RV Service & Indiana

Over a year ago, as our RV was turning 10 years old, Mike created a list of routine maintenance items, and some specific to our RV, and sent it to Newmar, our RV manufacturer, to see how long it would take. They advised that it would take two weeks to complete, so we booked our trip for June 2023 to their service center in Nappanee, IN. We were very impressed with the professionalism of the entire Newmar operation, and really liked our service manager, Tony. Newmar has a nice campground right on their property, and every weekday morning at 6 a.m., the Newmar golf carts come to each RV and drop off the manager assigned to your RV. It was especially early, as we had just changed to the Eastern time zone. We had to be packed up and have the RV slides in, hook-ups disconnected, etc., so service manager could drive our RV into shop. Thankfully Newmar had a very nice customer center to hang out in, and there was a nice gym just a couple of blocks away, to keep us busy until the RV was driven back to our spot around 2 p.m. We were afraid we might get bored staying so long, however, we definitely ended up having a great time. We did sign up to attend one of the Newmar Factory tours and were able to observe from start to finish how the RV’s are made. It was very interesting! We could not really take pictures, as a large majority of their workforce is Amish or Mennonite, and they do not want there pictures taken. We were able to take a few pictures in the service center however, when we went to check on our RV, and get updates from Tony.

Nappanee is a cute little town were it is extremely common to see the Amish and/or Mennonites in horse and buggies and riding bikes. All the stores had places to park buggies and extra bike racks. It was so nice to see the community move at a slower pace to accommodate horses, buggies, bikes and cars on the same roads. We definitely enjoyed the “Amish Crack” donuts from “Rise n Roll” and pretzels from Coppes Commons.

Newmar needed to keep our RV in the shop overnight on two occasions, so we were able to take two fun road trips to visit nearby areas. The best part was getting to visit to both the Indiana Dunes National and State Parks. Mike found a birding trip that a guide had taken people on the day before; and we followed the same itinerary through both of these parks, (Great Marsh Trail, Heron Rookery, Reynolds Creek Habitat Area, National Lakeshore, and West Beach)which was a great experience. We also enjoyed eating at the Dune’s Pavilion and hiking the Portage Lakefront Riverwalk Trail, 3 Dunes Challenge, and Diana of the Dunes Dare. The Prairie Duneland Trail was nearby, which was a nice bike trail to explore the local towns. We also loved the cute down of Chesteron, IN; especially eating at Ivy’s Bohemia House and Dog’s Day Ice Cream. The cherry on the top was watching the sunset at Michigan City Lighthouse & Pier!

Our second road trip was to Syracuse, IN to stay at the Oakwood Resort on Lake Wawasee, Indiana’s largest natural lake. It was a cute location and was very relaxing. We drove the Amish Heritage Trail, which was very pretty. The best ride through Amish Country though, was a 55 mile organized bike ride, the “Pumpkinvine Ride”. The temperature was 50 degrees at the start of the ride and only about 60 at the end. I rode with two really nice guys the entire ride, however, I didn’t ride too close to them, as we frequently had to avoid horse poop, due to many horses and buggy’s on the road. It was a great way end to our stay in Indiana.

Next stop: Michigan, a new state for us!