Today, after a lazy morning, we set out to explore The Town of Rising Sun, Indiana. According to a shop owner, it was an even smaller town until the casino came here. (Sound familiar?) Downtown consists of a lot of funky stores, art shops and galleries. One shop in particular is really unique and we were looking forward to exploring it, Harps on Main . Unfortunately it is closed now until February. Apparently they make and sell harps and are renowned worldwide; we're sorry we missed it.

The town is built along the shores of the Ohio River. It is a large, fast flowing river and appears to be quite muddy. Right now it seems very high and there is evidence that recently there has been some flooding. Here, like us, they are experiencing an extremely mild winter. Their casino, the Grand Victoria Casino is built on a riverboat. Apparently, at one time the casinos had to cruise the river in order to be legal but now they are allowed to be permanently docked. There is a huge hotel complex built all along the shore but the actual gaming is all housed on the boat, which you wouldn't even realize unless it is pointed out to you or you see it from further down the river.

Today, I have learned that there are two kinds of "Fulltimers". There are the mobile fulltimers, like us and there are the permanent fulltimers whose only homes are their trailers or fifth wheels permanently parked. Sadly, it seems that they have nothing else and their locales are usually pretty run down and junky. In this part of the world, fulltiming is NOT always a neat lifestyle! There are a lot of trailer parks along the riverbank, most of them an eyesore. It makes you appreciate the bylaws etc. that are in place in Ontario to prevent that from happening there.

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