RVFEST 2010 is almost over.  Today marks the last day for many of the RVers; consequently, our farewell dinner is planned for this evening.  More about that later.

After breakfast, we opted to visit some shops in Shipshewana that we had not been to before.  The shops were busy with both locals and tourists as Saturday is shopping day for the Amish and Mennonites.  Horses and buggies were everywhere, and most shops have hitching rails, and some, including Walmart, have covered areas in which they can “park”.

Amish strongly dislike having their photos taken, particularly their faces, as they believe it violates the 10th Commandment.  We tried to honor this and were careful to keep our distance when taking photos.  There are many bakeries, general merchandise, and meat and cheese shops.  One of our favorites was E&S Bulk Foods; they had everything imaginable in bulk, and the store was crowded.  The photo above was taken outside in their parking lot.  Interestingly enough and quite surprisingly, the most popular shoe worn by the Amish is Crocs, followed by Flip Flops.  Most of the cooked food available in shops is heavy German or Swiss.  On a humorous note, we passed by a fried pie and ice cream stand run by an Amish family.  A young girl, probably about 10, was eating a fried pie—looked like strawberry and rhubarb—and it was all over her face.  She was thoroughly enjoying it, and providing good advertising.

Our farewell dinner this evening included ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and dinner rolls, and it was quite tasty.

Following dinner, we were “entertained” by the Country Cloggers, who were more like a tap dance group than a clogging group.    They were just OK, and about 30 minutes was plenty, though they performed for an hour.  After the cloggers, ice cream and cake were served, and looked good, but we didn’t partake.


KAY’S TAKE:  I had made a fresh blackberry cobbler for desert and they saved it for the ice cream social.  Our local berries in Mt. Home were coming in before we left, and we got 8 gallons of blueberries and two gallons of blackberries that we put up in our freezer.  We stopped at a bakery on the way back that had lots of samples.  One of the best was a bread loaf that had sausage, bacon, cheese & egg in it also.  They said you sliced it and toasted it or cooked it like french toast.  I think the Amish have been into organic for a long time; their products seem to have much less ‘processing’ than ours do.  They also seem to make many more things from scratch.

Except for breakfast, the morning and midday times were unscheduled for us, and we opted to take advantage of RV factory tours available in the area.  Newmar is considered an upper end RV, and their plant is at Nappanee, IN, just a short drive from Goshen.  Our tour began at 1 PM, but Kay wore open-toed sandals—a no no for manufacturing plants—and had to remain in the waiting room.  I was quite surprised to see that the structural components, walls, ceilings, floors, cabinets, slides, etc., are essentially the same whether it’s one of their starter motorhomes or one of their million dollar models; the differences seem to be in the size of TVs, Corian versus laminate, and grade of furniture.  Also, the plant was clean, and the workers were self-motivated.  Another interesting factoid is that all motorhomes are pre-sold before they begin production, either being bought by a dealer or a customer.
Much to our disappointment, we missed a roundtable discussion of “Favorites” led by Les, the rally master.  We were anxious to hear about other RVer’s favorite trips, campgrounds, rallies, etc.
A pot luck provided our dinner fare tonight, and it was quite good.  Kay made jalapeño chicken, and once again, we had to watch our intake of food; the basic rule is “if it tastes good, don’t eat it.”  We did eat some meat portions and vegetables, but limited our carbs, fat, and sugar.  Following dinner Sentimental Journeys, a local dance band, played hits from the 1920s through the 1960s.  They were so so, but we enjoyed them nevertheless.
KAY’S TAKE:  We signed up to help prepare the coffee, hot water, and decaf coffee for the large group and tonight was our turn to get things ready for the next morning.  We had a 100 cup pot of defcaf to make and set on a timer; two 55 cup pots of regular coffee and one 35 cup pot of regular coffee (only one on a timer), and a 35 cup pot of hot water on a timer.  It takes a lot of volunteers to help pull off a rally of this size.
I have enjoyed the early morning stretch class that John and Margaret have been leading all week.  It feels really good to get the ‘kinks’ out and stretch really good before I start the day.  We’ve been enjoying walking in the evenings when it’s not raining also.  It has gotten warm during the day but there’s usually been a breeze and in the evenings it’s cooled off considerably.  It’s still somewhat light tonight and it’s 9:30 in the evening.