Last Updated: July 12, 2026
Northern Indiana is the RV capital of the world. Elkhart County alone produces the majority of motorhomes, travel trailers, and fifth wheels sold in the United States, and many of them are built in whole or in part by Amish craftsmen — a workforce renowned for the quality and care of their woodworking. Newmar Corporation is headquartered in Nappanee, Indiana, and after several years on the road in our Dutch Star, it was time for annual maintenance and a list of repairs that had accumulated on the last leg of the trip. We made the four-and-a-half hour drive north from Shepherdsville, Kentucky, arriving in early April 2020 — right in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. The service center stayed open as an essential business, but Nappanee itself was largely shut down.
Newmar Service Center: Located at 600 Newmar Drive, Nappanee, IN 46550. Service appointments are required and should be scheduled well in advance — wait times for non-emergency service can be several months. Visit newmarcorp.com or call (574) 773-7791 for scheduling and service inquiries. The customer lounge is dog-friendly with dedicated pet areas and outdoor runs.
Nappanee, Indiana
Nappanee is a small but lively city that under normal circumstances would have kept us well supplied and entertained. The town has a strong arts culture and has made a point of filling its downtown streets with public sculptures and installations that rotate periodically — a program that gives Main Street a distinctive character and gives visitors an easy reason to wander. In April 2020, though, COVID-19 had emptied it. Everything but essential businesses was closed, most restaurants were shut including carryout service, and the streets were eerily quiet. On the positive side — and this was genuinely exciting at the time — there was toilet paper.
Both times we have visited Nappanee, the city has had themed public art installations scattered along Main Street and throughout the downtown area. On our first visit in 2017, decorated apple sculptures filled the streets. This time, the theme was the “Junkyard Dogs” — and as people who have never met a dog sculpture we did not like, we were immediately enthusiastic.
The Junkyard Dogs were scattered primarily along Main Street, each one constructed from salvaged mechanical parts, scrap metal, and industrial castoffs — junk transformed into art. Walking the empty downtown to find each one was a genuine highlight of an otherwise quiet week. With the streets completely deserted due to COVID, we practically had the whole installation to ourselves.
As dedicated dog people, the Junkyard Dogs installation felt almost personally curated for us. Jake would have approved — though he probably would have had some strong opinions about a few of them.
The painted apple sculptures from our 2017 visit had since been retired from the street and relocated to a dedicated “Apple Grove,” where they were still very much on display. Sandy found the one painted with 1965 — her birth year — and declared it her favorite. The apples and the Junkyard Dogs together made Nappanee feel like a town that genuinely invests in making itself a more interesting place, even during the strangest of times.
Newmar Service Center
Newmar had moved its service center to a new location since our 2017 visit and built an impressive new customer lounge to go along with it. The facilities were a significant upgrade — comfortable seating, good wifi, and, most importantly for us, a dedicated dog area with furniture pads and outdoor access. For an entire week, we were the only ones in the dog lounge. Last time, we had camped out in their dog-friendly laundry room. This was considerably better.
The Newmar staff were remarkable throughout the whole visit — frequently wiping down surfaces with disinfectant, maintaining distance, and keeping everyone as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. For a week-long service stay during a pandemic, we could not have asked for more attentive hosts. Sandy worked remotely from the lounge each day, with Jake the dog firmly installed on her lap as her unofficial coworker.
On our second day, it snowed — a wet, heavy April snow that was gone within 24 hours but gave Jake the dog an opportunity he greeted with full Great Dane enthusiasm. The rest of the week brought torrential rain and wind gusts up to 50 mph, which meant bringing in the motorhome slides and riding out the storms in the lounge. The weather made everything feel a bit more dramatic than a routine service visit usually warrants.
Beyond standard annual maintenance, two of our slides had been leaking water. The service team quickly identified the source of one — insufficient sealant, a straightforward fix. The other had been intermittently problematic for years, defying prior repair attempts. They worked at it thoroughly, and we thought they had it solved — until the next rainstorm proved otherwise.
Because the overhead cabinets had been removed to access the slide wall, we were actually present when the source revealed itself during one of the torrential rainstorms — water appeared right at the locking mechanism. During production, a bolt had been overtightened, cracking the locking mechanism and distorting its gasket, creating the slow, elusive leak that had been frustrating us for years. Finally knowing the cause was enormously satisfying, even if the fix took the rest of our stay. Complicating matters, some of the materials needed to repair the water-damaged cabinets were on the production side of the facility, which had closed due to COVID, causing delays we simply had to wait out.
The windshield had also accumulated chips and cracks over thousands of miles of highway driving — including one significant crack that had finally grown large enough to warrant replacement. Replacing the windshield meant Newmar needed the motorhome overnight, which meant we got to stay in a hotel. We had previously stayed at Oakwood Resort in Syracuse, Indiana, about 40 minutes away, and happily headed back. Their restaurant had shifted to carryout-only service due to COVID, but the food was genuinely excellent — a welcome change after a week of limited options.
Oakwood Resort sits on a beautiful lake. Being early spring, the water was quiet — just a handful of boats out — and the grounds were peaceful in the way that resorts only are when they are well below capacity. It felt almost like having the place to ourselves.
Oakwood was nearly empty. Jake the dog commandeered the hotel bed immediately and spent the evening monitoring the parking lot through the windows for other dogs and squirrels. We enjoyed something we had not had access to in weeks on the road: a proper bathtub. Sometimes the small things matter most.
Practical Tips for Newmar Service in Nappanee
Schedule service as far in advance as possible. Newmar’s service center books up quickly — wait times for non-emergency appointments can run several months. If you know you will need service during a trip, call well before your intended visit window.
Plan for a multi-day stay. Even routine annual service takes several days. More complex repairs — especially anything involving slides, water systems, or structural elements — can extend to a week or more. The customer lounge is comfortable and wifi-equipped, making it workable for remote workers.
The lounge is dog-friendly. Newmar provides a dedicated pet area in the customer lounge with outdoor access and furniture covers. If you are traveling with a dog, confirm the current pet policy when you book — it was one of the most thoughtful aspects of our visit.
Walk Nappanee’s Main Street. The downtown area is compact and easy to explore on foot. The rotating public art installations — the Junkyard Dogs during our visit, painted apple sculptures from an earlier visit — are genuinely worth seeing, and the Apple Grove is a short walk from the main strip.
Oakwood Resort in Syracuse makes a good overnight option. About 40 minutes from the Newmar service center, Oakwood Resort sits on a beautiful lake and offers a comfortable alternative if your motorhome is needed overnight. Worth having in your back pocket if a windshield replacement or other overnight repair comes up.
Northern Indiana has much more to offer. The broader Elkhart County region is rich in Amish country experiences — farm stands, furniture shops, bakeries, and buggy-dotted back roads that feel like a step into a different world. If your schedule allows extra time around a service visit, it is worth exploring.
