Thursday, June 29, 2017, Elkhart, IN
Day 49

This area of Indiana has many manufacturing plants. The downside to that is the trains. We had the worst night sleep ever. I counted at least 12 trains between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m.  Why they need to blast their whistle in such a rural area at those hours is beyond me.  I can’t imagine how the locals tolerate it--they must have heavy duty ear plugs. Anyway, the reason for us being here is the 10:00 a.m. tour of the Newmar factory, the last tour until July 10th. We did the factory tour with headsets but it was still difficult to hear the guide who seemed to already have checked out for vacation. Some of the process did not seem as automated as I expected. After the tour we headed to Elkhart, the motorhome capital of the country, and checked into the Elkhart Campground for 3 days.  We visited the Havilah Beardsley House.  Built in 1848 by the “father” of Elkhart. Havilah was a physician and entrepreneur who acquired a large tract of land at the junction of the St. Joseph and Elkhart Rivers form Indian Chief, Pierre Moran, in 1831 for $1,500.  The land is now much of what is downtown Elkhart. We had our own personal tour guide who was very enthusiastic. After the tour, we drove around to view a few more quilt gardens.