Movin' On to Bristol, IN

Wednesday, May 12, when I get up at 7:00 a.m. the front has already passed through. It is cloudy with light rain. The group of five leave between 7:15 and 7:30 in the rain! That seems crazy to arrive late last night and take off again so early. They must have a destination--perhaps a class reunion.

I have coffee and work off-line on February 2009 journal pages(yes, the rest of 2009 is still not posted on-line.) I finally get a connection and check Facebook and email. Bob gets up and looks at the weather. We decide to leave late morning and let the front get east of us. It looks like there's a clear spot behind us to the west. This is the second time in our new RV that we had a serious rain delay in the RV Park. Bob still hasn't had a chance to fish the pond here.

On our first time to stay hitched to the truck overnight our morning jpacking up is easy except for mud, wet and rain. The rain has subsided by the time we leave. I get out to make sure we clear the low-hanging overhead limbs. We try to stop at Marathon station on I-70 but they have no diesel (truck grade diesel but not the ultra-low sulphur we need.) So we pull a bat-turn to BP. We're the only one in the station and Bob wonders if people are boycotting them due to the oil platform explosion and continuing spill off the Gulf Coast. We put 21.5 gallons in our 26 gallon tank and head east on I-70 to the 435 loop around Indianapolis.

Construction signs say to "choose an alternate route; expect long delays on 435 north." But Bob makes a command decision to take our intended route around the northwest side of the city as we saw these same signs last year on our way west through Indianapolis. It turns out to be a good decision as most of the construction is complete and we encounter no delays. We pick up 31 north, the same route we took with our old RV when we came around the east side of Indianapolis a few years back on our way to South Bend, IN.

We stop for lunch again at Bob Evans in Kokomo. Now I can't get that crazy song out of my head. We park in the Mall lot behind Bob Evans and enjoy a nice lunch break. Then we continue north on 31. We get into a bit of rain but not too bad. This time we take US 20 east towards Elkhart (last time we went west to South Bend.) And we stay on US 20 to Hwy 15 north five miles to Bristol, IN, where we take 120 east for three miles to Eby's Pines RV Park and Campground, 14583 State Road 120, Bristol, IN 46507, Elkhart County, (574) 848-4583, N41 43.359' and W55 44.503'.

Sue in the office, who is new here, gives us site #187 that is available until June 1st, the day after Memorial Day. But we really want to stay a month. So we pay the monthly rate of $435 and stay hooked up to the truck again so we can work it out with Chris, the owner, in the morning. Sue sent us down the wrong way but we mange the sharp turns between the pines and get pulled in. We have to jockey and the truck is on a mighty slant. It may be hard to hitch back up so I'm thankful Bob had the presence of mind after our 200 mile journey to suggest we just stay hooked up until we see what the fall-out is tomorrow.

We are set up by 6:35 EST. We walk to the office and get two rolls of quarters and The Elkhart Truth. Then we take a walk around the campground. The Little Elkhart River, that is stocked with trout, rolls through the campground. There are hiking trails that connect to Bonneville Mill Park down the road. There is a fishing pond and two swimming pools with 340 sites. It's hard to believe they will all be full for Memorial Weekend as no one is here now. It is chilly as we walk around. It's 8:01 p.m. and 51 degrees with 74% humidity and plenty of daylight left in this time zone.