 1928.
This 42 foot trailer reminded both Sandy and me of Lucy and Desi’s movie the “The Long Long Trailer”. We could imagine Lucy baking with the flour in the air and her rock collection rolling out of the cabinets.
A certain someone hit their head both going in and coming out.
Look at that furnace.
A 1974 GMC Motorhome. We still see some of these around and have always wondered what they are like inside.
A 1967 Winnebago Motorhome, this was one of the first built, the previous 10 years Winnebago built travel trailers. This picture is for Sandy’s cousin, Dennis.
The museum has a “cat walk” overlooking the display area.
This is for our many friends who drive Tiffin RV’s.
After visiting the museum we went to visit the Nexis RV plant. There has been a lot of discussion in the Life With A Lazy Daze web site the last couple of years so thought we should stop and take a look. I think we would rather keep our Lazy Daze. Then we were on our way home and we stopped by Madison, Wisconsin at the Token Creek County Park. It’s a nice little park for smaller rigs. We sure are glad to finally have the automatic levelers on.
On Thursday we made it home in time to go out for supper with friends John and Pat as they were going up to the lake on Friday and we were going to Mystic Lake for the weekend.
Friday we went to the Meadows RV Park at Mystic Lake Casino to spend the Memorial weekend with friends Dale, Mary and a bunch of their friends. Sorry, we didn’t get any pictures that weekend. We finally got to just sit back and relax for a few days before I headed out on June 1st for a motorcycle trip and Sandy went to South Dakota for 3 days. More on that next time.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
5-12-2014 thru 5-18-2014
After touring Walnut Canyon we headed northeast to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, (pronounced shae with a long a) on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation by the town of Chinle. We spent the night at the Cottonwood Campground and although we did not take a picture of the campground, it is apply named.
Tuesday the 13th: We did not have enough time to take a Navajo tour into the valley so we drove the north rim and the south rim stopping at all the overlooks along the way. Next time we will take the valley tour to be able to get closer to the ruins. The only way touring is allowed in the canyon is to hire Navajo guided jeep or horseback rides.The earliest known people were called the Archaic and they inhabited the area from 2500 BC to 200 BC. Then came the Basketmaker people from 200 BC to 750 AD. The Pueblo were here from 750 AD to 1300 AD and built most of the ruins located here. Then it was the Hopi who inhabited the area from 1300 to 1600 AD. The Navajo entered the canyon around 1700 and have been in the area ever since.
There are 3 overlooks on the north rim and 7 overlooks on the south rim. The following pictures are from some of these overlooks.
Antelope house overlook.
The Running Antelope ruins are located in the right center of the picture, just out of the shadow. These ruins are named after the antelope drawings attributed to the Navajo artist Dibe Yazhi (Little Sheep) who lived there in the early 1800’s. Excavated in the 1970’s, the site has an unusual circular plaza built in the 1300’s.
Massacre Cave overlook. 115 Navajo were killed in the winter of 1805 by a Spanish military expedition.
Mummy cave in Canyon del Muerto. It is one of the largest ancestral Puebloan villages in the canyon and was occupied to about 1300.
Rock Canyon.
White House overlook.
As you can see the White House was appropriately named. It was built and occupied by ancestral Puebloans about 1,000 years ago.
Sliding House overlook.
The Sliding House Ruins are above the slide shown at the right side of the picture.
This almost looks like a model that someone made.
Face Rock Overlook.
Notice the difference in the rock structure above and below the ruins.
Spider Rock overlook.
Spider Rock is an 800 foot sandstone spire that rises from the canyon floor at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Monument Canyon.
Once again weather changed our plans to drive east through southern Colorado through Cortez and Durango. Our route took us back down to east I-40 and the up on I-25 past Pikes Peak by Colorado Springs, Co. I drove up Pikes Peak back in the 80’s and I think next time I’ll take the trolley up.
We pulled into Sandy’s parents place on the 15th and the next morning we had our own South Dakota alarm clock sitting on a hay bale in the field next to us.
It was Sandy’s Mom’s 86th birthday on Sunday so Saturday we went out for dinner at Maverick’s to celebrate.
Dave, Erwin, Dalles, Sandy, Cindy and John.
We left SD on Sunday so we could get a day of rest on Monday before we hit the road on Tuesday for a 615 mile drive to White Pigeon, MI. We have an appointment at Quadra Manufacturing to have Big Foot levelers installed.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
