One day I looked out the motorhome's windshield and saw
a unique motorhome pulling in the KOA where we were staying in  Clarksville,
Indiana. It was John Ratzenberger's "Made In America" motorhome. We love
John's "Made In America" television program that is shown on the Travel
Channel and I was thrilled he would be camping near us. I put on my shoes
and walked to his motorhome only to be disappointed because he was not
in the motorhome - a driver had brought it to the campground to dump the
holding tanks. I figured I didn't need to watch the dumping process so
I snapped a picture and walked back to our motorhome.
Friends and Family Fulltiming friends Kirk and Pam Wood were volunteering at Lee Bottom Flying Field about 40 miles northeast of Louisville, KY and 10 miles south of Madison, IN, along the Ohio River. Their job was mowing the 3000 foot runway and adjacent areas with a tractor. We drove up to visit and found it to be a beautiful and quiet area along the river with a lot of deer. I won't tell about the air field but you can read about it on Kirk's excellent fulltiming website. After a nice visit with Kirk and Pam to drove to Mt. Sterling, KY to visit my son Darren and his wife Martha. We enjoy visiting family and they always treat us to a fabulous meal and this time was no exception. Darren prepared baked pork chops with apple-raisin glaze; southern stewed okra, tomatoes and corn with herbal seasonings; and hot-buttered biscuits with sorghum molasses. For dessert he baked a key-lime cheesecake sprinkled with shaved chocolate. Heck, if we lived near them we would show up for dinner every day. After stuffing ourselves we watched a slide show of their recent seventeen day trip to Colorado. Before leaving Kentucky we helped my father celebrate
his 95th birthday on September 9 that same day we began our seventh year
of traveling fulltiming.
Heading Across Southern Indiana Leaving Louisville, we wanted to stay about a week near New Harmony, Indiana and the only campground there is Harmonite State Park. Their fees for water and 30-amp electric is $31 a day, plus a $5 a day entrance fee. That would be $252 for a week. Indiana State Park's has raised their rates so high RVers can not afford to stay in their campgrounds and while they increased prices, they cut back on maintenance and programs for campers. Linda called Burrell Park Campground, a city park campground in Carmi, Illinois (17 miles west of New Harmony) and their price for full hookup sites including 50-amp is $12 a day or $84 a week. It is amazing Indiana charges $252 week for water, 30-amp and no sewer while Carmi charges $84 a week for water, 50-amp and sewer. The man who answered the phone for Burrell Park Campground said, "We have large rigs in the campground all the time - no problem." From downtown we followed signs with arrows pointing to "Camp" for over two miles as the road narrowed and trees closed in. Once inside the park we realized the nice paved road was only eight feet wide and our motorhome is eight and a half feet wide - not good. Limbs gently brushed the motorhome's roof and we would have turned around if there had been enough room. At two sharp turns we drove completely off the pavement and kept an eye on the rear view mirrors to make sure the rear of the Honda CR-V, sixty feet behind us, did not hit any trees. Finally we entered the campground loop and found a tree
branch about ten feet high blocking the road because our motorhome is twelve
and a half feet tall. No problem, we drove off the road and through a dump
station and back on the road. After one more 90 degree turn we entered
an opening with some large level sites and we selected a site with a concrete
pad, 50-amp electric and full hookups. It was a beautiful park setting
and so quiet were heard nothing but birds and bugs. It was a challenge
driving the motorhome to the campground, but was well worth the effort.
Two days later a park employee stopped to collect our money.
New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony had its beginning in the early nineteenth century and has never had a population of much more than nine hundred people, but it has an interesting history and helped shape our country. An entire book can be written on the southwest Indiana community and its people but I'll try to give a short version. Two separate nineteenth century communal groups sought utopia in the wilderness along the bank of the Wabash River. The first group in 1814 was religious. George Rapp, originally from Germany, had founded a communal group in Pennsylvania called the Harmonie Society. After the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812, Rapp had a vision the second coming of the Christ would occur in that region so he bought 20,000 acres and moved his community there. In the wilderness they laid out a village with homes, mills and dormitories, and planted gardens, fields and orchards. By 1824 more than 150 structures had been built and their cultural amenities rivaled those found in European cities. The community became prosperous and restless which was not good for a spiritual flock, so Father Rapp decided they needed to move back to Pennsylvania. In 1825, Rapp sold the entire town, including the stock on the farm, to Robert Owen, a businessman from Scotland. Owen also had a utopian dream, but his was social and intellectual in nature and not theological. The town was renamed New Harmony and a great experiment began. Everyone was to labor and property was to be owned in common by the 800 new believers. Later in 1825, Owen traveled to his native country and returned with some of the most gifted people of that day including Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, a French naturalist; Madame Marie Duclos Fretageot, a French educator; Gerard Troost, a Dutch geologist; Frances Wright, an early feminist; Thomas Say, a Zoologist and several other prominent people. Their pioneering contributions to education, geology, trade schools and women's suffrage eventually would have national impact. Owen wanted the world to know about his great experiment of communal living and education. He met with president John Quincy Adams and explained his town where women could vote and public education was free for everyone - neither of which existed in America. He planned to remodel the world by abolishing money and private property. He later met with president Andrew Jackson, Queen Victoria of England, Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia and President Santa Anna of Mexico. When Owen returned to New Harmony he found the people very unhappy because of the absence of religious worship, communal care of children and lack of personal property ownership. In 1827 Owen ended his experiment. William Maclure, a geologist, had joined Owen as a financial partner and he convinced other scholars to remain in New Harmony and pursue their interests. Robert Dale Owen, son of founder Robert Owen, was a leading nineteenth century geologist. He headquartered two federal geological surveys and the first official state geological surveys of Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas. He served in the Indiana legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. Owen introduced a bill establishing the Smithsonian Institute and served as Chairman of the Smithsonian Building Committee. He built his home in New Harmony in a likeness of the Smithsonian. William Maclure, a geologist and zoologist and member of the American Philosophical Society, lived in New Harmony and was not only a community leader, he solely kept the intellectual people in New Harmony. Maclure was referred to as the "Father of American Geology." Charles-Alexandre Lesueur taught art and science, wrote dozens of scientific articles, and became the first curator of the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Gerald Troost was the first president of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia before moving to New Harmony. He later moved to Tennessee where he was a professor and the State Geologist. Thomas Say, the father of American entomology, accompanied Maclure on research trips to Florida and Georgia. He taught in New Harmony's schools and wrote more than a hundred scientific articles including major studies of mollusks and insects. Joseph Granville Norwood of New Harmony was a medical doctor and he became the State Geologist for Illinois. Edward Travers Cox worked with geology and chemistry in New Harmony. He, with James Sampson, collected, classified and preserved fossils and other specimens. It is hard to believe New Harmony, nestled in rural southwestern
Indiana, had such an impact on our nation and the town never had a population
much over 900 inhabitants. Many of the buildings from the town's beginning
have been preserved and are open for tours. In addition two new buildings
have been constructed, the Atheneum/Visitors Center and the Roofless Church.
We walked around town and stopped at the Granary, one of the first structures
of New Harmony. A young man, Scott, gave us a great tour and not only explained
the building, he told us the history of the town and its people. In 1811-1812,
three earthquakes struck the area and they are the strongest earthquakes
to ever hit the lower 48 states to date. In front of the Granary and buried
sixty feet in limestone under a millstone is a seismograph with the monitoring
computer inside the building. The Granary has been restored and today is
used for weddings, dinners, meetings and concerts.
We've probably told you more than you want to know about
New Harmony, but as we studied its history the town seemed to grow on us.
Every house is detailed and painted to perfection, flowers and beautiful
trees abound, no weeds can be found and small parks are everywhere. The
people are friendly and lunch at Main Cafe cost us $5.20, plus tip. That
was $5.20 for both of us - unbelievable.
Escapade (An Escapade is a RV rally put on by the Escapees RV Club. RVers from all over the US and Canada arrive to attend the seminars, enjoy nightly entertainment, hope to win prizes, and chill out with friends. Escapees are some of the friendliest and most helpful people we have ever met.) Before leaving Carmi for the Escapade we spent one and a half days washing the motorhome including the roof and wheels along with the interior and exterior of the Honda CR-V. Big mistake!!! After devastating parts of Louisiana and Texas, Hurricane Rita headed north and dumped rain on southern Illinois. It started raining on us before we reached Du Quoin, Illinois, the site of the Escapade at the Illinois State Fair grounds. We had signed up to camp in the boondocking area where generator usage is not allowed, but with pouring rain and dark skies we changed to the generator parking area. We were directed to park inside a harness practice race track and it sure looked muddy. Some how we slipped, slid and spun our way across the field and finally parked. The rain continued to fall and the ground turned into a mud field that became nearly impossible to navigate by either vehicle or foot. I won't go into details, but if you want more information read my short story named The Swamp. The seminars were good but are mostly for beginning RVers and since we're in our seventh year of fulltiming we already know it all. (Yeah, wish we did know it all.) Some of the nightly entertainment was excellent and some was just OK. But our reason for attending was to be with friends and we spent time with old friends Stan and Betty Bober, Doug and Ann Craw, Steve and Nancy Gardner and Phyllis Davis. We also met many other old friends and made many new friends. Only 755 rigs and 1,511 people attended the Escapade,
a number much lower than expected. It is believed Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita kept many people home and the higher fuel cost scared other people
away. During the Escapade over $15,000 in prizes were given away.
Winning a Prize I had never won a prize at a rally and Escapees gives more prizes than anyone. Each night they call 40-50 names and give prizes like a free week in a campground or a $25 Wal*Mart gift certificate. Then the people sitting on each side and in front and behind the winner gets "side prizes" like holding tank chemicals or baseball type caps. I have never won a prime prize or a side prize and I have never won a prize at Newmar rallies or any other rally. Well, I won a prize and I'm embarrassed to tell how I won, but here is the story. Escapees has a lot of chapters, many RV parks and BOFs. BOFs are Birds Of a Feather where people of like interests form a club such as computers, genealogy, Habitat for Humanity, Elks, etc. Each of those chapters, parks and BOFs set up promotional displays in an area called The Row. Each attendee was given a sheet needing six punches and to get a punch we had to visit each site and talk to that group, sign their register and ask if they had a punch. If they had a punch they would punch our sheet and if they didn't have a punch they would say sorry. It took a long time but we visited all the sites and got our six punches. At the end of the row our long time friends Stan and Betty Bober were hosting the newest chapter - Indiana Chapter #51. They collected the sheets people turned in. Linda and I deposited our sheets in their box and then stood around talking. The man who headed The Row and contest, Denny Orr, stopped by to chat and asked Linda to draw three entries to be announced at the nightly prize give-a-way. Well, Linda drew my name and they announced it that night. So friends, the Bobers, handled the contest box and Linda drew my name so that is how I won. (Inside job???) The next morning I picked up my prize and it was a bag
full of items - a bottle of wine in a wine holder, a gallon tub of Gold
Fish crackers, a knife set (medium size knife and six steak knives), and
a Cajun Cooking apron. The apron comes at a good time because I recently
ordered three Cajun cookbooks. The first week of November we'll be at Betty's
RV Park in Cajun country (Abbeville, Louisiana) and I promised Betty I'll
do Cajun cooking to be served on her back porch. Now I can wear an appropriate
apron.
Next Month Next month we'll travel to the Newmar plant in Nappanee, Indiana to get some items on the motorhome repaired under warranty. After a short stop in Louisville we'll visit Casey Jones (the train engineer of old) in Jackson, Tennessee before slowly traveling south to Louisiana. |
