Camping at Indy Lakes, Indianapolis, IN

4001 West Southport Road Indianapolis, IN 46217 (317) 888-6006.

The RV campground we stayed at in Indianapolis, IN is Indy Lakes. I found them a camping guide book and then checked out their website. Our spot was #10. All RV spots are back in. The young couple is the 3rd generation running the lakes.

http://www.indylakes.com/campgrounds.html

There are 3 lakes with a road around all of them. The RV sites are on the other side of that road and the edge of the lake is wide enough to allow primitive tent camping. It was lovely after dark when those campers had a small fire and the flames were bouncing off the water
The lakes are mostly stocked with catfish and carp. The Sat. we were there, the stock truck came from Ohio and we watched them put in over 40 carp. None of them were smaller than 15 pounds and the largest was 30 pounds. They actually weighed it before they put it into the water


Even though a license is not required, since it is privately owned, it is pay to fish. They have ongoing fishing contests all season with the top prize of $10,000.00. The fishermen catch the fish and net them in. Then bring them to the office to be weighed and put into a tank. The fish are held in the tank for a few days and then re-released. They say there is still an 80 pound carp in there.

I loved this power line. Folks were just a little ambitious with their casting.

Gene wandered over to talk to this man who is over 90 years old. He lives nearby and has been fishing here for many years. He told Gene that these lakes are formed from ground water in abandoned gravel pits. The deepest part is over 30 feet.

We had 6 tickets to the race and Gene’s daughter Kathy and Ray came from Maryland and my cousin Ed and Terry came from Florida. It was so special that they drove so far to visit and then to enjoy an event like the Indy 500. I was especially good since they are family.

There are more than RVers, campers and fish living in and around the lake. These 2 Canadian geese families would travel together and take the babies down to the water 2x a day and then wander off.

The whole area has lots of trees including female cotton wood trees. We do not have them in CO but know them from NM. They make long clusters of seedpods that look like grapes, only smaller. At this time of year they burst open and the cotton inside flies and it looks like snow.

There are thousands and thousands from each cluster. Each one looks like 1 piece of dandelion fluff, only smaller and more compact. As the wind blows them, they will build up along the curb, or stones or in the grass.

After the race and everyone was gone and the eBay packages were sent, it was time to kick back and enjoy. Notice the white spots on the water? It is the 'cotton' floating.

We highly recommend this campground and anytime we are crossing the country on I 70 we will drive the few extra miles to stay here for a few days.

Why Do I Sell on eBay?

Flower, I (Love) You, Butterfly on Rice

I think that of the millions and millions of sellers on eBay, each one would have a different answer.

Yesterday I read a post on message board that got me thinking and validating my commitment to our business.

The poster worked in a 2 person office - her and the boss. She did the best job she could do but as time went on the boss started treating her, as her slave. But to complicate it, the boss also treated her as her best friend. In fact she was hoping her helper would go into a craft business with her.

On Sat. the boss called and asked where the info was for the health insurance company and went on to explain that she wanted to pay it because the end of this month was to be the gal's last day!

The gal is now committed to work eBay full time and to be self employed.

Oh boy how many times have we heard or know of someone going through something similar. It seems the more we give to bosses and companies, the more they take and assume they can demand.

I had my own bad experience in New York. The guy had a Yahoo store and my office was in the basement, next to the washer and dryer. His was solely a drop ship business and in the 1st year he grossed 1.5 million dollars. I was the only employee and at times processed over 100 orders a day.

As business grew I was doing work at home (without extra pay - of course) but having that work done made the job easier so it was in my best interest to do it.

One day after lunch I walked into the office and 'the' wife had hung laundry all over the basement. I told her I was leaving and to let me know when the clothes were down.

After that I knew that I would never work for anyone again. Both Gene and I are retired so our time is our own and we have said, many times, that if we weren't doing eBay http://tinyurl.com/d6qyy6 , craft shows or state fairs, what would we be doing? Sitting around watching TV and getting old? Now we can sell while we are RVing, at home - wherever and whenever we want!!

So what do we do at these shows? We write names or simple pictures on both sides of a grain of rice, put it into a tiny glass vial that then becomes a charm for a necklace, key chain, cell phone fob, etc. I typically do not list these on eBay because each one is custom made and there are many choices to get to the finished product.


At the very least our brains are staying very active and it also gives us something to do that we love.

We have met some fantastic eBayers and other vendors face to face in all our travels and have spent time visiting with them. Without exception every one feels like we have been friends forever and there is never a gap in conversation. In fact there is never enough time to visit!


Why we sell what we sell will be the topic of a future blog. And more about our Rice Necklace business too. So check back often.

Traveling / RVing & doing eBay too - Some basics

This is the 1st of a series how to's that we have learned from in our experiences of traveling and continuing our eBay business, both by car and now in the RV.

When we bought our RV we knew we would be selling on the road, so made sure it had lots of storage space. Everything is stored in the plastic bins with tight fitting lids and stored in the 'basement'. Smaller and more valuable items are in their own plastic shoe boxes under the bed.

Hardware - Besides the computer and printer the only way to go is with an air card. I call them a cell phone for a laptop. Most companies have them now and they run about $60.00 a month.

There have been only a few spots where there is no cell phone signal so therefore no air card signal either.

Depending on the size of your business, there is no way to work and keep up with email, questions and sales, looking for someplace that has WiFi. And that is especially true in an RV where you don't have a lot of flexibility on where you park and instant decisions where to turn.

For us and this is just MHO, I hate putting my store on vacation. It is risky business, and hard to get geared up again.

Mailing Packages - It is a good idea to use the zip code you are mailing from. I think this is especially important when it is a priority package - because of the zones - Not so much with 1st class.

Most RV parks will accept outgoing mail. We had one problem when we were parked at a WalMart over night since they do not take outgoing mail! That is a whole 'nther subject and we won't be doing that again anytime soon - only in an emergency!!!!

Shipping - My husband is the shipping department and brings all the materials he would use at home including larger things in the event of large combined purchases. He also brought some priority boxes, with the thinking if he needed more he could get them easy enough from a post office. And if we ran out of something there are always office supply stores.

Merchandise - We have structured what we sell on the road in a way that won't be to heavy or bulky. We left all breakables at home. That took several weeks of planning and organization so the items would expire just before we left.

If you are parked in one place for awhile it is easy to visit thrift shops and yard sales or outlet stores. Don't forget the local Craigslist too!

List the items right away so you don't have to carry them with you very far. But stick to the rule of light things. You don't want them to be heavy and accumulate without selling and you have to haul them.

I am always available to talk eBay so if you are passing through or near Colorado Springs, CO write and lets meet up and visit.

Buying the RV

We love to travel and have done some camping in a camper on a pickup over 15 years ago. Since then all our travel has been in the luxury of motel/hotel rooms.

In 2003 we took a 35 day, 7000 trip from NY down the east coast across the south to Las Vegas, to Colorado and north through South Dakota, Chicago and back to NY. That was so fantastic that we want to do it again, but would rather be more self contained and not have to stay at motels.

As we get older we wonder what our health will be in the future, so this winter we started talking about getting the RV in earnest.

We decided that right then (Dec. 2008) was the exact time to get it. Our rationale was that the prices were down because the dealers were over stocked and gas prices were starting to drop, so more people would be shopping after the holidays.

So what kind to get? Used for sure because new ones are so expensive, and like a car loose, value the minute is is driven off the lot.

**5th wheel - no because we do not have a pickup and we wanted to be self contained and pull the car.
**Class C - that is the one with a van like front and a bunk over the drivers and passengers seats. It is the 1st one we looked at, but unfortunately it did not have alot of storage space.
** Class B - Is like a big bus and we had no interst in that.
**Class A - That is the kind that are all over. Tall and all different lengths. We started thinking a 25' one would be just perfect since it would be small enough to drive around a city and we wouldn't have to pull a car.

After telling the salesman that we intended to not only travel, but wanted to continue selling on eBay and to also set up at flea markets; different state fairs or local street fairs / shows whereever we went. That meant we would need alot of storage.

He showed us a 34' unit that has storage all around the bottom, called a basement. So we made the decision that it would suit our needs and allow us a comfortable home on the road but also give us all the room we needed for storage.

There are 2 kinds of ways to transport the car, a dolly that the front tires rest on and the back tires are on the road or a full trailer that all four tires rest on. The full trailer is less wear and tear on the vehicle but also makes it another 16' longer. We opted for the dolly and an older car that can carry some of the bulkier tables and tent for the shows.

Next was where to park it? Our driveway is 4' too short and we could not park it on the street or in our yard because of restrictive convenants. We were lucky to find an RV park and storage facility not to far from our home, for a resasonable monthly rent.

When we left the sales yard, they gave us a several hour long, thorough, walk though explaining everything to us. The one thing they suggested was for us to video tape that walk through so we would have the info with us on any trip, we would take.

There are so many people who have RV-ed or are RV-ing and want to help. Another friend will give us another walk throught before we leave for the 1st time.

Next planning the trip and supplying the RV.