A little history...Elkhart Indiana grew into a bustling area for major railroads in the 1800's. The rivers St. Joseph and Elkhart became a major power source thus small industries were lured to Elkhart and today it is now a prominent center for a number of manufacturing plants. They now produce 50% of Americas band instruments. Also pharmaceuticals, fire fighting equipment(yes..fire trucks). The repair shop was right next door to the plant where they manufacture the fire trucks and emergency vehicles. R V's were one of the largest products of Indiana but this area has been very hard hit by the recession and has caused several of the plants to close.
We visited an Amish Restaurant in Middlebury just about 15 miles out from Elkhart. The food was not much different from ours. I don't know what we expected but they eat bacon and eggs also. The difference being that they raise the chickens for the eggs and grow the hogs for the bacon. Almost everything they eat, they grow. Oh, and yes, they eat MUSH....Das Dutchman Essenhaus the restaurant that offers over 30 kind of pies. Lunch and dinner is family style when you eat with everyone at the same table and platters of food are brought out.
The Amish community is very large in Indiana. Most live in and around an area called Shipshewana, Ind. Only about 10 miles out we began to see the black horse drawn buggys and the women and children in them going to do shopping. Some with black bonnets and some with white bonnets. Not to be mistaken, the Amish and the Mennonite story will follow later...it's a story in it's own right.
Glenn and Georgia
- Routes2Remember
- We decided that it was time to see America so we sold our home (in 3 weeks) and bought a new 5th wheel and took to the road. It was hard to leave our grandchildren but with email,texts and cell phones we knew they would survive...and so would we. Almost everything we own is in 3 pods in Texarkana Texas. We plan to travel as much as we can and have met so many great people so far..and who knows...maybe we don't need all of that "stuff" in storage cause we sure don't need it on the RV. A very simple lifestyle and we love it more everyday.
