2015 Summer Vacation Road Trip July 11 thru July 24

JULY 11

Today is my birthday! In honor of my birthday we are going to ride the "Tour des Lakes"

And do the 100k plus 2 to meet my 65 years. This tour will take us around at least 10 lakes in the

Counties. There are a ton of small lakes up here. They are filled with cottages and big beautiful homes.

We have talked Susan into riding a little bit with us. 

Susan just riding along looking pretty relaxed.

First rest stop and we talk one of the volunteers into taking our photo.

And here the volunteer, Doc! From what I have heard he is an icon in the community.

 In just a short time. I could see how he got that icon image.

All along these lakes are these lovely tree covered roads. It hasn't gotten warm yet, 

so in the shade It is almost chilly.

This barn qualifies for the daily barn shot. A lot going on in this barn. There are cows, horses,

Chickens and ducks everywhere.

The historical marker will let you know what this old stern wheeler is all about.

These banners let you know there was a rest stop near by. I could not get this lovely lady to

Smile for me.

The arrows were used to mark the routes. We were on the yellow route. 

What a cool work station for bikes that was on the bike path we were about to follow.

This part of the path went over a marsh land Mathis area there were lots of people walking and riding.

Riding by this guy using a chain saw on this tree, we had to go back and find out what he was up to.

He told us a few years ago most of the tree fell. It left this portion with all kinds of limbs sticking out.

So he cut a face into it and the limbs became her crazy hair. In the spring the vines from the base of the tree would grow up and over the limbs. Now the limbs have all fallen off. So he is in the process

Of creating hair and some ears for her.

Going out into the countryside we ride by acres and acres of soy bean.

They rotate their crops so corn is the other crop that we ride by. At the end of the day we had some lunch and headed back to the trailer to rest a clean up.  What a beautiful ride.

At the Oak Point hotel and restaurant for a birthday dinner with Susan, Tim, Shari and Pat.

Here we are celebrating with a birthday hug.

Tim is running around taking photos while the waitress only has Shari's attention

JULY 12

It rained really hard last night we went to the lake house to see more family. Diana's side of the family 

Have missed the last 2 Christmas's together. She came up with the idea to have Christmas in July.

She decorated in and around the lake house with Christmas decorations. they had a lot of fun.

JULY 13

I have mentioned that we had been having issues with our trailer. Welł before we left on this trip I had researched a trailer and we wanted to take a look at it. Last week we were able to go to the manufacturer in Middlebury to see it for real. We were so impressed and we found one in Lansing Mi.

That we committed to. With that said we drove up to see it. It was a gloomy day. The rain was all around us. It only rained when we got to the dealership and only for a bit. The trailer met our expectations. It is called an Alpha Gold. Instead of a garage like our toy hauler trailer it has a side pull

Out storage. Really neat. We will pick it up Friday the 24th.

 JULY 14

It has been raining an awful lot here. The wate back behind our trailer is not a pond. It's campsites

That are underwater. It has only been raining at night so during the day it's been great to get around.

We are about ready to ride into Nappanee and check things out.

Lovely barn.

The Amish have gotten very creative over the years that I have coming up to this area.

This trailer has all kinds of lawn equipment in it.

Horses area big part of the workforce on the Amish farms

In Nappanee the citizens chipped in to build this great playground for kids. We noticed 

Jim's sister Shari and her husband Pat contributed to it as well. This made us smile, we didn't know they had some that.

This gravel road brought back memories of our ride across the states. When we got into Wisconsin

We rode on several gravel roads. They were fun!

We found Phil Hahn in his office. Phil was one of Jim's buddies growing up in Nappanee.

It's always fun to listen to their stories and watch them with each other. Images me smile.

We went by the North Union cemetery to say Hi to Jim's Mom and Dad. They are special people.

We miss them and not a day goes by that they don't enter our thoughts and lives.

Everyday the skies have been beautiful and the corn is growing so fast. They have a saying here.

Knee high by July. This corn is growing like crazy because of all the rain.

Barn alert!

Could not resist a photo of the Nappanee city limit sign.

This farm was established in 1913. 

July15th July 16th

This morning Doogie is snoozing with his Dad. Also if he decides to make a move the Doogster 

Will not miss a thing.

Later out a Shari and Pat's home we took a spin on their pontoon boat.

JULY 17

Early morning ride the barn for the day with the addition of dairy cows shows up.

These bike riders are an Amish couple. They are in the habit now of wearing the reflective vest.

The Nappanee Bicycle shop is owned by our new friend Daniel Mast.

As we rode up to this corner there goes this pony cart with a young girl and her little brother. While

Her older brother rides bare back on a young horse.

We went to Mike and  Di's lake cottage for dinner. A really pleasant evening.

As we were driving home this spectacular sky began to develop. I had made a comment that those storms we probably about a hundred miles away. Later that evening on the news sue enough they we about 80 miles north of us.

Diggity and  Doogie riding shotgun. We have gotten use to driving 20 to 30 miles when we head 

out to see family.

JULY 18

It rain really hard last night. The ground is pretty squishy. On our walk this morning Doogie has his first encounter with a crawdad. The little crawdad was pretty fierce. After a few attempts and a pinch on the nose, Doogie decided it wasn't worth it. 

There is an extensive bike route in the area. We keep coming up on different parts of it as we wander 

Down all these country roads.

We are really enjoying the beautiful fields of green. The soy fields are tall and thick. 

Growing according to plan.

Another gravel road. This one is pretty smooth riding. Much like our fresh chip seal roads with

Not as harsh vibration

JULY 18

Today we ride out to Shari and Pat's place on Lake Wawasee. We are going to use the bike route to get there. These are the horses used for plowing and pulling heavy loads. Very strong horses.

The horses seem to be very friendly and curious. When they see us ride by they will often come up to the fence. Maybe hoping for a pat on the nose.

The farms here are really pretty. Everything seems to have it's place.

On our way back to the campsite we have a headwind. Proves to make for a longer ride, time wise.

We passed this fellow riding his horse. I told Jim it reminded me of his stories of him and his horse

Fury.

JULY 20

We had some issues with the trailer again. Fortunately we were able to get it taken care of.

We thought we were going to have to cancel a dinner with Phil and his wife and other friends Deb and "Smitty" We were so glad things worked out. Above is Phil and his wife Karen.

This is Deb and Jim's other great friend "Smitty" or otherwise known as John Smith.

They have been a couple since high school and have been married for 48 years! Wow!

Phil and Karen live on a farm that he bought back that was first established by relatives in the 

1800"s. Across the street is the Nappanee golf course. Makes for incredible sunsets 

Almost every evening.

It is special to spend time with friends of Jim that he has known most of his life. That's priceless.

JULY 22

We got the maps together and decided to follow one the that the Pumpkin Ridge cyclery gave us.

It's a beautiful day to ride . No clouds, no humidity, and pleasant temperature. Ready to rock and roll.

Oh boy, gravel road! Brings back memories of our ride across the country. What's even more 

Memorable, Jim is wearing the jersey for the ride across. The dates are on the back for our rest days.

On July 22nd 2013 we spent our rest day in Miles City Montana. This became one of Jim and my's

Favorite rest days. There is a great Meuseum there. Definitely recommend stopping by there if you

Happen by Miles City.

This route has a few lakes. The first we rode buy zwas Aldrich Lake.  

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Lakes are good for tree covered lanes. 

The road eventually took us by Klinger Lake. A pretty good size lake with many lovely homes 

Around it.

Lots and lots of flowers along the roads and flowerbeds

The message on the  top of the silo says "God Save America"  

We had to stop for this piece of farm equipment. It was a little too big for us to ignore.

Very Star Wars looking. I guess it was gonna harvest something.

We passed this farm and found this African Eland.

There were buffalo as well with baby buffalo as well

There lots of ponys in this area. We Acually have seen many of them pulling carts.

They are so cute.

We could not quite figure out what this farmer was doing he had a horse pulling his cart that had an engine running pulling what appeared to be a lawn mower.

This is part of the pumpkin vine trail. It connects many of the ssmall towns. Starting in Shipshewana,

Middlebury and Goshen a 16 miLe trail.

In Middlebury we found the 41 Degree North Bar/ Restaurant.the name comes from Middlebury is on

The 41 Degree latitude and 41 Degrees is how beer should be served.

This is "Lo"she was our waitress,/bartender. She and her sweetie manage the bar.

Another barn for the day. An Octaginal one. I could not resist the Brown Swiss Dairy.

JULY 23

this little ice cream stand is on the corner next to our campsite. In the evening there is a constant 

Flow of people. Tonight there were several horse and buggys parked... Everyone getting ice cream.

It think a a cup of ice cream makes a pretty good hood ornament.

Tomorrow we head to Milwaukee Wi. We are picking up Chris Kegel and his sweetie Mary.

We are headed out to see John and Nance. We met them on our ride across country.

We are excited to see them.