A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 238 miles from Shipshewana, Indiana to Newbury, Ohio.
Month: June 2025
Travel from Shipshewana, Indiana to Newbury, Ohio
We drove our coach 238 miles, about five hours of driving, from Shipshewana, Indiana to Newbury, Ohio.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Departing; we cut through the empty site in front of us for an easier exit:
Amish rush hour:
Angola roundabout column:
“Welcome to Ohio, the heart of it all”:
Ohio Turnpike:
The Ohio Turnpike service plazas have RV hookups, with 20, 30, and 50 amp electricity, and nearby potable water and dump station, for only $20. Though limited to 40 feet; we could only fit if we disconnected our truck and parked it elsewhere:
Huge truck parking area:
Tiffin River Service Plaza — notable for us as we have a Tiffin motorhome:
BK for lunch:
Plus Starbucks coffee:
Back to our coach:
Back on the Ohio Turnpike, aka I-80 and I-90:
Covered pile in a maintenance area, I guess sand or salt for snow:
Another Ohio Turnpike toll plaza:
Another large service plaza:
Rough road:
They weren’t kidding:
Yet another large service plaza:
Exiting the turnpike:
I-480 East:
Big geodesic dome over the world HQ of ASM International:
Punderson State Park:
Camping check-in station:
Our site… once again, not entirely level:
Flushing the gray tank
Our coach has a black tank flush, where it can rinse out the toilet tank, but doesn’t have a similar mechanism for the gray tank. It generally gets cleaned out by filling it up with soapy water from showers, laundry, and sink usage, but occasionally an extra rinse is beneficial.
To do that, one could just close the gray dump valve and let it fill up with regular usage, or one could fill it via the dump valve.
To do the latter, I have a Camco Dual Flush Pro Holding Tank Rinser, which connects in the sewer pipe and includes a gate valve and hose connection, and a knob to direct the water towards the tank or towards the outlet:
By closing the gate valve, opening the gray valve in the wet bay, and turning on the water, it backs up into the gray tank.
To avoid over-filling the tank, I watch the level indicator in the wet bay, and also a water flow meter connected to the hose:
Here’s the whole setup, including the wet bay:
For best results, this can be combined with Liquified Tank & Sensor Cleaner, to give a deep clean of the tank.
Shipshewana Campground – South Park
We stayed at Shipshewana Campground – South Park in Shipshewana, Indiana. (Campground Reviews listing.)
An overnight stop.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-05-26
- Check out: 2025-05-27
- 1 night
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temp 71°F, low 52°F
- A little wind, gusts to 19 MPH
Noise:
- Some road noise
- No train horn noise
- Little neighbor noise
Site:
- #105, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
- Seemed like a level site; used air leveling, since only one night
- Gravel driveway about 75 feet long by 10 feet wide
- 15 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Small tree
- Clean site
- Elevation 910 feet, front facing North
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, very conveniently located
- DIdn’t use water or sewer, since only one night
Internet (in usage priority order):
- RoamLink: 43-52 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 118 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
- AT&T: 17-38 Mbps down, 0.4 Mbps up, 100 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Fairly basic campground
We stayed here for one night on our way through Indiana. Easy in/out access, and the interior roads were easy to navigate. The sites were a bit narrow, but sufficient for a short stop. Our pull-through site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle without having to disconnect. We camped at Shipshewana Campground – South Park in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Other sites:
Indoor pavilion and bathrooms:
Office:
Just an overnight stop, but seemed a decent enough campground, though the sites were a little tight.
Video: Buckley, Michigan to Shipshewana, Indiana motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 220 miles from Buckley, Michigan to Shipshewana, Indiana.
Travel from Buckley, Michigan to Shipshewana, Indiana
We drove our coach 220 miles, about four hours of driving, from Buckley, Michigan to Shipshewana, Indiana.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Detour due to a parade:
Downhill:
US-131 South:
Rest area:
Nice sploot:
Heavy traffic:
Grand Rapids:
Fuel stop:
“The Kalamazoo Promise”:
US-131 South:
“More to Discover in Indiana”, but where’s the pride in the sign?
An Amish buggy with a trailer:
Amish buggy parking:
Our destination:
Pull forward to register:
Our site for one night:
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
We visited Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan.
The visitor center:
Map and info:
Covered bridge on a scenic drive:
Picnic lunch:
View of dunes from an overlook:
Lake:
Scenic drive:
“Avoid getting stuck at the bottom! … Rescues cost $3000”:
Steep dune and Lake Michigan:
Blacksmith in a historic village:
Inn:
Canning building:
Dune climb:
The Omlette Shoppe
We had breakfast at The Omelette Shoppe in Traverse City, Michigan.
Cinnamon roll:
Eggs Benedict and hash browns:
German omelette:
Also pancakes:
Tasty stuff.
Traverse City KOA Holiday
We stayed at Traverse City KOA Holiday in Buckley, Michigan. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A fairly standard KOA, undergoing a major expansion.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-05-18
- Check out: 2025-05-26
- 8 nights
Weather:
- Cloudy with a little rain
- High temps 47-62°F, lows 38-46°F
- Some wind, gusts to 26 MPH
Noise:
- Some road noise
- No train horn noise
- Little neighbor noise
- For part of the week, noise from earthworks on new campsites
- Plus compost smells from the topsoil when the wind came from that direction
Site:
- #140, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Mostly level site; a little high on driver side and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
- 25 feet to neighbor on passenger side
- No neighbor on driver side; about 15 feed to road
- Just grass between sites
- Patio table and chairs on concrete patio
- Fire pit
- Young trees
- Clean site
- Elevation 1030 feet, front facing NW
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
- 55 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 218-260 Mbps down, 15-20 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 500-560 Mbps down, 13-16 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: 30 Mbps down, 3-6 Mbps up, 10 ms ping
- AT&T: 33-77 Mbps down, 0.5-1.5 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
- Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Amenities:
- Garbage pickup from site
- Pool
- Pizza, firewood, ice delivery to site
- Package delivery to office
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Decent KOA undergoing expansion
While we were in the park, they were in the process of doing earthmoving and site preparation for an additional 60 or so 50A full-hookup sites, some of which will be seasonal. As a result, we had to deal with construction noise and smell for a few days, which detracted from the experience. But the campground is nice, with some extra amenities and touches that made it stand out a bit from a typical KOA (pizza, wood, and ice delivery to your site, for instance). We had a deluxe patio site, which was about 100 feet long, so plenty long enough for our motorhome and tow vehicle (with room for another if we’d needed it). The patio had a table and chairs, as well as another seating area, even though it was too cold and rainy during our stay to want to sit outside much. We camped at Traverse City KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Venture into Traverse City: Rare Bird Brewery offers excellent food and beverages (the Schmackintosh cider is a favorite). The Omelette Shoppe offered delicious breakfast and brunch options.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
A nice patio, that we didn’t use as the temperature was unseasonably cold during our stay:
Earthworks for new sites in front of our site:
Other sites:
Cabins:
Playground:
Jump pads:
Dog park:
Shade garden (which I added as a PokéStop for you Pokémon Go players out there!):
The construction noise and smells were a little annoying, but other than those, this was a nice enough campground; we’d be happy to stay here again in the future.
Video: St Clair to Buckley, Michigan motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 323 miles from St Clair to Buckley, Michigan.