Indiana - Day 4 - Shipshewana Flea Market

Middlebury KOA
Tuesday, 4 June 2019

today's route

Before I started my trip, I'd read that flea markets in this area are a good place to find Amish woodcraft items.  And this KOA advertises a shuttle service to the Shipshewana Flea Market, which is open only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  So I planned my stay around that and made a reservation for the shuttle.

Because I never leave the dogs for more than an hour or so, I decided today to bribe them before I left.  I put some little treats in a Kong and stopped up the opening with a little peanut butter, and I gave Lily some treats she only gets at bedtime.  They were so happy they probably wish I'd leave every day.

While I was waiting in the office for the shuttle driver to get freed up from his other duties, another couple came in asking for driving directions to the flea market.  They hadn't heard about the shuttle so they decided to keep me company on the ride.  Nice couple.

The woman was really excited to spread the word about a group called Family Motor Coach Association which, she said, had wonderful benefits.  Last year her husband had unexpectedly ended up with medical problems while on a trip and this group, she later learned, would have paid travel expenses for her and him and their 2 dogs and their RV - or something like that.  I checked their website later, and I'm sure it's all she said but I'm not sure I'm ready for something like that now.

Speaking of which, my cousin Angie wrote me a couple of weeks ago about another group called Escapees, and their website, too, shows a lot of benefits to membership.  Maybe sometime when I've got more time I can check these groups out a little more thoroughly.  Right now I'm okay just muddling along, even with the nuisances that muddle can bring.

Anyway, back to the flea market.  https://shipshewanatradingplace.com  I almost never go to things like this so don't know how much this one is like/better/worse than any of the others.  It covers a huge area and is almost entirely separate little shops of all kinds.  What they seemed to have most of is your basic imported junk - a zillion different items in plastic, or shoes or socks or cheap clothing.  Occasionally I'd see a store that had actual handmade items in it - jewelry, glass items, woodworking.  There were several stands with baked goods.  Lots and lots of potted plants.

I suspect the real activity is when they have auctions.  I walked through a huge barn that was getting filled up with all kinds of stuff that would be auctioned off tomorrow.

I'd expected to find fresh foods and eggs and farm products and was surprised to find almost none of that.  I found one - count it - one produce stand, and all she had were peaches and tomatoes.  I figured she was just the first one I'd run across and I'd check out others before buying anything.  And after I'd walked around for a while I realized she was it - the only produce stand.  And then I couldn't find her again and walked a whole lot longer before finally finding her.  I'm afraid the dogs won't get the walks they deserve after I get back.

There are several permanent stores and I (still in a quest for eggs) went to Yoder's Meats and Cheeses.  Like a Hickory Farms store.  But they had other farm products, too - dairy products like butter and yogurt and - yea! - eggs.

I only took one photo at the flea market, and this doesn't illustrate the real character of this item.  This little Cinderella doll is stalled on the edge of her mat, but when she's on a smooth surface she twirls around and the panels of her dress fly up and there are lights underneath and she sings "You Are My Sunshine."  I was stunned, as were others in the crowd around me.

While I was waiting for the shuttle to come back and pick me up, I saw several of these buggies and finally got a photo of one - those horses move along at a brisk clip.

The following are the items I bought:

tomatoes & peaches, eggs, Yoder's cheddar and Polish sausage, an Amish blackberry hand pie, and a Nancy Drew book - quite a haul, I thought

I was especially excited about the Nancy Drew book because I've been reading the early John Grisham novels (I don't care for his later ones), and the next batch of books I'm going to read are Jane Austen's novels, and I've been having a hard time figuring out how to transition from one to the other.  I just read the Nancy Drew that Anna sent me for Christmas before I started the John Grishams, so I didn't want to reread it so soon, so this new one hit the spot.

I've been spending my days, aside from the little trips I've made and walking the dogs, by looking up all the things I have on the list of things to see in Indiana that I made during my pre-trip research.  I've noticed in other states that some of the attractions on that state's list are now closed, or the entrance fee is higher than I want to pay, or the website describes a place I'm really not that interested in seeing.  So in Indiana I'm trying for the first time to look up everything before I start running around the state.  I learned in Ohio that it really helped me get to things by listing places I wanted to visit grouped by location - the Columbus area, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton areas - like that.  So I'm trying it in Indiana, only this time at the beginning of the month rather than halfway through.  We'll see how this strategy works out.

And for supper I had some really good Polish sausage with crackers and wonderful peaches and a small spinach salad.  Great food.