The Goshen Rally---Day 13

Today was the final day of the rally. Most of the coaches will start pulling out tomorrow morning. This has been a good rally even though it did rain some while we were here. Of course it would not be a Monaco America Rally without some rain. In addition to the many seminars, the great vendors that sell all the neat stuff to add to our coaches, and the visiting with old and new friends we got to eat, a lot. A very popular restaurant in the area, Das Dutchman Essenhaus, was the caterer for this event and they did an outstanding job. Essenhaus served breakfast all three mornings and dinner on Tuesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday we divided up into two groups and drove out to a couple of the local Amish peoples houses for dinner. Most of the Amish in this area have some type of cottage industry to augment their income. Many of the Amish worked in the many travel trailer plants scattered around the area. (Elkhart, Indiana, is/was considered the RV capital of the nation. With the downturn in the RV industry most of these folks have lost their jobs. Elkhart County now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.) We went to Steve and Elaine Jones house in Topeka, Indiana. Joanne and I were there when we had our rally in Goshen three years ago and felt it was one of the best meals we had ever had. Last night was just as good as we remembered.

We have also experienced good entertainment since we've been here. On Tuesday night we had a DJ playing music from the 50's and 60'. (You know, our music.) On Wednesday, after returning from the Amish homes we played old episodes of The Tonight Show starring Johnnie Carson. Tonight we were entertained by The Jazz Assemblage, a group of 19 that played the big band sounds of the 1940's. Here's Jo and Vicki listening to the music.

Tomorrow I have to take the coach over to Elkhart to a shop to get some work done on our windshield. They said it should take one to four hours. After that I'll return here to Goshen for the night and then we'll pull out Saturday morning heading back to Oklahoma.