Visiting Indiana Amish Country for RV Repairs

Before we left the Cincinnati area, we wanted to spend a little more time with Kim and Greg. We made plans to join them for Mass on Sunday and spend the day. Unfortunately, we started having some electrical problems late in the day on Saturday. We noticed the microwave went out a couple of times but we still had electricity elsewhere. Tim checked the voltage on that outlet and it was erratic, cycling low then back to normal many times as he tested it. He unplugged the microwave and we thought we would be ok. Sunday morning brought some more problems with the air conditioning and other electrical items stopping unexpectedly. Tim decided he needed to stay and work on the issue so I headed to Cincinnati alone. While I was gone, he contacted the park and they ended up testing the pole. Their 50 Amp connection was bad but the 30 Amp was ok. He switched the RV to 30 Amp until the park could get it fixed. We were happy it wasn’t the RV but bummed that he missed the last day with Kim and Greg. 

Kim, Greg and I started the day by attending 11 AM Mass. It was the first time in over a year that I was in a church. It felt wonderful to participate in Mass in person instead of online. The church was beautiful and is going to be a perfect spot for their wedding next March. I am glad I got to see it. 

The altar at the church is really beautiful.

After Mass, they took me to a brewery for lunch.  It was a huge place with lots of outdoor seating. We enjoyed good salad, pizza and drinks.  They had wine on tap in addition to beer so I opted for that.  For a bonus, a bluegrass band set up and played the entire time we were there.  Highly enjoyable on a warm day.

Kim and Greg at Madtree Brewing Co

The bluegrass band was a pleasant surprise.

I really liked this plant wall at Madtree Brewery Co.

After lunch we headed across the river to Kentucky to see the park and venue for their wedding reception. The hall was closed so I couldn’t see the inside but we were able to walk around the grounds and enjoy the view of Cincinnati. I think the view at night with the city lights will be gorgeous. Hopefully they will have a clear night for their reception. The road up the hill is a little steep and windy so we will be praying for no snow that day either. We finished the day with a stop for a cocktail at a local distillery before we headed back to their home. We all enjoyed our last day together for awhile except for being bummed that Tim wasn’t with us. 

The hall for their wedding reception

The view of Cincinnati from the hall.

Monday, Tim and I hit the road and headed to northern Indiana.  We stopped for the night at a Harvest Host location, the Auburn Cord Dusenberg Automobile Museum.  It was a very hot day with a high of 90 so we were worried about no hookups.  Luckily this museum had 4 spots with 50 Amp hookups so we really lucked out.  There was also one water hookup but it wasn’t too close to the most level site so we didn’t use that.  We enjoyed dinner in town at a brewery recommended by the museum.  The food and beer were excellent.  After a quiet night, we toured the museum before getting back on the road.  I never realized that there were so many automobile manufacturers in Indiana.  The museum was very interesting with the history of the area as well as the automobile industry.  The cars were beautiful as these pictures show.

We arrived in Shipshewana, IN on Tuesday afternoon.  We planned to stop here for a week prior to taking our RV to Amish Family RV Service for repairs and maintenance work.  I am on a Cedar Creek Facebook group and heard many great things about Orvan and the work he and his team do.  Many people buy brand new Cedar Creek Fifth Wheels and take them immediately to Orvan for service.  He has developed “extra’s” that he does to improve and stabilize the slide outs and the suspension.  Every comment and review I saw were extremely positive so we planned to come this way to get some of the work done.  

We took the RV to his shop on Wednesday morning and Orvan did a full walk through with us and inspected everything inside and outside of the RV.  We were there for over 3.5 hours and he was really thorough.  We ended up with a long list of work; some repairs that we absolutely had to do to fix issues like a leak in the bedroom slide and some were for maintenance work to install Orvan’s suggestions. He is very knowledgeable on Cedar Creeks and his suggested maintenance will help to prevent future problems..  We decided to do almost everything that he suggested.  This is our home and we want it in good working order as we travel down the road.  

It was pouring the morning we took the RV in for the evaluation so the pictures didn’t turn out well.

A few of the items we wanted fixed should have been covered by our extended warranty but Orvan no longer works with extended warranty companies.  We decided to see if we could get a claim submitted and do the follow up calls to see if they would approve those items and reimburse us.  What a headache.  We are still waiting for a decision if they will approve our claim.  We had three issues we wanted covered:  the CD player wasn’t working, the kitchen faucet had an issue, and the washer/drier combo was not working properly.  Orvan couldn’t evaluate the washer/drier so we were able to get an appointment on Friday in Elkhart, IN at a Splendide distributor.  They tested it and said the motor and board were bad and recommended replacement instead of repair.  They submitted their evaluation to our warranty company.  Even with that evaluation, we are still awaiting approval from the company.  I guess they plan to send someone out to evaluate it themselves but that hasn’t happened yet and the work will be done by tomorrow.  We will see if they ever reimburse us.

 We stayed at Shipshewana Campground South Park for a week and with so much in an out having the RV evaluated, we didn’t get to spend much time touring Indiana’s Amish country.  We did have some excellent meals at a few of the Amish restaurants in the area.  Everything we tried was fantastic and very filling.  One thing that we wanted to make sure we did while in the area was to tour the Cedar Creek factory. We were able to get a tour on Thursday afternoon. I found it interesting to see how these fifth wheels are made. It is quite an assembly line but a bit crowded and messy. I was surprised how much stuff was on the floors. The finished RVs are impressive though.

Our site at Shipshewana Campground South Park

Even though the campground is at the entrance to the town, we are surrounded by farms and fields with horses and cows. Trent and I enjoyed watching the horses on our morning walks.

The start of the assembly line.

Assembly underway

Almost finished. The last station is inspection. I like the new graphics.

We dropped off the RV on Tuesday 6/1 at Orvan’s shop to get the long list of work done.  While the work is being done, we headed over to Michigan City, IN to enjoy Lake Michigan beaches and sand dunes for a couple of days.  More on that in the next blog post.