Bob & Debbie's Next BIGGS Adventure

REDWOOD RALLY
&
SHIPSHEWANA, INDIANA

Beautiful Indiana.........Shipshewana is also known as Amish Country

Hello Dear Family and Friends!!!! As many (or most) of you know, we

live in our 5th Wheel Travel Trailer full time. Our 5th Wheel is a Redwood,

and this past long weekend, we went to our very first Redwood Rally! We really

did not know what to expect, never having attended anything like this.

Our Own Texas Rose at the Rally.......

My goodness!!! There were just under 70 Redwoods in attendance, and this was only

their 4th Annual Rally! Bob and I loved seeing all of the Redwoods lined up and down the lanes! Our friend Dean Landmesser was able to travel along with us, and his Bigfoot Trailer was parked in amongst a forest of Redwoods!

Redwoods up and down, with the occasional Motorhome in the mix!

We met some fabulous folks and oodles of new friends. Redwood spoiled

us all.....and we all loved it! We were showered with goodies from the company,

from the campground and from our Redwood Owners Group........ They fed us

multiple delicious meals and treated us to minor service repairs on our rigs! We learned

about the workings of our slides, our roofs, our fridges, propane, and more!

Terry Cooper, "The Texas Professor" sharing some insights about our propane that we all have onboard

We also had some "ladies" seminars, setting up and breaking camp and how our kitchens can work for us......learning about induction cooking and convection ovens! Evada, "Lady E" Cooper and her husband, Terry "The Texas Professor" were wonderful
"teachers," and I know that EVERYONE came away with new tidbits of
knowledge----Thank You Evada and Terry!!!

We have loved our Redwood from the very beginning, and having met and listened to the owner, Andy, and GM, Jim, I not only feel as though we have been blessed with our "Texas Rose" (our name for our Redwood), but we have been blessed with more family, our Redwood Family! We have 2 quite wonderful young women who are our own liaisons

with the company......Go Christian and Taylor! (They are both full of energy, concern and a true desire to give of themselves, and to go to bat for the Redwood Owners if need be. AND,
they both give wonderful hugs!)

Taylor is on the left and Christian is on the right----look at those smiles!

Time to Eat!!!!!

At the Salon.........

The night before the official beginning of the Rally, we had a Ladies' Night Out! We went to a salon in Sturgis, Michigan and had some pampering with manicure and pedicures.......

Love this color!

then ended the evening with a delicioso meal at Maria's Mexican Restaurant! I had some wonderful Fish Tacos...... (Bob and Dean and I made a return visit to Maria's on Sunday after the Rally!)

YUM!!!!!!

The campground that hosted us was the Shipshewana Campground, South. The staff

here at this campground were fabulous!!!!! They had wonderful

goodie bags ready for each one of the rigs, they worked hard to group us all together

and did whatever they could to make our stay most enjoyable. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you did to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable!!!! We had cows and horses

on 3 sides of the campground ( :-) ), plenty of trees around, and the wonderful

clip-clop of the horses pulling the Amish buggies down the road was heard throughout the day.

The sites were grass and gravel, full hook-ups, we had internet available and our Jet Pack worked

like a charm!

The sights and sounds around Shipshewana were wonderful! We loved the

feel of country even in the city, well, town. We saw several farmers (Amish) who were working in their fields with their teams of draft horses---beautiful horses! Some of the Papas were teaching their sons to work the teams..... We saw women and lovely young ladies hanging out wash, working in their gardens, playing with the family dog....... lots of smiles!

On our next trip there I hope to have a few more days to head to the Cheese and Meat shoppe and the E & S, bulk shopping experience! Not to mention the quilt and fabric shops! We DID get to eat at the 5 and 20 as one of Bob's cousins recommended---delicious! We splurged on a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich......not a sandwich that we can find in Texas......seems to be a Hoosier thing!

Our Sincere Thanks to Redwood / Crossroads, to our Redwood Owners Group and to the Shipshewana Campground South for making our week such a wonderful experience........You all are THE BEST!!!

We are both looking forward to next year.....AND to our regional Rally in Texas!!!!

Sending you all hugs and blessings.......