On to Michigan

May 5 – 19, 2023

With our sojourn in Northern Georgia complete, it was time to start the final few legs by heading further west and north. Our route took us around Chattanooga which is always congested near the I-75 and I-24 interchange. Once we made our way onto I-24 we had clear sailing to I-40 just south of Nashville,TN – our next stop.

Nashville

Having stayed in Nashville several times in the past, we selected what once was our favorite campground here – the Nashville KOA Resort. The Resort is conveniently located to the Grand Ole Opry, Opry Mills Mall, Gaylord Opryland Resort, and lots of restaurants. We reserved a patio site which is paved and provides patio furniture and a fire pit. Unfortunately the site we were assigned was near the major highway and very noisy day and night. In general it seemed like the campground was not being well-maintained so we will probably stay elsewhere on our next visit.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

After setting up camp, we headed to the nearby Chuy’s restaurant for some Mexican food. (It was actually May 5). Surprisingly, we were able to get a table right away. I just love their Creamy Jalapeño dip, Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom enchiladas, and, of course, a Grand Ma’s Rockin’ Rita.

Redecorating

The following day we did some redecorating. We had decided that we wanted to replace the sleeper sofa in the rear of the RV with a desk for Bill’s computer. The desk had already been delivered to the campground office so all we had to do was get the sofa out and assemble and place the new desk. Sounds simple enough – right? So, how do you get a sleeper sofa out of an RV? On-line posts made it sound like the sofa would come apart with the removal of a few screws. Ha! After lots of contortions, Bill was finally able to get the bed frame loose and out the door. That left the shell to contend with. We finally figured out how to remove the seat cushions which were attached with some very strong but cleverly hidden velcro strips. Still, measurements indicated that the shell would not fit through the door. There didn’t seem to be any way of removing the back of the sofa until, quite by accident we managed to get the top half of the back to pop right off. Whew!! The pieces went out the door, into the bed of the truck, and then to a nearby refuse center. The desk was then quickly assembled and took its rightful place.

Dinner and a Movie

One rainy day we went over to Opry Mills Mall to see the newest Guardians of the Galaxy movie which we found entertaining. After the movie we went to the Bavarian Bierhaus for dinner. Their Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes), Chicken Schnitzel with Swiss cheese sauce and Kasespatzel were particularly good.

Pickleball

We did manage to play Pickleball a couple of times in the campground. (We needed to work off some of that Mexican and German food). The court had no fencing and had some large cracks making play less than optimal.

Unfortunately there were no artists playing at the Grand Ole Opry or Ryman Auditorium that we wanted to see this time so we spent a rather quiet week.

Leaving Nashville, we headed north on I-65 to Louisville, KY and then took I-71 into Cincinnati, OH.

Cincinnati

The last time we stopped in this area, we stayed at Winton Woods Campground which was nice but a bit rustic. This time we decided to try the Lebanon/Cincinnati NE KOA Holiday a bit outside of Cincinnati. We were kind of scratching our heads on the way to the campground as our GPS took us right through downtown Lebanon with some really tight turns. (KOA’s are usually near the major highways). We discovered when we checked into the campground that there was a much better back way to get there. (Next time we’ll know).

Our site here was excellent – a spacious patio site with table and chairs plus an adjacent sitting area with loveseat glider and fire pit. Additionally, it was situated right across from the laundry and two dog parks. Oh, and it was quiet – no traffic noises!!

Family

Our stop here was family focused as my nephew and family live in the Cincinnati area. We had a wonderful time with them at their house on Saturday, complete with grilled steaks and birthday cake!! Sunday they stopped by the campground for a while to see our RV and meet Dawn. We had a great time!

Monday it was time to head to Indiana where the RV had an appointment for service. Needless to say, we utilized the alternative route back to the interstate avoiding downtown Lebanon.

Northern Indiana

We arrived at Twin Lakes RV Repair in La Grange, Indiana about 4 hours after leaving the Cincinnati area. There we dropped off the RV and moved into the Holiday Inn Express in Howe for the next few days. After settling into the hotel, we picked up a carry-out pizza and had an in-room pizza party.

Furniture Shopping

The removal of the sleeper sofa and addition of the desk left us with an open space in the rear of the RV – a space that we wanted to fill with a recliner. The best place to look for such a recliner is where high-quality RV furniture is manufactured – Shipshewana. Specifically we wanted a Lambright wall hugging recliner. So, off we went in search of our new chair. We were hoping to find one on the showroom floor at either the Lambright store or Bradd and Hall as special orders take several months. Fortunately we found one that we liked and made arrangements to pick it up a couple of days later. With the new recliner and the addition of a desk chair, our redecoration was complete. Perfect!!

Food and Entertainment

No visit to Shipshewana is complete without going to Davis Mercantile (4 floors of unique shops), Yoder’s Meat and Cheese shop (great cheese, meats, chocolates, and artisan foods) and having dinner at the Blue Gate Restaurant and Bakery (Amish chicken and noodles and a cinnamon roll with buttercream frosting to go). We also decided to attend a performance of the Amish musical Dear Soldier Boy at the Blue Gate Theatre which was very well done.

Heading for our summer “home”

As promised, we were able to retrieve the RV on Friday morning. At long last, the blown tire damage (from last July) has been fixed!! The RV looks like new again. We hooked up the truck, bid Jay and his staff at Twin Lakes RV Repair goodbye and set out for Traverse Bay RV Resort in Traverse City, Michigan where we plan to spend the majority of the summer. I probably won’t be posting much for a while but we do have a special trip planned mid-summer. Check back then.