Our appointment at S & S Automotive Repair in Wakarusa, IN, to hopefully complete the repairs of the damage done by the FedEx truck backing into us, wasn’t until Monday, October 10th, so we had some time to kill after our visit to Spartan. Instead of staying in a campground near Wakarusa or in their parking lot, on Saturday, October 8th we stayed overnight in the parking lot at Entegra where we were close to some shopping that we wanted to get done. Entegra has about 20 sites for the service facility with 50A electric. Of course we asked for, and were granted, permission for our stay since we weren’t there for service. But being a Saturday, the shop was closed so there were likely to be some free sites.

Once set up, we were off to Shipshewana where we could visit a few of our favorite places – Yoder Popcorn for some Tiny Tender White microwave popcorn and some white cheddar seasoning, and Yoder’s Meat and Cheese so we could buy some Wagu burger patties. We bought packages of two 1/2 lb burgers and four 1/3 lb. Burgers.

On Sunday, October 9th, we headed to S & S to drop off the coach for our appointment on October 10th. Then we proceeded to pack up half the coach with all of our stuff (and Sparky), checking into Candlewood Suites, a pet friendly hotel, in Elkhart. We have learned over the years it is much easier on Sparky, as well as Mom & Dad, to rent a hotel room during long term service events. It’s not cheap, but it sure makes life easier.

Although our room at the Candelwood (108) had apparently been fairly recently remodeled and looked nice, it left a lot to be desired in regard to creature comforts. Sparky was probably the most comfortable creature as he had an entire queen bed to hang out on, but not so great for the other two creatures (us). There was no table we could both eat at, only one chair, no night light of any sort, only one nightstand and reading light, a tiny TV, finicky HVAC, and several other annoyances.

I guess being a studio, it is set up only for one occupant – At mealtime one of us got the desk, the other had to use the awkward recliner or sit on the bed. The woman at the desk told us to check if we had silverware, pots and pans, etc. because they have a problem with people stealing stuff. We were missing a fork (only two of each type of utensil are provided) and a big glass. When we went back to the desk, she gave us another fork but said they didn’t have any glasses and that they needed to order them. Really??

And it continued! The garbage disposal didn’t work. Fortunately my handy dandy super duper hubby fixed it (the breaker had tripped) and the peep hole was missing from the door so anyone could look in. We ended up going to the coach and bringing our portable folding table and one of our outdoor chairs so that made it a bit more functional. With the RV Service rate, our daily cost was $65.99, which was a decent price for the market, it just seemed like a lot for such an uncomfortable room.

We stayed at the hotel from October 9th through October 19th. Unfortunately for us, nearby Notre Dame was having a home college football game on the 15th. Now you wouldn’t think that was a big deal, and it wasn’t  until we realized that the room rate tripled to $189.99 for two nights on that weekend! Yikes, same crummy room at triple the price! What a rip off!

On Monday morning, the 10th, we drove the Jeep to S & S arriving around 7am. We met with the owner, Mark, to review and finalize the repairs that needed to be done. Afterwards we went to Callahans Restaurant for breakfast, our favorite order “2 eggs and get 4″ restaurant. Callahans is definitely in our top 10 of best breakfast places.

During our stay at Entegra a few days back, our neighbors next door, Bruce and Mary, had mentioned doing an audio driving tour of the Heritage Trail. So we stopped in at the Visitor Center in Elkhart (within walking distance of the Candlewood Suites) to pick up a map and a USB drive with an audio tour (they also have it available on a CD).

Having visited this area numerous times since buying our first RV in 2013, it’s surprising we had never done the driving tour! Before heading out on the tour, since it was a beautiful day, we first drove down to the Riverwalk to take a walk.

Besides sightseeing, during our stay we stopped at Lambright’s Comfort Chairs which is where we bought new recliners to upgrade our coach in 2018. We wanted to check out their swivel dinette chairs ($395). After five years of use, our factory chairs had become pretty uncomfortable.. There were a few sample floor model swivel chairs and we were impressed with the heft and quality construction. Only the seat top swivels (not the back) so they are great for confined spaces. The owner told us that if we ordered new chairs that exactly matched our recliner ultraleather fabric, it would take about 17 weeks. An alternative would be for us to buy the floor samples. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any in the color “putty” which would match our existing furniture exactly, but they did have a couple in a color that was very close and we decided to go with those. Our old dinette chairs were donated to local families. Love the new chairs! As it turns out the match is close enough to not even be noticeable.

With all our shopping out of the way, we could now focus on enjoying the Heritage Trail. More about that in our next post!