As mentioned in our previous post, we decided to bypass the Indian Meadows Service Plaza for our next overnight stay. Instead we pushed on to Spartan. Needless to say, it was a long day with a drive of close to 300 miles, much further than our usual 200-250 mile driving day.

When we arrived at Spartan around 5:00 p.m., we were quite surprised to see half of the parking lot as well as other nearby fields densely populated with hundreds of Spartan chassis, more than we’ve ever seen during previous visits. We normally scheduled our appointments in the spring or early fall – perhaps the stockpiling of chassis was typical for this time of year.

The next morning we headed to downtown Charlotte to have breakfast at the J. J. Eaton Place Restaurant where we have eaten during previous visits to the area.  There was a short wait but that was to be expected on a Sunday. Although the menu offers a wide variety of breakfast choices, we opted for the standard fare of bacon and eggs, priced at a reasonable amount of $8.99.

At 6:45 a.m. the next morning, Monday, the Spartan tech assigned to our coach, greeted us in the parking lot to review our service plan. Knowing it was going to be a long day, once he drove our coach off to the service bay, we hopped in the car, heading towards Lansing, MI. After stopping for breakfast at Dimitri’s Restaurant where we enjoyed Dimitri’s Classic Favorite breakfast for $9.69, we headed over to Horricks Farm Market.

Although we have been to this market before, the wide variety of offerings available for sale never ceases to amaze us! It’s totally mind boggling! In addition to the usual assortment of fruits and veggies that are found in most grocery stores, there a number of offerings that were totally unknown to me.

Besides the fresh produce, many varieties of cheeses (including the Big Cheese, a 1 year old 4000 pound wheel of cheddar) are available.

Other areas of the market offer beer and wines (buy a draft beer to enjoy while you shop), gourmet popcorn, an oil and vinegar bar, pizza, specialty coffees, meats and so much more! Such a fun place to explore!

After spending a few hours (and a few dollars) there, we returned to Spartan where we spent the rest of the afternoon in the service waiting room. Our coach was returned to us around 4:00 p.m. Good news – they didn’t find any issues during their routine maintenance but then there was bad news. Because Rob wanted to replace the exhaust pipe which had been damaged near the Wayside Inn in 2023, we would need to return to service the next morning. Yawn, yawn, another early morning!

For dinner that evening, we dined on a pizza from Jets Pizza in Charlotte. Delicious!

Up early again the next morning, our tech arrived before 7:00 a.m. to drive our coach back to the service bay. It was another breakfast at Eaton Place followed by another few boring hours in the service waiting area. As promised, our coach was ready shortly after noon.

After paying our ginormous bill, we were on our way to our next stop, Hoosier Casino in Anderson, IN, which offers free overnight RV parking. It was a 194 mile drive after such a late start, we didn’t arrive until 4:45 p.m. Being such a long day, it was a very quiet night!

A three night stay at Cave Country RV Park in Cave City, KY was next on our agenda. We have stayed here several times before but more about that in our next post.