Another stop further into Indiana

Dunewood Campground campsite, the first place
we weren't able to get our satelite dish to work  due
to all the trees overhead!

It's now 9/11/11.  I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of our campsite here, so prior to our departure I snapped this shot.  This campsite was where I decided that I needed to have a campfire... no, I didn't cause a forest fire, ok?  But after we came back from the night glow the previous night, I sat outside trying to have a campfire in the campfire pit behind the moho.  Somewhere along the way, the wood had gotten wet, and despite how much lighter fluid I poured onto the wood, it would never light.    (Funny about how nonflammable wet wood is, huh?)  Having not been successful in having the desired effect on the wood, I just left it for the next camper who would probably be able to light it.  This campground had very few campers in it besides us and the germans across the street from us, and that was ok as we don't always have to have lots of people around us.  

We had to leave fairly early because we had a lot of places to go to that day.  Because it's been so long since this stuff happened to us, I can't say for a fact that everything is going to be correct, so please forgive me if there's an untruth somewhere along the way.  Our destination was Beaver Ridge Family Campground (part of the Passport America network) located in Lakeville, Indiana which is near South Bend, Indiana.  It wasn't until we did a little research that we found out about the heritage of South Bend.  We went to several places that day, starting with the Studebaker National Museum next to the Joseph D. Oliver House, and ending up with a visit to Notre Dame.


After going to the Studebaker National Museum, I was impressed with the motto of the Studebaker brothers: "Always give more than you promise".  What a motto to live by, huh?  That would be a real sign of quality.  Strangely enough, when I was a young man (many) years ago, I never thought much of Studebakers, and at that time they were facing economic woes which I thought was the cause of their cars being less than desirable.  The photos I have aren't of anything really exciting, with the exception of the 1951 Studebaker Commander that was in "The Muppet Movie".   Never thought I'd be able to see that car, but it sure did bring back memories once I saw it because "The Muppet Move" is one of my faves.  Remember what Fozzie said as he was traveling with Kermit:  "A bear in his natural habitat: A Studebaker".  Haven't seen too many other bears driving down the road in any kind of car, let alone a Studebaker!  Looking at the pictures below, I can't say that they're very exciting either, but it was neet seeing this old Studebaker in one of my favorite movies.  Having said all that, I urge you to rent or get that movie and watch it tonight.  I'd do that as well, but I already have the movie.

There's a fund raising drive on restore the
Fozzie-mobile, so if you want to contribute,
check out the website of the Studebaker
National Museum in South Bend, In.

A driver drove the car from the trunk.
Sorry if you had your hearts set on
knowing that a bear could actually drive.

From the Studebaker Museum, we went a few yards to the Oliver Mansion right next door to the museum.  The Oliver Mansion, Copshaholm, was the home of the Oliver family, who made the Oliver Cold Plow, which was a breakthrough back in the day as their plows lasted for a long, long time. We were told that there were many still in use in third world countries, or farms that still use plows pulled behind a horse.  From what we understood, descendants of the Oliver family didn't want the mansion when the original family had all passed.  They turned it over with all the furnishing, pots and pans, books, and various assorted knick - knacks.  We went through it the following day because all of the tours were booked by the time we got through the Studebaker Museum.  Pictures aren't allowed to be taken when tourists are inside, so if ya want to find out what it looks like inside, surf the web, or find another means of seeing what it's like inside.  It's really quite nice.  

As the Studebaker mansion was only a few blocks from where we already were, we headed there next.  Clement Studebaker, the co-founder of Studebaker Corporation, was fairly well off in the mid-1800's, and built another mansion along the same lines as the Oliver Mansion.  My sources are a little shaky here, so bear with me on what I'm saying as it may not be 100% correct.  Tippecanoe Place was a grand residence that was started in 1868 with 40 rooms and 20 fireplaces, but Clement lived in it only from 1889 - 1901.  Somewhere along the line, there was a fire which destroyed the entire top floor.  After Clement passed, the mansion stayed in the family with his son, George, living there until 1933 when the mansion was lost for financial reasons.  The mansion was vacant until 1941 when it was turned into a school for handicapped children, but was used by the Red Cross during WWII.  It's now a very fancy restaurant called (what else) Tippecanoe Place where the food and atmosphere are really nice, and we ate dinner there and toured the grounds.  I haven't included any photos here since the link to the restaurant has a bunch of photos better than the ones I have.  

Notre Dame Cathedral

This was already a long day, but when Katie gets it into her head that there's only a short time for seeing stuff, I do the best I can to hang on.  Her agenda wasn't going to be complete until we had gone to Notre Dame.  While it didn't take very long to get there, it took a long time to find a place to park and then to walk to where we were going to go on the campus.  The grounds are well kept, the whole place looked really nice.  Of course it was September so there wasn't any cold, white stuff on the ground either.  We went inside the Cathedral which was really nice and there was an organist practicing while we were there.  Would've stayed longer as one of my motorhoming goals is to listen to as many organ concerts as possible, but there just wasn't enough time.  From there, we walked along the path that led to the Grotto where we spent a little reflective time thinking about how blessed we were to be spending the time traveling around.

The Grotto at Notre Dame

We started heading back to the car when at one particular instant (I'm thinking it was like a bell was being rung or something letting everyone know classes were out, or evening Vespers were taking place), out of the dormitories came LOTS of people all heading in one direction.  Katie, being the extravert she was and still is, had no problem asking someone where everyone was going.  As it was 9/11/11, there was a memorial service to all who had died 10 years before.  After much cajoling on Katie's part trying to get me to go to this service, I acquiesced, and we just got in line with everyone else heading for the commons area.  Luckily, there were chairs set up as I'm not gonna attempt to stand up for long periods of time anymore.  There was, I dunno, probably over 2,000 people taking part in this service hearing the sermon, and a lot of songs.  It wasn't over until after 9 PM when there was a candle light walk to the Grotto in silence.  We didn't take part in the walk but the line was so long getting to the Grotto, I know that it took a long time getting there because it took us a long time to get out of the commons.  

Candlelight walk to the Grotto of Notre Dame on 9/11/11

It was a long day and it was good to head back to our home on wheels where our doggies were keeping the place safe.  We were gonna hit the ground running the next day as well and were glad to hit the bed so we could have some much deserved rest.  But it was really interesting seeing what was in South Bend; I urge anyone who is in the area of South Bend to stop there and take in the sights.