Ontario to Indiana

We left Kingston on a Tuesday morning and made our way into Toronto after the morning rush hour and before any Torontonians got a chance to take their lunch break. We made a decision around Cobourg that we would take the Express rather than the Collector lanes. This would not have been an option in the old bus – we would have been in the Collector lanes – unable to travel quick enough to be in the Express Lanes.

John felt good about the way our new bus was operating and about our ability to keep up-to-speed with the Express lane traffic - meaning anywhere from 65-75 mph. Another benefit with the Express lanes is that there are fewer on and off ramps – hence, less vehicle-jockeying. So we picked the centre Express lane and stayed there the whole way from Scarborough to Mississauga.

From there, we went onto Sarnia where we crossed the Blue Water Bridge and arrived at Port Huron, Michigan on the US side of the border. No problem there and it was only a few miles more to the Port Huron KOA. We like staying at KOAs when we’re on the road. There’s a certain standard they maintain "so you know what you’re gonna get"! And, this time of year, they’re not as busy so you can feel pretty certain you can get a spot. When we’re on the move, we like the pull-thru sites – no need then to unhook the Jeep.

Our next day took us to Nappanee IN, home of Gulfstream Inc. This is where all Gulfstream products are born - coaches like ours as well as fifth wheels and trailers of all shapes and sizes. Gulfstream is a family-owned business so we learned quickly about their dedication and involvement in the quality of the product delivered. They have a tour every week-day at 1:00 pm and we arrived just in time to be shuttled about the warehouse in an extra-large golf cart. It was pretty neat to see the freightliner chassis and the assembly line workers installing everything from flooring to couches to faucets. It was also neat to learn the cabinet stain is either Maple or Milan!

With the down-turn in the economy, Gulfstream now only produces about 3 coaches a day – down from 15 a day five years ago. Not only does this keep the product alive but also the community. The company also offered RV accommodations and hook-ups for free so we stayed there overnight. Every hour or so, you could hear the clipitty-clop of horse hooves as horse and carriages made their way down past our site. Nappanee is also home to a very large Amish community. Kind of an odd mix, don’t you think? And, Nappanee had an interesting motto to support both lifestyles – “Embrace the pace”.

Here’s a pic I took from the bus as we passed one of the carriages.
Hope you’re enjoying the ride… more to come about the trip from Indiana to Texas… m.