Elkhart 4-H Fairgrounds, Goshen, IN and Dune Lake Campground, Michigan; July 8 – 21, 2014

It was so good to be back in our own “home”! We drove straight to Forest River, picked up the RV and straight back to the Fairgrounds. In the two weeks we were gone, a lot had been going on there. Flowers all over, fresh paint on stables, and lots of folks doing clean-up and training for working the upcoming 4-H fair. It would have been fun to go, but we just wanted to get on with our trip, so spent several days there getting everything unpacked and back in place. The good thing was, as we unpacked, we set aside several boxes of things that we will be leaving at the house when we return to Gainesville.

We drove up to Elkhart and stayed overnight at a place then, then headed up to Michigan for the rest of the summer. Our first stop was Dune Lake, where we had camped in 2012. The last time we were here, th owners were enthusiastic and said they were working on getting the place into good condition. To be fair, there were some identifiable upgrades: they had a new home on the property and they did a nice job on the miniature golf course. As for the restrooms (Rich had a rat come in under the closed door in the men's room and I'd had a snake come in under the closed door while I was showering in 2012), nothing had changed other than the inside was freshly painted. Still plenty of room under the door for uninvited guests. To make matters worse, they have instituted a $3 per night fee for dogs. Rich asked why and was told it was for dog owners who didn't clean up after their pets. I wanted to ask if that meant we didn't have to clean up after ours... It might not have rankled so much if the campground hadn't still been poorly maintained. The water connection for our spot also served three other sites, one of which had to have the water hose run beneath our RV in order to get to theirs. Some of the sites were so difficult to access that it was necessry to drive through other sites to reach them. Like the Elkhart Fairgrounds, there wasn't one level square foot in the entire place. It served our purposes, however, we were very glad to depart and doubt that we will return. They have made it to our “Last Resort” list :)

Getting ready for a show at the 4-H gounds

Lots of gorgeous flowers bursting into bloom

A common sight in this area

Notice the lack of electric lines? A typically well-kept up Amish farm

Two donkeys in a field

The 4-H grounds - a little muddy

One of the 4-H buildings

More 4-H grounds