Location: Rock Island/Quad Cities KOA, Rock Island, Illinois

Dates: Sept. 13 to 14, 2017

We stopped for the night on the way east in the Rock Island, Illinois KOA. Malcolm forgot to get a picture of the site, but it was a nice long pull-through site with fresh gravel. Easy in and easy out. He did get a picture of a fall leaf on the rear of the truck the next morning.

After getting set up, Malcolm ran over to a nearby Camping World to buy a new LP gas detector. Our other one started going off the other night and we couldn’t get it to turn off. Though it was not out of date, we decided it may be bad (we now think it was going off due to the proximity to the cat’s litter box).

Malcolm tried hooking up the new detector in the same location and it was immediately flashing a red gas detected light (note that we shut off both propane tanks after removing the old detector). We decided that due to our suspicion that the cat box was setting it off that we would install the new one in a different location (actually closer to the gas stove/oven).

Location: Shipshewana Campground South Park, Shipshewana, Indiana

Dates: Sept. 14 to 15, 2017

We headed on our final leg east on the 14th. We had ordered some new underbelly material (coroplast) for the trailer from the trailer manufacturer (Heartland RVs). We paid for it ahead of time and had them hold it for pickup. We stopped in Elkhart, Indiana and picked it up on the way through, tossing it into the trailer for the time being.

The reason we are picking this up is that Malcolm will be replacing the underbelly material under the rear part of the trailer. When we had our hydraulic leak that we fixed last year, the fluid (essentially automatic transmission fluid) was spread all down the underside of the trailer, causing the plastic material to soften and start drooping in places. We thought we would replace the material before the current material possibly gives way and goes flapping down the road behind us.

We drove on over to Shipshewana to stay at the campground there overnight. Since we arrived around 5:00, most all the Amish-run stores were closing for the day. We did drive down to the 5/20 Restaurant and had dinner.

The next morning, on the 15th, we decided to take advantage of the noon check-out time and get our Amish shopping fix in during the morning hours. We first drove over to Rise ‘N’ Roll bakery for some of their tasty donuts as well as a few goodies to take along with us.

The Rise ‘N’ Roll cinnamon-caramel donut (on the right in the picture, below) is probably what they are most famous for. They are indeed very tasty.

After our sugary breakfast, we stopped at the E&S Bulk store and stocked up on a few grocery items. We also dropped by Yoder’s hardware and department stores.

After our shopping extravaganza, we hitched up the trailer and headed south around 11:00. The southbound stops will be detailed in upcoming installments.