September 17-23: We left Ho-Chunk Casino RV Park early to get to our next destination. Our water heater woes changed our plans and instead of staying in Chicago to visit family we were headed to Elkhart, ID. Elkhart is the birthplace for many RVs and the location of many RV parts and repair shops. We also have an appointment for a new windshield!
After driving into Illinois and getting close to Chicago, we quickly encountered toll roads which we are usually okay with... Blissfully unaware of what waits for us later, we stop at an Interstate Oasis for lunch and watch the traffic go by for a bit.
A bit further down the road and you could see the Chicago skyline.
We rode on the "Skyway" and didn't realize that it takes you on a 7.8 mile TOLL bridge that cost us $36.30 (4 axles)! So we paid $4.65/mile to get to Indiana... Unreal, lol! You live and you learn, or something like that.
And then, Indiana tolls you too, LOL! 
Sean wanted to stay at Elkhart Campground, which he has seen many times on the YouTube channels he watches. It was a huge campground and offered a lot amenities, but unfortunately the pool was already closed for the season. We happened to be staying at the campground the same time there was a Nexus Rally.
We drove over to Michigan (less than 10 miles away) to a couple of RV Surplus Stores and, luckily, we found another hot water heater electrical board for a bargain. Before we could try it out, we had an important stop to make! Michigan is a state I get to check of the list!
Grana decided to join us as well and she now gets to check off Michigan from her list! 2 birds, 1 stone, lol! After our picture shenanigans, Sean installed the new water heater board and it worked beautifully. :)
To celebrate our water heater win, we went to Warren Dunes State Park to swim in Lake Michigan and soak up some sun. Of course, the pups got to play ball in the water! Hershey unintentionally drank so much water that she peed about 12 times in 4 hours! We finally succeeded in getting Skittles comfortable swimming, but somehow she was still touching the lake bottom, lol.
When we were on the way back from the lake, this farmstand caught our eye and we walked away from it with a bounty of fruits and veggies, yum!
We can't pass up a chance to go to the RV Hall of Fame!
Placing a pin for Littlefield!
We definitely had a great time!
After going to a thrift store and finding an $8 pickleball set, we tried our hand at pickleball. I'm not going to lie, we had to YouTube how to play a few times, and we still aren't sure if we are playing it correctly, lol.
Sean found the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail to bike on. It was so pretty with the leaves falling, seeing Amish families bike on the same trail, watching the horse and buggies, and views of the beautiful homesteads.
Quilt garden park along the bike trail.
Somehow, Sean's front tire went flat and we found a hole through the tread. Unfortunately, we were a few miles away from the closest town. Fortunately, we found a bike repair shop in that town. We intermittently walked and slowly biked back to town and made it to bike shop, and they had him fixed up within 15 minutes!
What a pretty trail!
The next day we were on our way to Nappanee for the Apple Festival and found this Amish community gathering on Sunday. There were so many buggies and bikes at this property! We were interested in who had the car, lol.
The Apple Festival was great! Lots of festival foods, rides, and shops to occupy an afternoon.
We tracked down a free pickleball court and after we cleared all the acorns off, we played a few games. We seem to be getting better!
We ate lunch at Old Style Deli and it was delicious, then walked around the riverwalk and parks on Elkhart River.
We moved over to our new campsite at the windshield repair parking lot and here are the before, during, and after photos! It turned out great! We had to stay one more night in the parking lot with no slides out and no use of leveling jacks to allow the new windshield to cure.
Our last morning in the area, we decided to go to 2 RV manufacturer tours. Sean chose Newmar and Jayco due to closeness and scheduling.
The Newmar facility started at their Service Center and after a safety briefing and short video, we geared up and loaded into the bus. There wasn't any photography allowed at the facilities. It was really neat to see behind the scenes.
After grabbing a drive thru lunch and eating on the road, we barely made it to the Jayco tour. We had a similar beginning to this tour and loaded up in the old Trolley. Again, no photography allowed. We were blown away that Jayco can build 19 Class C motorhomes in 1 day! It was amazing to see each frame go from station to station and build up like Legos, all the way to a finished home on wheels.
I wish we could have gone to a Fleetwood tour (to see how our motorhome was built), but they only had tours on specific days of the month and we were nowhere close, but we had a great time seeing the Newmar and Jayco tours.
