We drastically changed our travel plans for this August. The original plan was to leave St. Clair, Michigan, head to Cheboygan for a Boondockers Welcome stay, take a day trip to Mackinac Island, then wander through the Upper Peninsula before making our way into Wisconsin.
But our 21-year-old Airstream had other ideas.
Its large Zip Dee has been slowly disintegrating—stitches coming apart, fabric weakening—so we contacted Zip Dee Awnings in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, to purchase a replacement. That meant rerouting our trip to swing through Illinois and pick it up.
Hence…Indiana.
We changed our reservations to Twin Mills Campground in Howe, Indiana, part of our Thousand Trails system.
Funny Reservation Story: Twin Mills Campground sits on Twin Lake in northern Indiana. When Carl made the reservation, he accidentally booked Twin Lakes Campground—which is in Chocowinity, North Carolina! A few days before leaving St. Clair, I had one of those intuitive nudges that he needed to double-check. As usual, I was right! Thankfully, a Thousand Trails representative helped him fix the mix-up quickly. Twin Lake>Twin Lakes>Twin Mills…easy to get them confused!
We happened to arrive in Indiana during a very rainy, very humid stretch. That meant many days spent inside our Airstream. I stayed busy with book and website work, while Carl had moments of twiddling his thumbs.
Still, we managed a few outings: a bike ride on a Rails-to-Trails path, a midweek visit to a popular flea market, and a spontaneous kayak trip on Twin Lake when the sun finally broke through.
Side note: This area of Indiana is home to the second-largest Amish community in America, which was a pleasant surprise.
The Pumpkinvine Nature Trail starts in Shipshewana and heads west through Middlebury into Goshen. We decided to ride from Shipshewana to Middlebury—a good halfway point to turn around.
While most people associate horses and buggies with the Amish, bicycles are also very common. Some even pull small carts. We passed many friendly riders along the way. Another surprise: most of the farms we passed had solar panels mounted on their barns.
In Middlebury, we stopped to explore the Krider “World’s Fair” Garden. The Krider family and business had a huge garden display at the 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair, and they recreated it on a much smaller scale (2 acres) in Middlebury as a small park. It features a miniature windmill, koi pond, waterfall, walking paths, and botanical gardens.
Before heading back, we stopped at the Creamery on Main, which houses three eateries: a pretzel shop, an ice cream parlor, and a café. We had lunch at the café, both of us ordering a turkey sandwich. These were not made with thinly sliced cold turkey luncheon meat, but with freshly cooked, hot, juicy, thick-cut turkey. Delicious. Then we decided to get dessert – piping hot peach cobbler for Carl and homemade vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce for me. Way too filling and so good!
We also noticed that the local Dairy Queen is a popular spot for the Amish community. A horse-and-buggy was parked next to a cluster of bicycles in the back corner of the parking lot.
We visited Shipshewana’s flea market on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. It is only open Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and it has the usual mix of booths—tchotchkes, antiques, lawn furniture, clothing, tools, and more.
Our kayak outing happened at a spur of the moment. After days of rain, the sky finally opened, and the sun came through. I was out walking when I decided we needed to go kayaking RIGHT THEN! Since the lake is on the campground property, it was easy to drive over, inflate our kayak, and enjoy the clear, somewhat shallow water. We paddled through tough vegetation and under a low bridge to reach the lake’s “twin,” giving us twice the fun.
As our Indiana stay wrapped up, another Airstream issue resurfaced—an ongoing back-end separation issue that has slowly worsened over the past couple of years. I made a couple of calls out West, thinking we might schedule service after we leave Gary, Minnesota. Meanwhile, Carl asked for referrals in his online forums.
We were lucky to be referred to a place in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, which is literally on our route! They had availability during the exact window we’ll be passing through. After we pick up our new awning from Zip Dee, we’ll drive straight to Reedsburg for the back-end repair—and they may even be able to install our new awning for us. Yippee!
I wouldn’t mind returning to Howe, Indiana, especially if it isn’t as rainy as it has been while we have been here. The area is quiet and beautiful, and the people are friendly. Even with the weather, it turned into a peaceful and memorable stop along the way.
For other recent repairs to our 2005 Airstream Classic, see Airstream Classic—Replacing a 21-Year-Old Water Heater and On the {Bumpy} Road Again!
