Alliance Rally & My 1st Sourdough Bread In Goshen, Indiana

As we headed to Goshen / Elkhart, Illinois, we stopped at Love’s Truck Stop at Normal, IL for the dump station. It was a bit confusing and we couldn’t see the dump station. Across the road is a Love’s RV campground; we thought maybe the dump was in there. Pulled up to the gate and building and Kevin got out to ask. Of course the door was locked. He picked up the outside phone and said it was pretty hard to hear but learned the dump was by the gas pumps. Drove over there and what do you know…the drain is higher than the output. Everyone knows “things” run down hill! HA He made it work. Ah the life of living in a 5th wheel. 🤪 

We continued up I-55. I remembered when we went to Shipshewana, IN, in 2023 to get our fridge fixed that I-80 was a mess. Big holes and construction. We hoped that was all fixed and done. Our hope wasn’t fulfilled! Construction, huge holes and bumpy road, and traffic that several times Kevin literally had to slam on the brakes when people cut him off. So scary. Plus, it was raining. Not hard so that is good but had to run wipers. Kevin is a great and careful driver and did a fantastic job getting us safely to our next place.

We got to Elkhart County 4H Fairground, Goshen, Indiana, at 3:00 p.m. and are now in Eastern time zone. With all the rain, the long checkin road was very muddy. It made a mess on HOWE (footnote 1) and the truck. Why are we here? For Alliance National Rally. Alliance is the brand that made our 5th wheel. We came to the rally last year, too.

The parking people got us in our site which is in a grass field. (Last year we were in a spot that had full hookups). The guy said the other row had electric problems and for Kevin to put in his surge protector while he watched to make sure it worked. It did. He also said that these two rows are “sharing one garden hose” and suggested we fill up our water tank. We did that, too. The electric and water are just cords on the ground. It was still raining off and on as we got set up. The grass was so slippery. We had to add 2 blocks under the wheels on one side. The grass was so slippery that the boards just slid along the grass. I turned the top board to make a “+”and for some reason that made it work. Got set up. 

I have stayed in touch with one couples we met here last year. In fact, we share our weekly menu plans with each other. We have both gotten great recipes from this! 😋It was wonderful to see them again. We walked over to their site, near where we were last year, and had a nice visit. They grilled some burgers. Delicious!

The next day was Memorial Day. Our friends joined us for the day and we went to Shipshewana. Kevin and I go there every time we are in the area. It has a large Amish and Mennonite community in the area. Shipshewana flee market was fun and crowded. We all bought some things. Kevin got 2 wind blowing, hot air balloon looking things. Plus, at a game booth he found and wanted Skip-bo. Well, the funny thing is, that is on my list to give him for his birthday! HA I got 3 blouses from the place where I got one last year. I got 3 frosting scrapers. They are very stiff; the friend who gave me the Sourdough Starter has them to stir the sourdough starter. I got a dough cutter, like she has, to cut dough for biscuits and not use a knife on my board. I got 3 postcards and some dazzle stickers to use on our Lewis & Clark map. We saw a Pampered Chef booth and of course had to go in. We walked the few blocks to Blue Gate Restaurant for the buffet. Kevin and I always go there when we come to this town. The buffet is excellent and we all enjoyed it. We were able to walk right in and get seated but there was sure a crowd right behind us. It was noon. On the way home we saw a tractor and hay cutter. Then we saw several farmers using horses and the cutter. Neat.

When we got home (footnote 2), Kevin put the tail of one of the baloon ornaments on his ham radio antenna. A good thing because we don’t have a site number so this way we just tell people to look for it. 🙂 We then sat outside and read. 

Sourdough Starter: I set the sourdough Starter out of the fridge and on the counter. I followed No-Knead Sourdough Bread recipe card that I got from my friend. (Here is the link: No Knead Sourdough Bread by Grant Bakes on Youtube. Friend’s recipe said to bake at 350° which made it a nice sandwich bread.)

I used my new scale and fed the starter. (Feeding the starter is when you add flour and water.) Several hours later it had doubled; it was very warm in HOWE. Then I used the scale and made the bread. It was seriously so easy to mix up with a spoon and then my hands. Placed in a bowl and covered with Paula Deen’s The Lady Can Cook tea towel Kevin gave me for my birthday. It will rise overnight on the counter. I am hopeful….

We were told in emails from the rally that there would be places for each section (where your RV is parked) to meet together in the evenings. The host could borrow a solo fire pit to use. They would add signs to where it was each night. Walking home from looking at vendors, Kevin and I saw a solo fire pit at a campsite in our area and so he grabbed his chair and walked back over there. There were several people there sitting and he plopped his chair down and started visiting. Later in the visit he found out that they are friends and they weren’t the host of the evening meet up! LOL Kevin had just plopped himself down and didn’t even ask if he could. They laughed so hard, as did I when he told me. Thankfully, they are so friendly and wanted him there every night. He did. 😄

Sourdough Starter: I got up early and looked at the bread dough. It looks nice and plump! I put it in the loaf pan and let it raise for 1 1/2 hours. Then baked it. Oh my gosh, what a joy! It looked and tasted amazing. I like the slight zing of sourdough bread taste, and the denseness of it. Since this recipe is no-kneed, it is denser and Kevin and I both said we like it that way. Great for sandwiches. It was a 100% hit! 

At the Alliance rally, you can specify 3 things for service to fix while at the rally. Kevin walked over to the service set up and turned in the paper. Alliance has one plant shut down so the service team can do 3 minor repairs on each RV. So great! It opened at 7:00 a.m. They opened early and he got in fast. Very soon the service team was at our site. How did they find us amongst all the Alliance RVs and we are in the middle of a field? Kevin told them to look for the 50 ft tall ham radio antenna with a wavy thing hanging from it. Yep, no one had problems finding us! They put in a whole new track of outdoor lights for us that are under the awnings. They fixed the leak under the shower; Kevin had done most of it the other day. They looked at the solar, even seeing the connection through one of the light holes in the living room. There was some recall, too, for a switch or something so they replaced that. Solar working. Kevin turned off the power and saw that quickly the solar wasn’t working. Oops. I am not sure what was done but a few visits plus the boss visiting and we got a free new something, and the solar works. HAHAHA (Kevin’s note: Solar charge controller)

It is hot and humid and we are glad we at least have 30 amp to run one of our two A/C units. Breakfasts and dinners are catered. Outside the building where the meals are we saw tons of e-bikes parked outside. In fact, one of the guys who sat with us to eat said he was late coming in because he “couldn’t find a place to park” his e-bike! The grass is full of them. HA

Kevin had Ramblin Man come check the axles and stuff. He said it all looked good. Gave Kevin some ideas on good maintenance. Each day we attend some of the vendor presentations. There was a Q&A at the Alliance display. Fun to see the new models; not much changed and I wouldn’t want any of them over ours. 

Casino Night. What a blast! These events happen at a lot of venues we have been to over the years. Companies come in and set up everything for the games and have the workers be the dealers, pit boss, etc. All free play money. We went to a blackjack table with our friends. The dealer just sort of stood there. Then when we told him to deal the cards he went the wrong way. Then he didn’t deal himself in. He didn’t know how to play. Later they told me they thought he was high. Probably so. We went through one hand and then all moved to different tables. Kevin played blackjack, our friends played craps and poker. I just watched. I went home early due to ear nerve pain but Kevin stayed and had a blast. Then he met up with his friends for the evening get together. (I am deaf and trying to see Kevin sign American Sign Language to interpret for me in the fire light – dark – is really hard. I am happy he goes and had a great visit each night.)

A fun surprise: I used the bag I got at the Christmas bazaar in Arizona this past December. It says, “I will be in my office” and has all sorts of quilting supplies. Well, I lost count of how many ladies would walk up to me, point to it, and start talking. It was really fun. One lady had that in an embroidery pattern. Another her daughter had a purse made out of it. Others just shared the quilt, too. So fun!! Highlight.

*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. HOWE has stayed at least one night in all 48 continuous U.S. states.

2. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.