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.