Shipshewana, Indiana

We arrived at Shipshewana Campground Southpark on Monday, September 9th for a 13 day stay.

Site #21

Two days after our arrival we took a five-day side trip in our Ranger to see family in Baltimore.

Shipshewana is a small Amish town of about 700.  Horses, buggies, and lots of other non-motorized vehicles are everywhere.

And of course, the famous Amish restaurants are delicious.

RV HALL OF FAME MUSEUM

Elkhart, Indiana, is the RV capitol of the world. We spent some time at the RV Museum and Hall of Fame. It was interesting to see RVs as old as 1913 as well as current RV concept vehicles.

There is over 100,000 square feet of display floor. Walking through the door of this modern museum, you begin at the oldest and progress through the evolution to the present.

The 1913 "Earl" Travel Trailer is the oldest RV in the world. It was custom made by a Los Angelos carriage maker.

1928 Pierce Arrow Fleet Housecar.

1984 Blue Bird Wanderlodge

This motorhome was built in 1988 using a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Chassis and a 1976 Olds Toronado 455 cubic inch engine. It was designed and built to fit in a standard residential garage door.

Most of the units were open to see all the old paneling and fixtures.

STUDEBAKER NATIONAL MUSEUM

The Studebaker Museum is in South Bend, Indiana, and is adjacent to the South Bend History Museum. We bought a combo pass to visit both of them.

This beautiful 1950 Champion Coupe marks the entrance to the Studebaker Museum.

The Studebaker family began as carriage builders. This 1857 Studebaker Phaeton is the oldest surviving Studebaker vehicle.

On April 14, 1865, President and Mrs. Lincoln took this Studebaker carriage to Ford's Theater to watch their final play.

This odd-looking vehicle is called "Peg", the 1909 Backward-Forward Car. This electric car was used to ferry congressmen between the senate offices and the Capitol via a tunnel. There was no room to turn a vehicle around, so "Peg" was manufactured by Studebaker to be bidirectional.

Studebaker built electric vehicles between 1902 and 1912. This 1911 Electric Coupe was priced at $1850 with a top speed of 21 miles per hour. The battery weighed 970 pounds and required recharging every 70 miles.

Studebaker started making gasoline powered vehicles in 1904. This 1904 Studebaker Model C is the oldest surviving gasoline powered Studebaker.  Its original cost was $1600.

1917 Army Ambulance

Studebaker manufactured war materials in both World Wars as well as the Civil War.

OLIVER MANSION

On January 1, 1897, 19th century industrialist J.D. Oliver, his wife, Anna, and their four children moved into their new house at 808 West Washington Street in South Bend. The family called their home Copshaholm, after the ancient name of the Scottish village where J.D.’s father, James, was born. 

The Studebaker and History Museums were built on the estate property of J.D. Oliver's 38-room mansion. The Olivers made their fortune in the agricultural business. J.D. Oliver was president of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works, located in South Bend, Indiana. The company was founded by J.D.’s father, James, inventor of the chilled plow.

The Copshaholm Carriage House

The Dining Room is one of the more formal rooms in the Oliver Mansion.

Parlor

We toured all three floors of this elegant home.

Milford, Michigan

Our last stop in Michigan was Camp Dearborn, in Milford, about 40 miles northwest of Detroit. This is very close to where we both grew up and near the home of Virginia's sister and brother-in-law.

We had FHU site #100.

While in the area, we made a stop at Ray and Marge's home in Oakwood Cemetery and did a little cleaning up around their stone bench.

The four of us went to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation for a day trip. This is a top-rated museum that none of us had visited in over 40 years. 

In the Agricultural Section, we spotted this 1952 Ford Model 8N Tractor, just like the one Kurt used as a teen working at Uncle Walter's house.

Stationary Steam Engine built in 1855

This is one of 50 Chrysler gas turbine cars, made in 1963.

In the summer of 1963 Virginia and Cathy's father, who worked for Chrysler, was asked to drive one of these experimental cars from Detroit to Somerset, Pennsylvania. We made it a family vacation. Raymond, the youngest, was assigned the center rear seat on top of the turbine. Heads turned as we drove down the road. It was quite a memorable ride.

This is a replica of an 1831 "DeWitt Clinton" Steam Locomotive. The train has unusual passenger cars which are actually stagecoaches on train wheels.

President Abraham Lincoln was sitting in this rocking chair during a production of the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, when he was assassinated on April 14, 1865.

This is the bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. The bus was once in ruins and sat in a rusted storage shed before The Henry Ford Museum acquired it in 2001. 

Grand Haven, Michigan

We spent nine nights around the Labor Day holiday at East Point RV Resort in Grand Haven. We were parked right on the Grand River, four miles from the mouth that flows into Lake Michigan. Our campsite backed up to the river, so we enjoyed watching the swans, cormorants, herons, and seagulls and during the holiday weekend the boats.

Site #126

GERALD R. FORD PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

Gerald Ford was the 38th president of the United States. His presidential museum is in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His Presidential Library is located on the University of Michigan Campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

The Museum was very professional and quite interesting. It covers his early life and proceeds through his time as a Boy Scout, star of the high school football team and U of M Wolverines, his service in the Navy during WWII, law practice, U.S. Congressman and finally being appointed Vice President and soon after President.

The auditorium is on the first level. The exhibits are on the second level.

The Oval Office as it appeared during Ford's administration.

Gerald and Betty Ford are interred outside the Museum and along the shore of Grand River.

USS LST 393 - MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN

Of the 1,051 LST (Landing Ship Tank) built for WWII, this one and only one other remains. The ship is now open for self-guided tours during the summer.

The LST 393 earned three battle stars during WWII for the invasion of Sicily, Italy and Omaha Beach on D-Day. She has been fully restored.

These 24-foot bow doors were a unique feature of LSTs. During WWII as LSTs landed on a hostile shore, these doors opened, the ramp came down and tanks and support vehicles roared out.

The tank deck, now used for war memorabilia, held 28 Sherman battle tanks and a huge variety of combat machines and up to 385 troops.

Navigating Bridge Deck

Smaller vehicles and equipment were transported on the top deck and lowered to the main deck via an elevator for unloading.

DE KLOMP WOODEN SHOE & DELFTWARE FACTORY - HOLLAND, MICHIGAN

Holland was founded by Dutch Americans and is in an area that still has a large percentage of citizens of Dutch American heritage. Holland, Michigan, is about ten miles south of Grand Haven. The famous annual Tulip Festival is in Mid-April.

We stopped at the De Klomp Wooden Shoe Factory where the shoes are hand made from blocks of wood. Kurt tried some on. They seemed to run big. Hard to believe that people still wear these.

Delftware is formed here from clay imported from the Netherlands. After the first firing in a kiln, it is hand painted, fired again, then glazed and fired a final time.

There was traditional blue Delftware as well as Poly.

WINDMILL ISLAND GARDENS - HOLLAND, MICHIGAN

The Windmill Island Gardens is a 36-acre park highlighting the history of Holland's Dutch Heritage.

Inside the "Little Netherlands Village" was a miniature Dutch Village diorama.  At the end of the row of Dutch houses was a vintage working carousel with hand painted animals. 

The tulips were all done for the season, but other flowers put on a showy appearance.

Typical Dutch draw bridge over a canal with a working windmill.

The "De Zwaan" (the Swan) was open for self-guided tours.

The working Dutch windmill from the Netherlands was disassembled into over 7,000 pieces and moved to this site in 1964 under the supervision of a Dutch Millwright.

We climbed the five stories to the top of the mill for an overlook of the gardens.

The Windmill, the centerpiece of the gardens, is 125-feet high with 80-foot moving blades and massive grindstones.

Virginia tried on this wooden shoe, but it was way too big.

This Four Columns player organ was built in 1928 by Carl Frei. The 69-metal key organ was given to the City of Holland in 1947 by the City of Amsterdam in gratitude for the roll of the United State in liberating The Netherlands in WWII. We enjoyed listening to it play twice each hour.

TRI-CITIES HISTORICAL MUSEUM - GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN

This museum is small but very well done. 

The museum began with displays of the Native Americans, Odawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomie, who first settled this area. 

It proceeded through the fur traders and pioneers. Four rooms of a typical Victorian era home were displayed. After touring the museum, we took the riverfront boardwalk out to Lake Michigan to watch the four foot waves on this windy but sunny summer afternoon.