Elkhardt Indiana and Detroit for Motown

8/27/15 – Elkhart, Indiana and Detroit, Michigan

We left Maria’s on the 23^rd and drove to Elkhart, Indiana.  Had a torrential rainstorm when we arrived and water leaked into the TV cabinet in the living room.  No electronic damage – just 2 of my recipe books in the cabinet.  Tom went up on the roof and found that we had lost both vent caps on the roof (probably when we were driving through Chicago neighborhoods looking for a propane station).  He made a temporary fix to the vents and we went on.

Tom, Mom, and I went to the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart (RV is for Recreation Vehicle/MH is for Manufactured Housing).  They had a 1913 RV in the front, the oldest RV ever found; and a 1931 Chevrolet house car made into an RV for Mae West to entice her to leave the Vaudeville stage and make movies for Paramount. We also saw a garageable, fully self-contained, front-wheel drive, all aluminum motorhome build on a Cadillac chassis (pictured here). 

Lots of old RVs with very clever solutions that we take for granted today.  It was a great tour, and Mom really loved the old “motor coaches”.

On Tuesday, 8/25/15, Tom and I went to the Nexus RV manufacturer in Elkhart.  They gave us a tour of the plant (one on one).  They primarily build B+ and C coaches on Freightliner and International big truck chassis that have a 10,000 ton tow capacity.  They also build one Class A motorhome (a 35’ length), called the Bentley, which was also a diesel pusher.  The big draw to this is that they only sell direct from the factory – no dealers in between.  That cuts the price down considerably.    We also visited the Newmar factory, but they only had 2 tours/day and we missed them.  On the way back to the campground, we saw the Thor Industries, Coachman, Winnebago towables, Forest River, Challenger, and many trailer companies.  The town is truly built on the RV industry, including all of their suppliers.

8/26/16 – We hit the road again.  This time to Detroit, Michigan.  Arrived at the Wayne County Fairgrounds.  Parked in a large grassy area, with circus performers parked at the end.  We watched jugglers practicing their acts, along with clowns and beautiful white horses. 

8/27/15 – Tom and I left for Detroit, specifically Hittsville USA, and Motown history. 

Hittsville is actually a house that Barry Gordy bought in 1959 and remodeled it into a recording studio.  He converted the bottom floor (which was a living room, dining room, and kitchen) into a reception area, his office, a control room (was the kitchen), and the one car garage was converted into Studio A.  The bedrooms upstairs became Barry Gordy’s family apartment (very small), and he had 5 children!!

The house next door was the Motown Museum, so we went there to see the museum.  We were put into a group of about 15 people, with our tour director, Maurice.  He immediately said to me, “You cited?”  I looked at him with confusion on my face.  He said again, “ARE you cited?"  I told him I could see just fine, but I didn’t understand what he was asking.  Then he said, “Are you EX-cited?”  I said “Oh, yes.”  He asked me where I was from, and I said California.  “That splains it,” he said.  From that point on, he picked on me constantly.  At one point, he was talking and I was reading the posters.  When he finished, I asked him if the lady in the poster, Esther Gordy, was Barry Gordy’s sister.  He said, “That is what I wuz just sayin’, if you wuz listening” (a big laugh from the crowd).  At our last stop of the tour, he told us all that we had 7 minutes to read all the posters and pictures in the room and would meet up at the end.  When he was ready, he called to me, “Are you ready, California?”  I said no that I needed 2 more minutes.  So he told the whole group that they had to wait for California to finish (another laugh).  All in all, it was great fun, and I shook his hand as we left and thanked him for a great tour and a memorable day.  He thanked me too.  Then he sang to the crowd, as he was leaving, “My momma told me…..you gotta shop around”, and sent us to the gift shop.

To Winnebago Industries in Iowa; and to Chicago

8/19/15 – Winnebago Plant Tour

This is a very big facility.  They produce all B and C class motorhomes on one assembly line; all A Class diesel pusher motorhomes on another assembly line; and all Class A Gas motorhomes on another assembly line.  In all the building is 800 yards long – just enormous.   All towables (5^th wheelers and trailers) are made in another location.  They employ 2900 people in the Forest City plant, and there are only 4500 residents of the town.  They showed us how they make everything, and it was impressive. Also, the people who work there are very nice. 

Riverview CG
on the Mississippi River

Off to Dubuque, Iowa for just an overnight.  We parked on an island in the Mississippi.  We had a beautiful view, but no water and we are out.  No dishes; no showers; and we are all grubby. 

8/20/15 – To my friend’s house, Maria Reid.  She lives in Gurnee, IL, about 30 miles north of Chicago.  Maria is the founder of Reid Foods, Inc which makes and distributes wonderful foods like jams, jellies, salsas, and soups, and many other things.  She has a talent at getting the mixture of many ingredients to taste great.  I brought home 2 cases of her products.  We will probably eat most of it on this trip. 

Maria took Tom and I to Chicago to the Chicago Art Institute, the #1 ranked art museum in the U.S.  It was a lot of walking, and frankly they didn’t have much of what I like, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Reynolds – classic Renaissance artists.  But they did have a lot of impressionists like Monet, Degas, and Manet.  We did have a Chicago hot dog (great!) and a lemon shaker (yummy!).  Took this great picture of the Trump building in downtown Chicago.

Trump Building Chicago

Downtown Chicago

Back to her house to rest our tired feet and order in Chicago deep dish pizza and a movie – what a great day.

Next day Maria and I ran errands – got nails done; drugstore; and shopping.  Then she took Tom, Mom, and I for a drive to Lake Michigan and around the beautiful homes in Lake Forest, IL.  It reminded me of Brentwood or San Marino, CA.  Gabbed all afternoon and went out to Mexican dinner with Tom and Mom.  Overall--a wonderful day. 

8/23/15 – Leaving Maria’s with fresh peaches off her tree, 2 boxes of her wonderful food and clean clothes.  Maria and I had a really good visit – I will miss her, but will see her next time she is out our way.    Drove south around Lake Michigan, then east to Elkhart, Indiana.  This is the “RV Capitol of the U.S.”.  Lots of manufacturers (except Winnebago), Dealers, and Suppliers here.  We will be here for 3 nights and hopefully get some browsing in.  

To Nebraska to find family roots

8/14/5-8/17/15 –To Nebraska and Iowa

8/14/15- First a little information:

Off to try and find my family roots.  My great, great, grandfather, Fred Olsen came to the United States in the 1860’s, and went west in a wagon with 4 friends to homestead their dreams. They settled in the open prairie land of Nebraska.  They called it Nysted, after their homeland of Nysted, Denmark.  Fred Olsen built his house and a grocery/mercantile store in 1871.

Now, this is what we did:  We stopped at the Stuhr Museun of the Prarie Pioneers in Grand Island, NE.  Beautiful building and a great collection of pioneer memorabilia, but no reference to my family.

Onto to Dannebrog, about 5 miles south of Nysted (which is almost a ghost town).  We stopped at the Visitor Center in Dannebrog and found that it was really a café, run by Tom who was also the town pizza man and baker, and singer in the local band.  He cooked us lunch, then sang to us a song that he wrote for his wife of 36 years.  It was beautiful, as was his voice.  Mom teared up while he sang, as it really hit home.  He then offered us the key to Columbia Hall, the local hall of history.  We wandered down there, opened the front door, and wandered through pictures and newspaper clippings of the town history, but no mention of Fred Olsen.  When we came back to the café with the key, Jim Mingus, a 93 year old local was there and offered to take us to Nysted.

Off to Nysted, following Jim down a dirt road that we never would have found ourselves.  He took us to the center town, and parked us in front of the Lutheran Church.  He pointed to the corner where Fred Olsen had his grocery store.  It was vacant.  Jim told us that his daughter owned the corner now, and had torn down the old grocery recently because it was ready to fall down, but he remembered the store.  About that time, a maintenance man mowing the lawn for the church came over to us and offered to open the church for us.  We went in and put our name and address in the church register, in case any other locals wanted to write to us.  I also wrote in the register that I was the great, great granddaughter of the founder of the town, Fred Olsen.  The man handed me a church flyer that I took and tucked away.  Jim then led us to the Nysted cemetery where we searched, but did not find, any Olsen there.  Here is a picture of Tom with Jim Mingus.  

Jim then led us back down to the Dannebrog cemetery.  Jim, and Tom and I all searched, but I only found one headstone with ‘Olsen’ on it – Carrie Olsen was born in 1870, but I had never heard that name, even from my grandmother.  The end of the search for today, so we left and went back to the campground.

After dinner, I went through my receipts and papers and found the flyer from the church.  On the front panel – there it was – Laerke Sorensen and his friends, Fred Olsen, and Jacob Winn came to Nysted and founded the town in 1871.  The perfect end of a perfect day!  I noticed the name of Marilyn Nelson (and her phone number) on the back panel, who was the church historian. I called her.  She was home and invited us to come back and park on her farm.  She would look up what she could find of Fred Olsen.

Next morning, we moved the RV to Marilyn’s farm.  She had been searching and found that Fred Olsen has purchased a plot in the Dannebrog cemetery and that he and his wife, Anne were buried there with Stine Olsen (I don’t know who Stine is).  She took us back to the Dannebrog cemetery, and after a bit, I found the gravestones of Fred Olsen (1843-1905) and Anne Olsen (1840-1924).  There was no mention of Stine Olsen (who died in 1925 at the age of 84 according to the registry) or a marker. That would make him 2 years older than Fred – I wonder who he was???  We spent the rest of the day at the farm and had a wonder visit with Marilyn and her husband, Jim, who was a true multi-generational farmer.  Here is their picture with Tom.  

It is hard to put in words the feeling that came over me as I stood on the same ground that my ancestor lived and worked on over 145 years ago.  Now I see why people get so wrapped up in geneology.

We said our goodbyes and left Marilyn and Jim’s home on Sunday morning, right after they left for church -- they attend the Nysted Lutheran Church.

8/16/15

Arrived in Des Moines at a KOA campground.  Time for laundry and cleaning up.  Ran the dogs and had pizza (it was very good) from the campground office.

8/17/15

Traveled to Forest City, Iowa where we will stay tonight and tour the Winnebago Industries Plant tomorrow morning.  This is a big facility, and plan to learn a lot about our ‘home on wheels’. 

Cedar City Utah

8/13/15 -  We had a great visit with our friends, Joi and Michael,  in Cedar City, Utah (pictured at Kolob Canyon).

They have a Classic Car Museum, with both old and new cars.  The building is about 33,000 sq ft and houses 4 showrooms.  Tom was in heaven!  I fell in love with the 56 Chevy 'Widowmaker'.  Then they took us to Kolob Canyon, which is the back side (and part of) Zion National Park.







Here are some of the cars:

A lineup of the old cars

Front Showroom

The Widowmaker

Tom under an old car

Next was North Salt Lake - just an overnight - nothing to report. On to Rawlins, Wyoming. Ever since we left Salt Lake City and headed into Wyoming, we have been without cell service and NO INTERNET.  Seems Wyoming doesn't like T-Mobile.  I got on the phone with them, and they helped, but said we will not have good service until we get "out of the sticks".  Also, the A/C went out. Tom thinks it is the thermostat.  Called a repairman.  He came, but could not fix it.  Looks like the next dealer is all the way to Lincoln, NE without air -  UGH!  

Missed my grandson's birthday today (8/12) -Happy Birthday Jake - He is made it to 9.

Today we are in  Kearney,  Nebraska.  Got the internet - called a Winnebago dealer in Jefferson, IA and they walked us through a reboot of the electrical system, and the A/C came on.   HOORAY!  Don't need a thermostat.  Tomorrow we will  take the Jeep to Nysted, Nebraska - the home of Fred Olsen, my great, great, grandfather, who  came to the US from Nysted, Denmark.  Hope to find out more there.  Dad, I will try to get a good picture for you.

That is all for now.  Will try to post every couple of days.  Miss you all.
Linda

Two days out

Our first stop is Thousand Trails in Las Vegas.  We have been here many times, and find that it is a great overnight stay (that means no touring, no playtime, just sleeping overnight and leaving in the morning).  Today we visit with old friends, Bob and Ruby Wright in Henderson, NV.  They have been friends for a long time.

Tomorrow we are off to Cedar City, Utah to meet up with my childhood neighbor, Joy (Oksa) Simpson.  She and her husband own a car museum---Tom is in car heaven!

Starting Out

We are finally really retired, after 4 years of family health issues, remodeling, and moving, we are finally out to see the East Coast of this country (the first trip on our bucket list).

We are now 5 in the motorhome --Tom, Linda, Mom, Penny, and Lucky--and the Jeep.   Here we are--getting ready to leave.
Tom's mom is joining us on this trip and will spend some valuable time with Tom's brother and his wife when we arrive in New Jersey.  Penny, who is Nugget's niece is a 3 year old copper-colored lab, and Lucky is a 1 year old rescue mixed breed (we know his mother was a chihuahua, but the rest is unknown).

We have a general plan for our trip, but of course, changes will happen.  To see it, just click on:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zWrtTzufF7sg.kTARyBkxRpcs