Tuesday we installed quarter round in all of the rooms that were carpeted. Wednesday we cut and fit quarter round in the rooms with hardwood floor. Thursday we finally got it all nailed down. We are now
waiting on the new countertop to come in so we can install it. Friday we ran some errands and cleaned up the dust in the house.
Our photos are from the LaPorte hamfest. The first one is our motor home set up ready to do business. It was cool and rainy so I decided to work inside and not get the engraver or the computer wet, if it should come up a shower. There were a few vendors left on Sunday morning and Evelyn got a shot of the inside of the garage showing the shelves and the collection of radio equipment. Now this is really nice stuff and desirable to most in the
Ham community. You may think it just looks like junk, and maybe some of it is, but it is items that are desirable for your collection of "stuff". Now understand, I do not have any of that stuff, any more, since moving into a motor home. Maybe I did have some, but it is mostly all gone and out of my life of today. I still have a couple of 2M/70cm radios and only 1 hf rig, but I can still talk to a lot of people with my screwdriver antenna on the back of the motor home.
Saturday, we took off in the van and checked out the campground in Chesterfield, IN. It looks like something we could use, fairly flat and accessible. We had some business to take care of in Winchester, IN. and then we came back across US36 and stopped at the Walnut Ridge campground to check it out. It is a beautiful campground with lots of trees, but not accessible for me at all. There were a few sites we could use, but they did not have any with sewer connections which means every 10 days or so you have to move the unit to the dump station or manually use a "blue boy" to haul your waste to the dump station. Not something we want to do on a regular basis. We may need someplace to stay next summer, if we are back in this area. The Handicapped Travel Club rally may be in Oregon and if so, if it is during the summer months we may not come back this way. If it is in the fall, we may come back for a month or two and will locate at one of these campgrounds. So time will tell what our plans will be for next year.

Thursday was just a normal day, nothing really exciting happening. Friday, Alan was over and helped with the kitchen floor and we discussed some changes to make. Friday evening we left for the La Porte Hamfest and spent the night in Rochester, IN. Saturday we completed our trip to the hamfest site. The first photo is of the concrete communication tower that is on the property. It is about 200'tall and used to belong to AT&T. He still rents several floors of it for radio equipment that operate the antennas on the top. On the second floor he has a complete collection of Collins radio equipment. This was very popular during the second WW

The building is a replica of a Texaco filling station complete with pump, air facility and even a Corvette in the garage on the left side. The garage on the right is full of shelves full of radio gear of all kinds and descriptions.
One of his boys is a collector of RR equipment and there are semaphores all around among other type of rail road stuff.
We were parked just to the left of the station. This was the first year of this gathering so it was not very large however the facility was quite nice and would accommodate several vendors, etc.
Sunday there was not much going on. We left later in the afternoon and spent the night in Monticello, IN and Monday morning we drove the back roads and got back to Fishers about noon. We spent the afternoon running errands and getting things caught up from the long weekend.
Today, we worked in the house, getting some trim completed and some painting finished up and hopefully getting it back on the market before long.
Tomorrow, more of the same and nothing planned as far as travel is concerned for about 3 weeks when we go to Findlay, Ohio.

Today, it was off to the Indiana State Fair. We arrived about 9:30am and went directly to the grandstands where the Chelsea House Orchestra was playing. This was a highschool group from Michigan and they
played Gaelic style music. They were very good and was much appreciated by those watching.
At 10am they started the annual Farmers Day Parade. This is a parade of old farm machinery, tractors and all types of equipment. There were also two team of Oxen and one 1917? Stanley Steamer automobile as well as old fire trucks and police cars. The tractors date from about 1910 with a Rumley Oil Pull tractor. A huge tractor that produced 17 hp, if memory serves me correctly. Lots and lots of John Deere tractors from the early 30's, many in mint condition. Lots of Farmall tractors as well as Allis Chalmers and many lesser known brands. A couple of steam engines that were used to power thrashing machines and other apparatus There were even some miniature tractors that had been made by those with the skill to make them. They of course were to scale and were quite remarkable to see and watch operate.
As the parade was winding down we saw a huge black bus and trailer come in. It was the Oak Ridge Boys as they were doing a concert tonight at the grandstand. We did not see them, but they were in the bus, I am sure. The help was installing lights and platforms, etc. that they had taken from the large trailer. We saw them a couple of years ago and they really put on a great show.
We had the opportunity to see a Delcimer band from the Lafayette, IN area. There were several mountain delcimers and one hammer delcimer as well as spoons and other rythem instruments as well as a Penny whistle.
Of course we had to see the swine barn with the largest pig at the fair. He weighed in at 1175 lbs. What a big pig. Sure would make a huge side of bacon. Also there was one of the first litter of pigs born at the fair. Of course, it is lunch time for them and they seemed to be enjoying what mother had for them. We did not get to the horse of cattle barn this year, nor did we get to the Coliseum to see the horse pulls that were being held this afternoon and this evening.
Naturally, we had to eat. My favorite is an Itilian sausage with onions and peppers. I found a stand near the DNR building and the sandwich was quite tasty and quite generous in size. And, as usual we had to have one of my favorites, a Pineapple Whip cone at my favorite stand near the Manufacturers building run by one of my schoolmates from grade school at Castleton Grade School that sat where the north west part of the intersection of 82nd street and I69. We see one another once or twice a year at different functions.
All in all, a very nice day at the Indiana State Fair with only one rain shower that found us inside the FFA building and we stayed dry.

As many of you know we have been trying to sell the house for almost a year. We had a realtor here to look at it and she gave us some pointers to make the house more presentable to the modern family. So, on Tuesday we started out by removing the breakfast bar and making some repairs. We repainted the wall to cover up the repairs and it looks very good. We also purchased new door pulls and drawer pulls for the kitchen cabinets as well as those in the master bath. We also replaced the bath vanity mirror with an oval mirror. We are in the process of replacing the cabinet that held the drop in range with a new range and oven. We painted the ceramic tile and we are now waiting on someone to give us a figure on a replacement counter top. We moved the freezer from the kitchen and replaced it with the refrigerator and a micro wave oven, which looks quite nice. Next week we will possibly get the new stove and dish washer installed and then all will be completed but the counter top. It has really changed the looks of that part of the house.
Sunday we went to church and today we attended a funeral of a good friend from our SS class that died last week at the age of 97. She was still driving and was at church less that a month ago. Quite a good friend and she will be missed.
Tomorrow we will do our normal chores and on Wednesday we will go to the Indiana State Fair for Farmers Day to see all of the old farm equipment, much still in running order.

Sunday was a warm and windy day. As predicted the temperature was in the mid 90's and the humidity was quite high. The hamfest put on by the Hamfester's Radio Club was quite nice with lots of vendors but the
number of attendees was not what I had anticipated. That was confirmed by several of the club members. Probably due to the predicted high temperatures and humidity. We had a fairly good day, but not really what we had expected.
We left Peotone about 3pm and drove to Frankfort, IN where we spent the night. We wanted to go to Lebanon and get fuel at Flying J as they had the best price in the area.
Our trip from Peotone was along a similar route we had taken 2 weeks prior. However, things had changed considerably as the corn was now with ears developing rather than just being in tassel.
The soy beans were much bigger and looking quite good. The wind generators were getting much more plentiful and were a picturesque contrast to the green of the crops they dotted. The weather was much more complimentary to the contrast in colors and the wind generators seemed to just sprout and grow everywhere like weeds in your favorite garden. You could see wind generators all around you in this area.
The court house photo was taken in Frankfort, IN. We will get a photo or the one in Lebanon, but we could only see the top and the clock tower from our route through town. This is one of our favorite things to watch for as we travel the back roads of this country. The highway often takes you to the center of town and half way around the court house and out the other side and back to the beautiful countryside.
Not a lot going on for the next ten days or so when we go to LaPorte, IN for another hamfest, which we hope will be more productive than the last one.

Friday was a day of travel. We got away about 11am and headed north, on the back roads, as usual. We worked our way north and west headed for Peotone, IL. We saw many miles of corn and soybeans as this is big farming country. very little of anything else, other than some nursery stock. We worked our way to Rensselaer and stayed close to St. Joseph College. This is a beautiful rural college town with a very attractive campus.
Today we completed our journey to Peotone and arrived here about noon. We picked our spot for vending and spent the rest of the afternoon getting things set up. It was quite warm and there is a good breeze blowing. Not sure if there are to be any storms in this area tonight or not, there are sorms expeted north of Chicago and possibly through Chicago so it may be possible we will see some bad weather this evening and into the morning. It is supposed to be in the upper 90's tomorrow, so it will be hot and humid. We will be in the shade but that may not help a lot. Hopefully this will be a larger hamfest than the last one we attended here. This one has been going on for a long time. We will probably stay somewhere on our way back as it will be later in the afternoon before we get packed up and gone.

Sunday, the day of rest, found us in Church as usual when we are in the area. Another great ss class and good sermon by one of the associate pastors. When we came out of ss class we found the Pastor and his wife in the northex talking with several people. We found an opportunity to greet them and found out that they had just returned from Alaska. The youth group had been in Alaska on a work camp and the pastor and family drove up in an RV. They just loved the trip and especially the rv part of it. We will get a chance to talk more with them soon.
Monday was a busy day as we were making arrangements to paint the ceramic tile in the kitchen as well as some other things. We were going out of town on Tuesday, so we did get the primer coat on the tile so it could be drying before we put a coat of color on it on Wednesday. Tuesday we left for Cloverdale, IN to pick up an aunt and take her to lunch. We left a little after 10am and shortly after we got on I465 it started raining very hard and the wind was blowing. Traffic was traveling at 25 to 30 mph for several miles. There were leaves and small branches blowing across the highway. We did hit a few hail stones but they were not very big. We finally decided to get off at the Flying J at highway 37 on the south side. As we were waiting for the light, it started letting up and the sky was looking much lighter, so we just went on across the intersection, back on I465 and headed west on I70. It rained off and on for several miles and then the pavement was dry. We picked up aunt Alice Ellen and went to Greencastle to the Putman Inn for lunch. A very nice restaurant, buffet, with a very nice selection of food. Shortly after we got in it started raining and storming. The lights flickered a few times but the power never went off. We had a nice lunch and it had just about quit raining when we left. We took her home and headed back for Fishers. A very nice day and a good visit with her.
Wednesday, we got a coat of color on the tile and it is looking pretty good. We had doubts about painting ceramic tile, but found several articles on the internet telling how to do it. It works and is really looking pretty nice. There are still brush marks in the paint but we will give it another coat the first of next week and do it with a roller which should eliminate the brush marks and just leave a stipple to the finish.
Today, we worked in the kitchen, taking the tape off of the tile, and cleaning up our mess. We met with a realtor this evening and she gave us several tips on things to do in the kitchen and master bath to make it a bit more appealing to prospective buyers. She also suggested we change the counter tops to a more modern color. So we will see about those things next week. Tomorrow we will leave for Peotone, IL for a hamfest on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. We will come part way home on Sunday afternoon and back to Fishers on Monday. Hopefully it will be a good weekend for us.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were just usual days. We did go shopping on our way to dump the holding tanks. We picked up some things to take to the hamfest on Saturday. We stopped at Home Depot to look at some paint and appliances for the kitchen. We have decided we will do some upgrading in the kitchen, change the dish washer and remove the cook top and replace it with a range and oven. We have found the best prices at Menards. We are contemplating painting the ceramic tile on the back splash. We have found several articles on the internet telling how to do just that. We are still debating if it is the thing to do or not. It is currently the 1970's green and we would like to change it to something in a tan shade. We may wait and see what it looks like with the white appliances installed and determine what we will do at that time. In the evening, we went to Noblesville to the County Fairgrounds and attended a very nice Gospel sing. There were several different groups that performed. It started at 6pm and was still going strong when we left about 9pm. I do not know how long it went on but it seemed everyone was having a good time and enjoying the fine gospel music.
Today, Saturday, we went to Joe's hamfest here in town down towards Broad Ripple. It was quite a nice day and lots of hams came out to sell their equipment and it was well attended with many local area hams as well as some from across town and out of town as well. A nice day was had by all and some really good food as well.
Our photos are from our trip to Kentucky in the spring. This is the bridges that cross the Ohio as well as the Mississippi rivers near the junction at Cairo, IL. These are old bridges
even though they are in pretty good condition, they are narrow and passing a semi from the other direction in a big motor home, gets your attention as you are very close to the bridge as well as the unit coming the other way. Both units slow considerably and pass very cautiously.