June 28, 2015 - Bremen, IN to Indianapolis, IN

Finally! A lovely morning to wake up to.  Edith was busy making copies of wedding pictures from one memory card to another, so she can give it to Eric and Lori before we leave for Indianpolis. They had planned on stopping by to visit with us this morning to take a look at our Lil' Home (LH).

While waiting for Eric and Lori we were entertained by a momma bird feeding her baby on the picnic table that was right by our LH. It lasted for about 10 minutes.  

Later on in the morning Eric texted that he and Lori could not come because they realized that they need to leave early to drop their daughter off at a camp and it would take much longer than they thought.

Because it rained the other day we did not know there was a water puddle on one of the slideout awnings. We could not figure out why the slideout would not close properly.  Erwin had to get up on the roof, found there was a water puddle sitting in the middle of the awning.  He had to clear the water out.  We finally got the awning closed.  We were worried a bit because we thought it might be the problem with the mechanism.  Now we know what to do next time it rains.  A cordless air blower will do the trick - it is on our shopping list ;-)

We finally left the campground around noontime, got on State Route (SR) 6, then SR 19 South.

Pla-Mor Campground in Bremen, IN

SR19 South road was very rough and rocky. We could see the worn path caused by the horse shoes from the Amish horses.  We got on ST 30, then IN 15 South to go to Warsaw, IN.

See the water puddle (lake!) on the field on the left side
Farmers will not be too happy about that :-(

We did not prepare breakfast while staying at the campground this morning, so we stopped at Omega's Family Restaurant for late breakfast.  It is a popular dining place in this area (IN 15 & IN 114). Erwin had country fried steak with hash browns and fried egg and Edith had crepes with blackberries and whipped cream.  

After breakfast we continued driving on IN 15 until we got to US 35 South to go to Gas City, IN. It was a last minute decision to check out Gas City.  

All street signs in Gas City, IN are on mini oil derricks

Garfield statue near the community center
What is the significance of it?
No idea!

Gas City, IN water tower

From Gas City we went on I-65 South, then exited at #222 to get on 36 West/67 South to go to Fortville, IN.  There is one attraction that Edith wanted to see and get a picture of a a pink elephant drinking martini.  It stands in front of Elite Beverages, next to Dairy Queen.

In Lawrence, IN we got fuel fill-up at Murphy USA ($2.51 g for diesel)

In Indianapolis, IN we went to Speedco on South Harding Street to see if they can do oil change on our LH.  We were there around 6 pm and were surprised the shop was still open. We had planned on boondocking by the shop and go in the next morning.  But the store did not close until 8 pm they were able to take our LH in right away.  The mechanics had a puzzling time trying to figure out where the oil filters were (there are two of them), but managed to get things done. The service was quick and prompt and it took about an hour.  The air filter needed to be replaced, but because they do not stock what we needed they cannot order the part for us.  While they were under the LH chassis draining the oil they noticed that the bolt on the stabilizer bar on driver’s side was broken.  They suggested us to go to Camping World to see if they can fix it.  After the bill was paid for we decided to go to Greenwood Super Walmart on N. Emerson St. for overnight parking.

LH getting ready to go in the bay

In the bay for service

The mechanics brainstorming to figure
out what to do

Access panel to get to the air filter

The manager checking for part # on the air filter

Checking oil level

Imagine the look on our faces when we drove into Walmart parking lot and there were “No Overnight Parking for Trucks” signs posted everywhere.  Since our LH is not a truck we thought it does not apply to us and we could stay overnight.  Erwin did not feel right about it and decided to go in the store to check with the manager.  “No, you are not allowed to park here” were the words Erwin did not want to hear.  Feeling dejected he walked back to the LH.  However, we stayed a while to fix supper because it was past 7:30 and we were really hungry.

After supper we left and went to Camping World. There was one vacant camping spot left so we dry camped for the night.

We were already very tired from the stress and anxiety and were already for bed around 8 pm.  Luckily for us, the weather was pleasant and we did not need to turn the air conditioning on. It was a very comfortable night.