INDIANA

After spending a few days recovering from an incredible and exhausting lighthouse photography workshop on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on Sunday, August 25, I packed up and headed south to Indiana to attend a rally hosted by my trailer’s manufacturer. Rallies are very popular in the RV world with groups getting together who share common interests—anything from sports, social groups or those with the same make of camper, which is what I was doing. But first, I had to drive across the “Mighty Mac.”

“Mighty Mac,” the Mackinac Bridge connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.

The Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere, spanning five miles between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan, at the point where lakes Huron and Michigan meet. Many people are afraid to drive across this bridge but I’m not one of them, however, during high winds, the bridge is closed to large vehicles like tractor trailers and RVs. When that happens, you either stay put until conditions improve or drive two days to go around the lake. Luckily, I had a beautiful, calm morning for my crossing but the narrow lanes still make for a little white-knuckling.

Towing an RV over the Mackinac Bridge is not for the faint of heart.

Michigan is a big state and it took nearly six hours to drive down the center of the state from the bridge at the north tip to the southern border with Indiana. My manufacturer, Grand Design, is located right on the border in Middlebury, Indiana and the rally was being held at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in nearby Goshen. I was scheduled to check into my campsite at the rally the next day so I spent a night with my friends and business colleagues, Janet and Dean, who live in Middlebury and have full hookups in their driveway. I’ve stayed with them before and love the area they’re in.

Parking for the night at my friends Janet and Dean’s home in Middlebury, Indiana.

Meanwhile, my “boyfriend” (it’s weird to use that term for people in their 60s) Mark was driving out from New Jersey to join me for the rally, arriving at Janet and Dean’s at the same time as me. The next morning we drove 15 miles to the fairgrounds and got set up at our site in the infield of the horse track. A former coworker of mine from the ambulance manufacturer was also attending the rally and, as luck would have it, we were parked very close to each other and spent much of the five days hanging out together.

Pat and Erin were also first-time attendees so it was fun to experience everything together. We had all our meals together, partied in the evenings, toured new models on display, and checked out each other’s rigs.

My site at the Grand Design Rally.

The welcome meeting for first-time attendees on arrival day.

The four of us enjoyed all our meals together. L-R: Pat, Erin, Mark, me.

Grand Design President, Don Clark speaks to the crowd, flanked by members of the manufacturing team.

Making friends around the campfire.

Mark and I took a day trip to Shipshewana Flea Market, billed as the largest in the Midwest.

The rally offered seminars, vendors, factory tours, tourist bus trips, breakfast and dinner every day, and campfire get-togethers in the evenings. But best of all, they provided free parts and service. I ordered a replacement part for my mini blinds and had an interior trim repair done but some people had big jobs like brakes and suspension done—all right at our sites.

Click on the link to view a quick video of the amazing greeting we got from the staff as we arrived for a factory tour.

A view of new units in production at the factory.

There were a couple dozen service technicians working 10-12 hours a day providing free parts and service to attendees.

I even managed a great coup in that my neighbor had purchased a new pin box (the part on the front of the trailer that connects to the hitch in the bed of the truck) from a vendor at the rally and was having it installed. Mark and I went over to take a look because it was an airbag model I had previously seen at a campground and told him about.

The pin box they removed was a step up from mine so I asked if I could buy it off him. He said he’d give it to me since he was just going to throw it out and the service guys said they’d install it for me for free and dispose of my old one. The new pin box has a one-inch rubber cushion and pivots to give a smoother ride while towing and is something I’ve been wanting since the first time I hit the road with my new trailer. It retails for about $600 and I don’t know what installation would be but I was a pretty happy camper, for sure!

My old pin box was a low-end model where the box rested on the metal hitch plate making for an uncomfortable ride on bad roads.

The new pin box has an inch of rubber cushion and pivots, the combination of which makes for a much smoother ride.

Many of my friends will remember the graphic I installed on the rear window of my old motorhome with one of my favorite lighthouse photos and a quote from from J.R.R. Tolkien from Lord of the Rings that is popular with RVers. I didn’t want to cover the rear window of my new trailer but I wanted to use the quote again so I bought custom-made adhesive lettering from a vendor at the rally to apply to the back wall. I also added my blog address in an effort to attract complete strangers to read about my adventures.

The graphic on the rear window of my old motorhome.

I applied custom lettering to my new trailer.

It was Labor Day Weekend when the rally ended so I returned to Janet and Dean’s for three days and Mark headed home. I took this opportunity to hose down the truck engine to remove the dirt and sand from my lighthouse adventures in the Upper Peninsula.

My dirty truck engine after driving miles of unpaved roads in the Upper Peninsula.

FLORIDA

On September 3rd, I moved west to the Chicago area so I could fly to Florida for a week-long visit with my sister who’s home I use as my address. I hadn’t been back to Florida in a year and a half so I’d never seen the house she and her husband bought after selling our father’s house.

My sister’s house in Florida that I call “home” even though I’d never been there before.

The back yard is a tropical oasis and I was in the pool almost every day.

This trip also offered an opportunity to meet up with my RV friend, Jeff who was staying in the Fort Lauderdale area. We met for lunch at Johnnie Brown’s in Delray Beach and spent the afternoon catching up on everything we’ve been doing since the last time we saw each other in Houston last year.

ILLINOIS

Two days after I returned from Florida to my campsite at Chicago Northwest KOA in Union, Illinois, I slipped on wet grass and severely pulled my right hamstring muscle. I found myself on my knees on the ground, in excruciating pain and unable to walk. It took me about 15 minutes to hobble the six-foot distance to my door, needing rest periods between each step (hop) to catch my breath. I also cursed a great deal and learned that cursing when in pain is the same as the Lamaze breathing technique used during childbirth. All those four-letter words, when spoken with great emphasis on the exhale, are quite useful for dealing with pain.

It’s not easy for me to ask for help but I called the campground office and asked if an employee could check on me once in awhile. Renée from the office and Kevin from maintenance stopped in a couple times a day for the first week and helped by swapping my ice packs and bringing me beverages. I had crutches and a leg brace delivered from a local medical supply store, which improved my mobility but I didn’t leave the trailer for five or six days and the pain didn’t lessen for at least that much time.

When I was able to get outside on my crutches, Renée took me food shopping and Kevin continued to check on me daily. I used the crutches for about nine days and could finally walk without the brace after two weeks although I still had some pain.

KOA employee, Renée, helping me with my food shopping at Walmart.

During this time, I was scheduled to leave for my next destination but was unable to drive. My site had been booked by another camper so I needed to move to another site. Again, Kevin came to my rescue and hitched my trailer to my truck, relocated me and did all my hookups and I stayed an additional ten days until I was fully healed. All tolled, this was a two-week ordeal and I am so grateful to have been in a location with such great staff. I don’t even want to think about how this would have been if I was in one of those national forest campgrounds where I’m the only one around.

Kevin getting me set up in a new campsite for my extended stay.

Renée and I went out to dinner the night before I left.

Me and Kevin, the KOA maintenance man who help me tremendously during my injury. I tipped him handsomely for his assistance.

With all the time I was out of commission, one of my truck batteries died (it takes two car batteries to turn over a big diesel engine) and I had to call AAA to get me started so Kevin could move my trailer. I then made an appointment for the following week with the local Ford dealer for two new batteries but needed AAA to jump me again so I could get there. The same young lady, Shayna, came both times.

Shayna from AAA came to the campground twice to jump start my truck.

Due to my injury, I was forced to cancel a stay on Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, the peninsula that creates Green Bay and was to be my final stop on the Niagra Escarpment I wrote about in a previous blog. I was to photograph several more lighthouses there and I hope to visit at some point in the future. Instead, I headed to the next spot on my route: Osh Kosh, Wisconsin on Lake Winnebago, which is where I’ll pick up the story in my next blog post.

My 570-mile route from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Chicago, Illinois.

Don’t forget, my 2020
LIGHTHOUSE CALENDAR
is available for purchase online!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next post: Wisconsin, Iowa and a return to Illinois.

My name is Lindsay Reed and I’m a photographer and retired graphic artist with a passion for both lighthouses and road trips. I am living as a full-time solo RVer in my 33 foot Grand Design Reflection Fifth Wheel trailer ( I spent my first two years in a 31 foot 2005 Coachmen Mirada motohome) and plan to spend the next few years traveling the U.S. and Canada photographing not only lighthouses, but everything else there is to see in this wonderful land. I hope you enjoy my blog and will follow my adventures in the months and years ahead.