Saturday, December 31, 2016

November 2016 - Maintenance Continues



November found us on a continuation of our "maintenance trip" in Indiana and Ohio but by the end of the month we did finally make a turn south. http://www.rvparky.com/trip/5847367115341824

When we left off last month we were back in Decatur, IN to finish up with REV (American Coach’s service facility). On our last trip to Decatur we ordered two manual awnings…..To explain the two, our coach came from the factory with a Girard electric awning package, that actually is top of the line and pretty expensive. However, when something breaks repairs are also pretty expensive. In this case our bedroom window awning motor had quit and after pricing just the motor at $1200, plus $240 labor for install. To heck with that! Remove the entire electric awning and replace with a manual. The other?  For a long time I wanted to get a manual window awning over the living room window next to my chair. This window always relied on the main patio awning to shade the window, but because of the height above the window and its configuration it just didn’t do a very good job of shading. I must say the factory did a very nice job in the retrofit from electric to manual as the two different awnings were from entirely different manufacturers and were completely different.  Now we only have one electric window awning left and will likely replace it with  a manual in the future. This whole event only took a couple days but we were in no hurry to leave so as our next appointment would not be until the coming Monday so we camped in REV’s parking lot campground  through the weekend.


Finally, on Monday the 7th, we hooked up and prepared to head to our next appointment destination. This was a short 40 mile drive to Cruising American in Celina, OH. Here we met with owner Kevin Mallory for yet a bit more work….lol. Kevin doesn’t have a website but he has an outstanding shop. He and his sidekick were both techs at the
American Coach Factory for many years and they really know their stuff. Our main reason for this stop was to have our tank gauges changed out. We decided to go with SeaLevel Tank Gauges from https://www.garnetinstruments.com/rv-shop/ 
This install removes all gauges from the inside of your tanks and places the new electronic sensors to the outside of the tanks…..They work great!
Remember I said that was our main reason to visit Kevin but when you have an RV, there are ALWAYS additional repairs that need to be completed….lol! Unfortunately when we left Auburn, IN another fix-it project added to our list - while we were pulling in the living room slide we blew out an upper slide seal..ugh So guess what else were having looked at. We were a bit concerned because that is a major seal on the slide. However, upon inspection by Kevin he determined it was actually the sweep seal as opposed to the slide seal. Easier to fix and less money! Unfortunately, that is apparently a proprietary seal from the factory and Kevin was not able to order one. This could have been a big problem but remember we were only 40 miles from Decatur. Susan and I jumped in the truck and made a quick trip back to the factory to buy the seal allowing Kevin to continue to work.  Day One work with Cruising America started on the 8th - tank gauges prepped for install, seal purchased and planning for completion by the end of Day Two.
But the fun didn’t stop there. We pulled out of the bay to park for the night and relax…..Oh, no - this was Election day and the night was young. I vowed to stay up to see the winner announced and  I was not alone! Many of my Face Book friends were awake with me. AS the results came in we were rapidly typing back and forth posting our thoughts and opinions. Most of us made it to the final
results but  my dear wife Susan gave up about 0130. I sure missed her because she had spent the evening working the internet getting updates while I was keeping track of the news on FOX and CNN and posting our combined intel. We make a heck of a team.  Once the election was called, I finally got to bed about 0320. The night was long but it was worth it, at least until the alarm went off at 0700.

Day Two pretty much took the entire day to complete guage install and replace the sweep seal. It may have completed a bit earlier BUT before they said we were done I came up with another little project. I decided to have them install another electrical outlet so that I could plug in the new electric recliner that we would be picking up in a few days. You know it’s the important things in life. Kevin was gracious enough to allow us use of his parking lot one more night. Thank you Kevin for outstanding quality work! Hopefully we are done with repairs for awhile.  
Too many cars to pick just one!
On departing Kevin’s we headed BACK NORTH as we have furniture to pick up and a roof to get repaired. However, we do have a couple days to burn so we decided it was time for a little fun. We stopped back at Fireside Resort http://www.firesideresort.com/  in Auburn Indiana. There were still a few things we wanted to see in Auburn, most especially the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum. http://www.automobilemuseum.org/#home.html.

All I can say about this place is WOW! If you in any way like cars and history, this is a car museum you have to see. Right behind this museum is the National Automotive and Truck Museum http://natmus.org/. Another outstanding museum dedicated to automotive history and a must see if you are in the area. Unfortunately, I was once again dealing with some pretty bad health issues and we were very much hampered in our walk around of all these fabulous cars. Thankfully we had all the time we needed, were not rushed and were able to take a few minutes to relax as we ambled through all the tires and steel. This was a fairly quick couple of days and we are once again rolling.
Almost mid-November and here we are back in Elkhart, IN and back at Mastertech RV. This time we are here so they can re-do our roof from the last visit. We don’t know what to expect, except they have assured us it would be taken care of. Because we arrived on Saturday and our apt was on Monday we had a little time to explore. What do you do in Elkhart, IN on a Sunday? You go visit Notre Dame University! That was one of the most beautiful campuses I think I have seen. It took us a bit of time to find the entrance and a parking spot, but there was virtually no one around and we took advantage of it. We didn’t walk around a whole lot, but the main grounds in front of the gold dome and the immediate surrounding buildings are really inspiring and almost breathtaking. The history and the architecture – if only the walls could talk. There is no doubt tons of Catholic Dollars have been dedicated to this facility. We pretty much spent the whole day on this site seeing adventure.
Awe inspiring!
Back to the coach and Monday (November 14th) morning finds us up at 6 AM and in the shop once again. It didn’t take long and it was decided that we would once again be back in a hotel room – this time on Mastertech’s dime. Susan and I grabbed our travel bags, a few food items and we are on our way to our new home for a couple days.
Susan and I have decided to make the best out of every situation, and this is no different. We wake up Tuesday morning ready for another adventure as we were not far from Nappanee, IN, the home of Newmar Motorhomes - off to the Newmar factory for a tour. http://www.newmarcorp.com/ This was interesting for Susan and I for a couple reasons. 1. We owned a Newmar Mountain Aire motorhome before our current American Eagle and 2. We had seen the American factory so we could make some comparisons.  I was very impressed with the cleanliness and the way in which their line moved. There was very little chatter, or talking between employees which was odd, as the American factory was filled with music from radios all over the place and their employees talking, laughing and carrying on. I will say that while both are outstanding coaches, I was more impressed with the Newmar factory. It is hard to describe, but it was very professional, clean and well organized, the workers had such a routine that they almost seemed to be reading each other’s minds – it was that smooth.  

After a couple days in the hotel and another long day in a waiting room our coach is ready to go – again. I had made several inspections during the process this time and I can say it is finally right.

                          No time to waste as we have an appointment at
Getting ready for new furniture
Lambright’s to pick up the furniture we ordered last
The recliner really is full size - I assure you!
month.  Susan needed to get her couch as she had been sitting in a lawn chair for the past week  and really did not appear to be impressed…lol.  Lambright’s went off without a hitch. They helped install, made sure everything worked, made sure we were happy, took our money and poof, we were on the road again.

It had been a LONG day so we didn’t drive far but it is still after dark when we arrive at http://timberlinevalleyrvresort.com/. We didn’t get to see much as this was just a one night stop over but from what we were able to see we need to revisit this park. It was late when we pulled in but yet the staff was friendly and even escorted us to our site - always a nice bonus when arriving in the dark at a place you have never been before..


November 17, 2016 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOMINICK!
We celebrated Dominick’s birthday with a phone call full of well wishes for him and setting up for a few days of much needed rest for us at Thousand Trails Diamond Caverns in Park City, KY. https://www.thousandtrails.com/kentucky/diamond-caverns-rv-golf-club/
Our original plan when we started this whole new life back in August had been to spend three weeks here but maintenance stops and reworks had us pushing the days back and back again. All told we were only able to spend a week here but this is another place we will someday revisit.



We had a great time while here and I was able to get a couple of things accomplished that I had been wanting to do for a long time. We went to the Corvette Factory and Museum in Bowling Green, KY http://www.corvettemuseum.org/. The Corvette Museum and Factory is something I have always wanted to do. Susan and I have owned a couple different Corvettes over the years and will likely own another one someday. Seeing how they are made and the history of them was a lot of fun. “Man o man do I gotta get me one of them new C7 Z06’s! Yeah, I see one in my future…”
2007 Atomic Orange C6 ZO6 - Ok, this one was not in the museum but DAMN it's a nice 'vette and I'd love to have it back!

Did someone say there is a Cabela’s in Bowling Green?  Well yes there is and you know we had to visit there as well. Neither of us had ever seen a Cabela’s as small as this one and we were informed it is the smallest Cabela’s in the US - surprisingly it is only a couple of years old.

I was also able to treat Susan to a rare meeting of yet another cousin. You would be surprised at how few cousins she has actually met but the nomadic life of the Coast Guard did not often place us near family over the years. My cousin Shawn Ellis and his girlfriend, Becky Hoover, live only a couple hours from our campground and came to spend a day with us before we left Kentucky. I had not seen Shawn in probably 20 years or more so it was fun to catch back up. Shawn and I used to do some, uh fun stuff growing up…lol Probably safer to leave that right there. It was a great visit and “We really appreciate you coming by Shawn, let’s not wait so long next time.”
Susan’s highlight for November was the Mammoth Cave Domes and Dripstones tour https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/winter-schedule.htm.  All of the cave tours were not open because of time of year but the park rangers told us this was the best one and they were not kidding. Be advised though that if you are well grown (BIG) or have an issue with tight places you
probably want to skip this…  Some areas of the cave were pretty tight for us man size people and we had a couple in the group that were less than comfortable with the tightness of some of the places we had to go through.  At one point on this cave trip we were 500+ feet BELOW ground level. There are no elevators in this cave, so if you have an issue with stairs you probably don’t want this trip either.  Just remember if you go down 500 feet below ground level, you have to go back up!
Diamond Caverns has now come and gone as we put it in our rearview mirror and started our journey to see our daughter. After all, seeing our daughter and being a part of her graduation from Appalachian State University has been our goal for hanging out in this area anyway. Susan doesn’t like for me to drive very far in a day anymore and actually I am quite happy about this -so we break this 400 mile trip in half and stop for an overnight in Sevierville, TN at http://www.riversidecamp.com/. What a nice facility with tons of room. We really liked his place and we will be back for certain.

Before our journey even began back in August, I had made reservations for us to stay at Thousand Trails Forrest Lake in Advance, NC from November 23 – December 14, 2016. Unfortunately, this park is about two hours from where our daughter lives, but hey it is “free” for us and we like free… in case you are unfamiliar with Thousand Trails and I have not explained before – Thousand Trails  is a campground membership that we bought into a couple of years ago. We pay annual fees but are able to stay at parks all across the country virtually free.
Photos taken from Indian Springs web page
Anyway, I had Susan call ahead to make sure we were still set for our arrival only to be met with the dreaded words “we are not sure we will have a site large enough for you”, SERIOUSLY? Rather than stress, we decided we were not interested in going that far only to not have a spot so we frantically started looking for an alternate campground. AHHH did we find a diamond in the rough when we found Indian Springs Campground http://www.indianspringscampgroundnc.com/. in Hickory, NC. While this campground was not free like the one we were headed to - the price was very reasonable, they offer a 10% military discount and had we been interested we could have had the monthly rate for what our three week stay cost. The owners are outstanding – very friendly and they worked with us on short or rather no notice! The campground is small, quiet and secluded but close to the interstate making it easy to get anywhere we needed to go. It has large sites and is only an hour south of our daughter…..win, win, win.
As we get to Indian Springs Susan and I are very excited as we have not seen our daughter (Taskina)
Larry and Susan
since June, her graduation is right around the corner, and we get to spend Thanksgiving with her. So on Thanksgiving morning Susan and I get up, pack the food and head north up the mountain to Boone, NC and our daughter’s apartment for our Turkey Day Feast. That evening I needed to get back to the motorhome as there just isn’t enough room for ole dad in our daughter’s efficiency apartment but I did leave Susan as she had already planned to stay with Taskina for a couple weeks. OK, actually it was only 9 days, but man from my lonely motorhome it felt like a month! But she did stop by for visitations and on one of her visit days we had the pleasure of meeting up with Susan's Uncle Larry who had been in the mountains visiting friends. It is always good to see family!


I have to mention that within only a couple days of us leaving Sevierville, TN we were saddened to see the news of the fires and devastation in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg area. Many campers, homeowners and businesses were evacuated. So very sad and our hearts and prayers go out to the homeowners and business owners that lost everything.

We survived November and before we knew it December was here. Hope to have December posted soon. However, it is New Year’s Eve and Susan has had this post in her possession for editing for over a month – she already has December in her documents as well, wonder how long before she has it ready for your reading pleasure? LOL – I, Susan, really wrote this last paragraph or he would be in deep trouble but as the editor I can put whatever I want and pretend he wrote it! Try not to blame Brett for the late entries – he is all ahead of the game, it is his editor who procrastinates!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year!