Airbnb? Vacation? Nope. Why?

What do you do when traveling full-time around the country and your RV needs worked on? For 2 weeks? And you can’t stay in it while they have it? And you have a full fridge and freezer that won’t be plugged in? And your honey still needs to work remotely?

We did a lot of research for hotels, cabins, etc. We ended up staying at a tiny “think great grandma’s house” Airbnb house in South Bend, Indiana. We had the whole house to ourselves. This was the first time we have booked an Airbnb. 

I wondered how “Airbnb” got the name and learned some roommates knew a computer conference was coming to San Francisco. There wasn’t a lot of hotel rooms so they decided to offer air mattresses on the floor and provide breakfast. Air (mattress) and BnB (bed and breakfast). Pretty cute. 

The house is very small and old. But it is clean and doesn’t smell bad. The living room has a long L-shaped couch and is comfy. The kitchen is the front of the house, too. There is a table that truly isn’t much longer than ours in HOWE (footnote 1). I kid you not, there is more kitchen counter space in HOWE than in here!  Behind the living room is a hall way. The bedroom is to the right. It has about the same clearance around it as HOWE, just a little more on one side.  Thankfully there is a nice long desk there and it will be perfect for Kevin to set up his computer and use for work. The desk chair butts up against the bed. LOL Next in the hallway is a bathroom. They have recently redone it and it is cute. The best part is a nice new shower with bathtub! I can’t wait to use the bathtub. The last room is a smaller one with a futon in it. The backyard is big and there is a patio and a grill. We plan to use the grill and hopefully the patio chairs. That depends on the weather. 

We unloaded our suitcases, computers, and food. When we found out the fridge/freezer would be off in HOWE, I started using up a lot of the food we had in it. That way I just had a small amount to move to the Airbnb and use up while there.

Dropping HOWE Off At Alliance, Elkhart, IN 06/25

Taking HOWE to Alliance we had good directions and maps in the email. Parked there and Kevin went inside. Soon our contact person came out with him and they did a check list. Kevin said the guy even found some things to fix that Kevin didn’t have on the list. That is good. A same RV just like ours was next to us and that guy told Kevin he was there because of a crack in his outside wall like ours. Kevin was told we could pick up HOWE at 6:20 a.m. on 06/20. Easy way to remember. HAHA It didn’t take long and soon we were on our way to the Airbnb. 

I quickly discovered something that was a surprise to me. This house has no mixing bowls, measuring spoons, measuring cups, ladle, spatula, griddle, or crockpot. That threw out my menu plans. HAHA (Don’t worry, we were able to adjust.) 

Edge Of Many Roads Have A Groove From Horses, Shipshewana, IN 06/25

We headed out at 11:00 a.m. to go to Shipshewana. We saw some more Amish farms and houses. Quite a few buggies on the road today (a Saturday). We went straight to Blue Gate Restaurant parking. Thankfully the parking lot had plenty of places. We walked to the corner to the Blue Gate Theater, which is the top of the building; Blue Gate Bakery is on the main as is the restaurant, and the buffet is in the basement. We got there a few minutes before the theater doors opened.

Video Backdrop On Stage, Blue Gate Theater, Shipshewana, IN 06/25

The play, Ned and Nancy See America, the Musical, is a guy retires and surprised his wife for their 40th wedding anniversary with an RV. Going to see all 50 states. The script is so cute and fun to have the local RV community and Shipshewana, and Amish written in it. I was so grateful to the manager for giving me the script last week so I could read it ahead of time and know what was going on. Since I am 100% deaf, I wouldn’t know what was going with the words otherwise. Very accommodating. We gave the manager the script back as we showed her our tickets. We had front row seats so no one blocked my view (I am short!). It is a small theater with an amazing screen covering the entire back stage. That helped the story and props greatly. They did a nice job and we had fun.

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.