October 2016 - MO and Away We Go

Oct 2^nd finds us leaving the homeland of Oklahoma and headed north to Susan's homeland and beyond on what we have decided to fondly refer to as our “maintenance trip” http://www.rvparky.com/trip/5860707770302464. Susan and I sat down prior to beginning this adventure and came up with a list of nice to haves and must haves for our new home. And this leg of the trip addresses mostly must haves. But first we must stop in Missouri and visit family.

After a short 9 hours we arrived at our Missouri destination, Long Branch State Park. This park means something to Susan as she grew up at this park and on this lake. It is also a park we have called home for a week every year since we have been married..BUT more importantly it is important to both Susan and I as this is the park we were married in back in 2005.

We honeymooned in her dad's camper - knew she was a keeper

We were lucky enough this time to be able to get the “old camp host” site at Long Branch which comes with full hookups and a bigger patio area. This helps as we almost always have many family members over to visit and eat. We stayed in Missouri for 14 days for relaxation and family time. The park was unusually full for this time of year and we found little time of just being alone…lol but it is always fun watching the campers come in and out. Our camp host this year was a blast. I think she had a crush on me but don’t tell Susan…lol

Dominick and Susan

Missouri was less hectic and a bit more relaxing than some of our previous trips. It is the first time we have had more than 5-7 days since probably 2006 - and we still did not have enough time to see everyone we wanted to see. However, we decided before arriving that we would not try to run all over to see everyone but rather we would remain more stationary, let family know where we were and let them come to see us. There were a few exceptions of course as Susan's uncle Squeek and her brother Richard were unable to travel much due to health - so of course we went to see them. Squeek did surprise us with a visit to the campsite, he had to make sure we didn't trade in and get a new rig again.

The weather was great for having company, walks around the lake, evening campfires and spending quality time with Susan's son Dominick. Jeff Kjellsen, (retired Coast Guard and friend), even took off early on a Friday to make the trip three hour drive from St. Louis to Macon just so we could catch up! It was a great weekend with lots of stories, laughter, good food and maybe a few sips of alcohol.  

We did experience one slight disaster on this leg of our journey…..I had gotten tired of continually buying new sewer hoses after only a couple months use so while we were in Oklahoma I ordered a new “expensive”  Waste Master Sewer Mgt System….. http://www.lci1.com/waste-master yep, bit name for a sewer hose but it should last for a few years. LOL Anyway I was finally able to use it in Macon for the first time and was excited. I think it is a DC thing. At some point during one of our nights it got pretty cold and very windy. I got up the next morning to check everything and found that my new expensive sewer hose had blown over next to the coach directly under the hot water boiler exhaust and the boiler had melted the top right out of the new hose…..lol Just can’t win sometime. Oh well (used a bit of DC ingenuity and it’s now spliced back together).

Leaving family is always hard, especially for Susan but we bid our farewells to our Missouri family  and headed to Decatur, IN for our first service appointment. Our motorhome was manufactured by American Coach and we thought, where better to have it serviced than by the people who made it? So early morning on the 16th we left Missouri in our rearview mirror and head further north to arrive in Decatur later that day. Our arrival to Decatur marked the start of our two week maintenance turnaround, or so we thought…lol 

REV Service Center in Decatur

Monday Oct 17th at 0600 we hand our coach to our maintenance tech Jim and our events began. We only had a couple of items on our list for repairs when started. Every morning at 0500 Susan and I would awaken and ready our home for Jim…lol and every afternoon sometime between 3-5 Jim would bring it back. We were able to go to take a factory tour which was really cool, except I was having a very bad health day and could barely move. But it was fun and even here we are meeting new friends, Andrew and Polly Maletta. This wake and break camp routine only lasted three days because we had to be in Charlotte, MI on the 19th for chassis service. Little did we know we would be returning to Decatur….

Wednesday October 19^th we left Decatur and headed to the Spartan Factory in Charlotte, MI where our chassis was built. This was scheduled to be a two day event, but nooooo... there is rarely a two day event that actually takes us just two days…lol. Spartan found a few more issues than we realized, hear those dollar signs rolling?? The most serious repair needed was a broken steering gear box. Luckily it was under a recall, can we say big $$$ savings? In addition to the repairs,  I had them install new Koni shocks on the front. The guys at Spartan were awesome and we once again met new friends in RVing, Leslie and Pat shared stories of their years as full timers and helped pass the days. Finally on the 24th Spartan says they are done and we are on our way after dark once again. No option to wait until morning as we had to be in Elkhart, IN that night for our appointment at MasterTech RV the following morning (October 25th). Goodbye Charlotte, heading south - at least a few miles south.

We arrive in Elkhart, IN about 2200 MasterTech RV for a new lifetime spray on roof. Tuesday, October 25th finds us up and ready to go by 0700. I am pretty excited about this!. This was supposed to be a 4 day event, but on the first day they say nope they can be done in two days. That’s cool as we are staying in a hotel during the completion of this work. What did I say before? There is rarely a two day event that actually takes us just two days!... LoL and it wasn’t this time either. 

Susan and I ended up checking in and out of the hotel more than a couple times.  This wasn't quite as planned and then the technician ran into some problems. I won’t get into the details except to say they had issues.

During the delays we took a drive to the Shipshewana area and I ended up ordering Susan a new double recliner couch and me a new electric recliner from Lambright Custom Chairs in Topeka, IN. http://www.lambrightcomfortchairllc.com/oc/profile?g=1715180 . Lambright's is a small company that specializes in 100% Amish made furniture. This was a fun experience working with Jeremiah Lambright. He actually worked with Susan and I with our measurements to insure the furniture would fit in our motorhome and would meet our needs. They did have furniture on the showroom floor but the sizes were not what we needed so we place an order for custom furniture to be picked up in mid-November. HE even worked with us on a timeline as it usually takes 8 weeks for a custom order, thank you sir.

On the 27th MasterTech told us we were ready to roll. Oh, if it was only that easy. You know me, of course I had to look at the work before we left and after inspection I determine the work is well below sub-par. Hmm... well, I talked to the owner and he got on the roof and agreed, it was not a quality product and he wants to schedule a return visit for him to personally supervise the work.  

We did go ahead and leave Elkhart (but scheduled a return) and finally got to relax and get out of parking lots and waiting rooms. We headed to Auburn, IN to meet a good friend from the Coast Guard. We will just call him Boz and his wife Tina….I have not seen Boz since I retired in 2014 and Boz is now retired as well. But even after all that time it was like we had talked just yesterday. We all sat that evening and visited and shared a spirit or two or three…..wow then it was 0200…lol

This place is AWESOME!

Saturday met us with a new experience, right behind the RV park, http://www.firesideresort.com/ was a museum. Not only a museum, but a military museum and a classic car museum. It was incredible. It housed some priceless cars like the Original Dukes of Hazzard car, the original Batmobile, the original KITT and the original A-Team van, among many, many others. Oh but there  was more, wagons and buggies…..some of the most beautiful horse drawn wagons and buggies you have ever seen. We ended up spending several hours in this place. Who would have thought out here in the middle of no where. http://www.nationalmilitaryhistorycenter.org/home.html If you are ever in the area this is one cool place to see and Veterans are only $4 admission.

Other interesting museums in Auburn include:
http://www.automobilemuseum.org/#home.html; http://www.fordv8foundation.org/; http://natmus.org/

The day and the weekend ended way to soon and Sunday it was time to say goodbye to Boz and Tina as they are headed to NC and we headed BACK to Decatur…lol

Sunday October 30^th we arrive back in Decatur, IN at the coach factory. The parts they ordered the first time we were here had arrived and now for the install…As always this took longer than desired and they didn’t get done until Thursday….What the heck, Susan and I decided we would just stay right there in their parking lot until Monday….lol  Our next destination was not until Monday and in Celina, OH and it was only a 40 mile drive.

Needless to say in October we were VERY busy. We were able to visit family and friends and spend more than half a month camping in parking lots and waiting rooms…..and a hotel with a hot tub and pool…lol Fortunately even with all of our delays we were never late, the good thing about having no schedule… See you next month in....