We had a nice contingent of SECC members in attendance at the Shipshewana CCI rally including Richard and Deborah Benoit, Jack and Marylou Cassingham, Jack and Gerry Conway, George and Irene Harper, Bob and Carolyn Hendrickson, Joe and Lynn Mikan, Robert and Lois Nielsen, Michael and Mary Sage, Rick and Tammy Toalson, Reid and Dorothy Wentz, Myron and Dorcas Whitley, and Lee and Jeanne Zaborowski. We also are pleased to pick up two new prospective members, William and Rita Sax from Belleville, IL and Al and Billie Stewart from Midland (Columbus), GA.
Here are some pics from the SECC get-together hosted by Jack and Mary Lou Cassingham.
Below is a group pic of rally attendees taken at the Cooks’ Bison Farm. We ate lunch there – including bison, of course – as well as taking a wagon ride to see the bison herd. Notice the quilt pattern on the barn in the background, a common sight in this Amish area with its tradition of quilt-making.
Everyone seemed to enjoy a wagon trip into the fields to see and feed the bison. Some of the bison came up to the wagon with tongue out for a treat, supplied by the bison farm (3rd photo below). The little fellow in the bottom photo is only one week old.
Lee presides over a meeting. He announced CCI’s new CCI Buck program designed to benefit members. Members will earn 25 CCI Bucks credit for recruiting new members and for each rally attended. Earned CCI Bucks can be used to pay dues or for CCI rally fees. For all the details, see the CCI July Newsletter http://www.countrycoachclub.com/Resources/Documents/July%202015%20eNews.pdf
Tammy and Lee keep the rally going. The rally was well planned by the CCI Heartlanders chairmen who chose a number of interesting places in the area to visit, plus free time for shopping and sightseeing on your own. In addition to the bison ranch tour, the rally included making pretzels at JoJo’s Pretzels, a tour of the Jayco Factory where Integra coaches are made, dinner at Das Dutchman Essenhaus, and independent tours of the Menno-Hof History Museum.
We had a presentation by Master Tech RV out of Elkhart, IN. They also served a spaghetti dinner.
The “klop klop” of horse drawn buggies was an ever present sound. We enjoyed learning about the Amish, Menonites and Hutterites in the area.
A dinner prepared by an Amish family in their home and a buggy ride from the campground to the dinner was a highlight of the rally. The lady of the house, her husband, daughters, aunt, and niece all helped serve the dinner. Also present was the niece's little daughter (in photo below). The food was served family style and included fresh bread, salad, fried chicken, ham, beef, potatoes, noodles, green beans, and a variety of pies. Nobody left hungry!
Arriving at the dinner:
Buggy ride back to the campground:
Jayco Factory Tour
If you associated Jayco with low end trailers, you were in for a surprise because Jayco makes the high end Integra coach. We toured their brand new manufacturing facility for the Integra line in nearby Middlebury, IN.
Lee examines the business end of a new Integra Spartan chassis.
Our factory representative starts the tour after radios are handed out.
Jack Cassingham feigns problems with his radio in order to garner the attention of an attractive young lady.
We saw various stages in the manufacture of the Integra.
Jack Conway raises a question about the "integrity" of the welds in the Intrgra roof truss.
The CCI Shipshewana rally included a great variety of activities, as seen above, and many opportunities to see the area, meet and spend time with other members. In short, it was a great rally!
George Harper, Webmaster
