Sauder Village

Sunrise

As every full timer knows, travel plans are written in jello. Originally our intention upon leaving Sterling State Park was to find a halfway stopping point between southeastern Michigan and south central Indiana where we could vegetate for a week before moving on. We have a little known two lane route we like to take along the Maumee River when passing through Ohio from one state to the other so I focused on RV parks in that area. That’s how I discovered a gem of a campground in Archbold.

View of village from pond walking path

Sauder Village is a historic village nestled in among family farms and cornfields for as far as the eye can see. I’ve always had a fondness for the Midwest countryside so the setting’s perfect as far as I’m concerned. Located on the grounds is the Barn Restaurant housed in an authentic hand hewn 1861 barn and serving up delicious home style comfort food. There’s also a bakery, retail shops, Founder’s Hall for hosting weddings, exhibitions, and such, an inn, campground, and a living history museum. The museum and village is centered upon the years 1803 to 1928. There are costumed guides and craftsmen, farm animals and a trolley train to get around on.

The view from our patio

We chose not to tour the village simply because we didn’t feel it could offer us any new experiences or sights than we’d already gleaned from our many, many visits to Greenfield Village and Conner Prairie. Instead we focused on relaxing and enjoying what the campground had to offer.

Set apart from the rest of the facility, the park is surrounded by fields of corn on three sides and a large inviting pond on the last one. Very clean, very quiet, and very dark at night, wonderful for star gazing. There is a walking path around the pond with park benches and stone slabs for sitting. The second walking path cuts through the towering cornfields and runs about a mile in length. It too is quiet and well maintained with several little oases along the pathway, each with a sheltered sitting area. All three of us made use of the trails regularly. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the campground does have one flaw, if the wind is blowing from the right wrong direction, there’s a pig farm near by.

Walking path thru the cornfield

Perhaps what we liked the most was how spacious the sites were. They are definitely the largest we’ve ever seen in a private park. Beau loved rolling around in the thick lush grass. No rugs are permitted here so as not to damage the lawns. I also liked how things were still run on the honor system. There’s plenty of ice and firewood available just leave your purchase money in the box provided.

Our spacious campsite

Back to the jello I spoke of earlier. Instead of spending the full eight nights we had available, we only stayed four. Don decided after spending three miserable weather days inside the Suite Pea while at the state park that air tv was not going to work well for us. He contacted Winegard about a conversion kit and Dish for a Hopper so our next stop will be Elkhart, Indiana to pick up and install the equipment.

Back in the RV Capitol of the U.S.

Sunday upon our arrival to Elkhart Campground Don noticed a sign on the office fence on RV detailing and suggested I inquire about it when I checked us in. We make an effort to have the Suite Pea’s exterior spruced up once a year and she was due. On Monday the cleaning crew came out and had Pea all clean and shiny again in no time. At $10 a foot, we’ve found its best to have this task done anywhere north of the Florida state line. South of it the asking price goes up considerably.

Tuesday morning Don was busy with switching over our Winegard system from Direct TV to Dish. We’re both looking forward to having The Weather Channel back again but hate having to relearn the tv channels and recording setup.

We’re going to have a busy schedule for the next week and a half when we return “home” so on our final morning I thought it would be a good idea to get my grocery shopping done beforehand. Also, with Elkhart being close to Wakarusa and Nappanee we treated ourselves to a little outing. Wakarusa Dime Store is the home of the jumbo jellybean and other confectionary delights. With Halloween just around the corner I wanted to pick up a few goodies for the grandchildren and Don can’t resist the malt balls made here. Rocket Science Ice Cream is in Nappanee. I love ice cream! I’d rather have ice cream over any other sweet treat imaginable BUT it has to be good ice cream, not likely found in stores, and my all time favorite ice cream shop is…you guessed it, Rocket Science Ice Cream! At Rocket Science everything is made to order then flash frozen via liquid nitrogen. Here’s the thing though, this Amish owned business uses all fresh ingredients, never frozen or processed. I believe this combination makes all the difference in taste and texture. After having satisfied our sweet toothes it was back to the Suite Pea to prepare for an early departure tomorrow morning.

Until next time, here’s lookin’ at you kid…….