Hoosier Daddy

 The title for this post is a play on our location. For those who might not be familiar with the nickname for someone born in Indiana, they are known as Hoosiers. Carol nor I were born in Indiana, but our middle son, Joey was, therefore...

Our stopping point was in Shipshewana, which is in the northern portion of Indiana.

We are now in Indiana Amish country.

The site was ok, a little sloping, but the view was worth it.

The horse ranch is maybe 50 yards from us. After we settled in we just relaxed the first day. 

The sun came up the next morning, and we went on tour... in Elkhart. The biggest reason for going to Elkhart was to visit a friend.

Michelle, Carol and I have known each other since the sailor days, when her husband and I were stationed together.

Before we met up with Michelle we headed to a couple of museums, and the first one was the RV/MH Hall of Fame and RV/MH Museums.

Those elk are everywhere throughout Elkhart.

SPOILER ALERT... this could be a long section, there are a lot of wonderful RVs to see.

Once the visitor pays their admission and enter the museum, the first trailer you see is the 1946 Kit Teardrop Trailer.

Originally in 1945, this trailer was designed to be a kit put together by the owner, that idea didn't last long, and were prefabricated and fully assembled. This is just the lobby, on your way into the theatre for a short video explaining the dream of the museum/hall of fame. Once the video was complete, we strolled into one of the exhibition halls, filled with trailers.

This is a 1913 "Earl" Travel Trailer and Model "T" Ford. This is one of the oldest trailers in the world, built for a Cal Tech professor. The dining table seats four people, and turns into a double bed. There is storage under the benches, and just in front of the doors.

1916 Telescoping Apartment on a 1915 Model "T" Ford. This was an after market camping accessory for trucks.  Both side compartments slide out for use, creating the sleeping space. When the campers are ready to go home, the slides are pushed back in for traveling back home. In 1916 this unit cost $100.00.

We are moving into 1958. This Airstream, at 22 feet long, had all the amenities of home: heater, stove, refrigerator, pressurized water system, and 110 volt electricity. 1958 was the year that Airstream changed the body style, from 13 to 7 panels on the end shells.

That one too big for your liking? We can offer a smaller one.

This little Airstream was also built in 1958, but has a mysterious past. This trailer comes in at 13 feet long, and 6 feet 10 inches tall, and named "Der Kleine Prinz" (The Little Prince). Now let's talk the mystery part. It is believed that the founder of Airstream was in Europe on business, came back home and commissioned the trailer. It is uncertain what happened to the trailer in the 60s, but in 1970 the trailer, on a used car lot, was bought by a couple for $800.00. They visited an Airstream sales lot and traded it in for a new trailer, getting $1,500.00 for trade-in. The dealership kept it on their showroom for display for many years. After 12 years of persistence, Ken Faber convinced the owner of the dealership to sell it... so in 2004 Ken owned a new 1958 Der Kleine Prinz.

This 1931 Ford Model AA Housecar is a restoration completed in 2003. This vehicle was found in Athens Alabama in 1999. It is believed that the original housecar was built by a custom builder and woodworking artist. The floors are yellow pine, cabinets and interior are oak and yellow poplar. All the hardware, and most of the wood is original. The one thing for sure that is not original are the seats, the original driver and passenger seats were a bench seat with no back. 

This next trailer is a 1954 Holiday Rambler.

The third photo is of "bunk" beds above the regular bed, and are Army style canvas, connected to metal poles.

For you "pop-up" trailers lovers, let me introduce you to the 1955 Ranger Crank Up Tent Trailer.

Notice in the the above photo, the slide out bed. This was the first time a "slide out" was used.

There was another first for this trailer... it was made using fiberglass.

For those that have small front-wheel drive vehicles and small SUVs, this one's for you... the 1957 Serro Scotty 10 foot Teardrop.

The small "teardrop" is back because it can be towed with small vehicles, and in some cases, motorcycles.

Some of you readers may remember Mae West, some of you may have partied with her. Anyway, in 1931 Chevrolet based housecar, was custom made for Mae West.

This "lounge car" was an enticement by Paramount Studios to get Mae to shift from Vaudeville, and into movies. It was not designed to be a "camping unit", and only contains a hot plate, ice box, and table... just enough for a spot of tea. I failed to mention that there is a porch at the back of the housecar.

The next trailer is the predecessor to the Airstream, it is the 1935 Bowlus Road Chief. 

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the outside. What makes this a unique trailer? it was designed by the same person that built Lindbergh's plane he flew on his trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.

Speaking of Lindbergh, here is his travel trailer. Shame on me, I didn't get a picture of the outside of this trailer either, probably because they were so close together.

The third photo is the sleeping area.

For those who wanted the high end housecar, they looked to Pierce Arrow. Before the crash of '29, they produced the 1928 Pierce Arrow Fleet Housecar, building a staggering THREE housecars. 

The housecar came with leaded glass frosted windows.

Have no fear, the sink folds up so the toilet is usable.

Mobile homes are not something new, they existed as far back as the 1940s. 

This was the Spartan Imperial Mansion. It was a mobile home that was 8 feet by 42 feet, the interior looking more like a house, rather than a camper.

The Spartan Aircraft Company was owned by J. Paul Getty, and began building the homes after WWII to utilize the surplus production capability that was built up to meet wartime aircraft demands. They were assembled with aluminum exterior, and aluminum wall studs and roof rafters. Each home sported the trademark "wraparound" front window.

The 1937 Hunt Housecar was built by Roy Hunt, a Hollywood cinematographer/producer.

The housecar on display at the museum is the Star, its sister housecar, the Turtle, is on display in a California museum.

We stepped into another exhibit room dedicated to vendors in the RV industry. Vendors are vendors, but there was one that jumped out to Carol and I, the dreamers of a multi-level mobile home park.

I have only provided a few of the RVs on display at this fantastic museum. 

We left the RV exhibit floor and headed upstairs to the Hall of Fame. The walls were filled with inductees, dating back to the opening of the museum. We were interested in finding one picture, Joe and Kay Peterson, the founders of Escapee RV Club.

More information can found at: https://www.rvmhhalloffame.org.

After roaming the halls we spent a few minutes in the gift shop before we headed to our next stop.

BREAK TIME, GO GET SOME COFFEE OR A SODA.

That next stop... The Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum.

This place was phenomenal for its size. The mission of this museum is to catalog the 80+ year history of comics, and they have a copy of 95% of the comics written. The museum also has items from various movies.

The actual car that Ironman fell on.

The actual bike from Ghost Rider, rode by Nicholas Cage. Besides props, they have a huge collection of "action figures".

Visitors can spend 30 minutes to two hours going through this museum. If you are looking for more information, head to:https://hallofheroesmuseum.com.

After the museum we headed to a small train museum, New York Central Railroad Museum. The main thrust of the museum centers around an elite group of Pullman cars, dining car, and locomotive, called 20th Century Limited. The train carried the elite class of passengers, from New York City to Chicago. The train enabled passengers to get from point "A" to point "B" in twenty hours, vice five days.

Unfortunately the train lost its prominence after WWII. In December 1967 the 20th Century Limited made its last run, headed eastbound, the locomotive was the 4085. Two months later the 20th Century Limited past into history, as did New York Central Railroad, merging with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and becoming Penn Central. The train is actually the museum, the dining car tells the history of locomotive 4085, another car tells the story of the trainyard in Elkhart, then the locomotive itself.

Obviously, this is the dining car. The museum rents the car out for functions, and visitors can enjoy their lunch there... if they brought it with them. From the dining car we head across the gift shop to the next exhibit car. In this car they talked about the trainyard located in Elkhart. 

Arial view of the trainyard. The cars were moved into position in the car-sorting yard using a control board that allowed the operator to setup the path the train car would travel.

The framed picture in the center of the photo is a diagram of the tracks, matching the control board.

More interesting was how the cars got where they had to go. There was what they called the "hump" the cars had to travel over. The freight car would be pushed over the hump, it would coast down the hill to an assigned track, which was controlled remotely from a building on the railyard. The controllers in the tower could estimate the speed of the freight car, controlling how hard it would hit when it stopped. Cars with fragile loads were never sent over the hump.

In 1926 the Catholics had their 28th International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. In 1926 the Pope didn't travel internationally, but sent representatives. His representatives traveled from New York to Chicago via the New York Central. New York Central and Pullman went all out for the representatives of the Vatican. The seven sleeper cars were painted cardinal red, with gold-colored trim.

Moving into the next exhibit, Carol and I were awed by the workmanship.

This was a seven year endeavor for its creator. This fine work of art consists of 421,250 toothpicks, 40 pounds of glue, and stretching out to eight feet in length. He started buying his toothpicks from the local grocery stores, until he bought them out, so after that, he ordered them by the case. The process was slow, each layer was glued and pressed down, so that they stayed straight. The wheels are 15 layers thick. These toothpicks are more than just glued together, there is stuff that moves... wheels, brakes, side rods, and windows.

Have you ever wondered what a "Gandydancer" was? This was a person who did construction or repairs to the railroad.

Tools of their trade. I could have used one of those jacks in upper Michigan.

Like most places that have a train display... they of course have a train set.

And what is a train set without trains.

Now that we are done playing with trains, let's continue our trip.

Blue collar workers are in abundance in a railyard, and needed management. Before computers, they would use a circular assignment board, or carousel.

These guys were responsible for assigning workers to their tasks.

The way this advanced equipment worked is fairly simple. Shift personnel names would be put on the carousel, and when a task came in, it was put next to name at the top of the carousel. Once the assignment went out, the worker's name was moved to the bottom of the carousel, and the process started all over again.

Did I tell you they had locomotive 4085 on display here... they do. Before we take a look at it, let's talk about the history of this locomotive.

This is what 4085 looks like today.

This locomotive came to life in 1953, built by General Motor's Electro-Motive Division. She stopped in Elkhart somewhere in the late 1950s to early 1960s as you see her in the above photo. In 1968 when New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads merged, and became Penn Central, 4085 took on the basic black color scheme of Pennsylvania Railroad.

Circa 1971.

Penn Central changed its numbering system, and 4085 became 4328, color stayed the same.

Circa 1974.

Another ownership change, and the locomotive was now working for the New Jersey Transit as 4328. At her new employer she entered the commuter service.

Circa 1979.

Circa 1987 with New Jersey Transit colors.

When 4328 came home to the museum, it began its transformation back to 4085.

Circa 'bout 1988/89, next to the museum.

Today next to the museum. How about a tour of this locomotive?

4085 is a diesel-electric locomotive, and we are going to step inside for a closer look, but first...

Seems that nature has a way of putting people where it wants them... I ended up in the driver seat... again, must be because of the size of the vehicle.

Out of the driver's seat into where it all happened.

A look down both sides of the diesel engine and generator.

How many time have you gotten to look into the cylinder of a locomotive engine.

Electrical power generation plant. For those that traveled a lot, you may remember the days when dad might have to pull the car over, so that you could go to the bathroom. The engineer and other guys couldn't just stop the train to take care of business... there was a solution.

Lots of privacy too.

We met with a long time friend for dinner at one of the bar and grills, and after dinner we walked across the street for ice cream.

So much for this post, more tomorrow.