9/22/2022

Last night while sitting outside our coach, I was talking with my good friend Gary, of Gary and Janis fame. Many years ago they owned the exact same motorhome that we own now. We both had some troubles with our respective coaches that required some expert repairs. So we decided to go get those repairs done. This is the story I wrote back in 2010, about that trip the four of us, five if you count Nicholas, our Cocker Spaniel, took together to Elkhart, Indiana.

Pilgrimage to Elkhart Day 1

This is the 100th anniversary of the RV industry, so it seems appropriate to make a trip to Elkhart. Actually, I had no idea that it was or is the RV Centennial until I walked through the doors of the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Diane and I, along with our friends Gary and Janis, have been planning on a trip to Elkhart, Indiana, for some months now. We were hoping to go there this past March 2, but the weather gave us all cold feet. In some places in Ohio there were over 30 inches of snow on the ground and our coach lot at Deer Creek in Galax, which we wanted to visit on the way back, had over 70 inches laying on it. I figured that since a snow plow, not being standard equipment on a motor coach, would be needed to park on our lot, made a trip postponement very necessary. We made plans to leave for Elkhart on April 9.

Oh, the purpose of our trip was to visit Elkhart Service and Collision. Both our coaches were in need of some major slide-out adjustments. Gary's coach had trouble with both the main and one of the bedroom slides. My coach's main slide-out had never functioned correctly. BAL, the RV products division of Norco Industries, and the designers of the cable-driven Accuslide were planning on sending over a tech or two to work on the slide-outs themselves. You can't beat factory direct service. Not to mention it's hard to get. Now, this trip had a twofold purpose. In addition to the slide-outs being repaired, we both had a long list of things we wanted to be done. Nothing on our lists was too major, but still necessary.

The first of April showed all the signs of being a good weather month. We had ninety-degree weather a couple of days before we left. Thursday, the day before our planned departure, I was making an emergency computer network installation at the Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg. I left poor Diane at home to pack up the rig by herself. This type of arrangement happens all too often, but that is the nature of running one's own business I guess. I made it home around six o'clock and spent the rest of the night loading up my clothes and the heaviest of the foodstuffs into the coach. Our plan was that the only thing we would have to do the next morning was back out of the driveway, pull into the church lot next door, hook up the Saturn and be on the road by nine. We would not have to stop for gas, propane, or anything else.

We had the coach ready to go by 8:55. Which is a new record. At 9 on the dot, Gary called to see how we were doing. I told him that we were pulling out right then. Diane and I said our normal prayer for a safe trip and started on our way. We met Gary and Janis, as planned, at the Monitor and Merrimac Bridge Tunnel inspection station. We both turned off our propane tanks and headed through the tunnel. ( It should be named the Monitor and Virginian tunnel, in my opinion, but if it was you couldn't call it the M&M tunnel which has a nice ring to it.) We kept in touch with each other with family radios.

We traveled down I-64 for some 20 miles or so till we arrived at the first rest stop. There we turned our tanks back on and then continued. We were headed to Beckley, West Virginia. Our journey to our first overnight stop was almost uneventful. Almost.

The drive west on I-64 was really nice. Spring had sprung. There were red buds in bloom, the trees were turning green, and daffodils by the hundreds were showing off their yellow heads along the roadside. Both our coaches made it up Afton Mountain, west of Charlottesville, across the intersection of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive.

We turned south down I-81/I-64. It didn't take long to get to I-77/I-64 where we again traveled west, on to Beckley. We planned to stay at a small campground run by the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. This is a nice tourist spot where you can take a mine car tour of an actual coal seam led by a veteran miner. We would have liked to do just that but we didn't have the time.

Once we exited I-77 things became a bit dicey. Our GPSs? GPS’? I am not sure what the plural is, they both went crazy. We had conflicting directions and so we had to choose who was right, Tom or Ms. Garmin. We choose Ms. Garmin, but it turned out that neither GPS was capable of giving good directions.

We ended up going down a very small street barely large enough for two cars to pass each other. Gary was leading as we came to some kind of police checkpoint. I don't know what they were checking for, but they waved us through. Gary made a right turn down an even smaller street that was also very downhill. Diane told me to ask the policeman for directions. This request came a bit late to help Gary and Janis, but it was still a good thing to do. I opened the window and asked the policeman if the right turn was the way to the Beckley Exhibition Coal mine.

"You don't want to go that way!" He responded.

He said this with a lot of emphasis so I immediately began to think that my friends and our coach's twin were headed for trouble.

The policeman gave us more directions.

"You need to go straight ahead to the next light, take a right, and follow the signs. You can't miss it."

We continued straight ahead. Diane radioed this info to the other coach. We went to the first light, turned right, and found ourselves in downtown Beckley.

Gary found himself in a tight neighborhood with small streets with telephone and power lines hanging almost lower than the coach's air conditioners. This made maneuvering a bit of a drag.

There was nothing we could do for them except hope for the best, and find a spot to wait for them to disentangle themselves from a small place.

We pulled into a food mart parking lot located alongside the narrow street that led to the campground.

We waited about fifteen minutes, but it seemed like half an hour. As soon as Gary and Janis came into sight we made a very tight left turn. I held my breath as I maneuvered the coach around the grocery store sign.

One thing was sure: We didn't want to miss this place and drive past it, so my eyes were peeled to the streets on our right. At a curve in the road, we came alongside a telephone pole that was very close to the right curb. A couple of feet past the pole was one of those small campground signs, the kind with the trailer on it, the word campground, and an arrow. This arrow was pointing up a very steep hill. I stopped. There was no way I could make that turn.

"There is no way we can make that turn," said Diane. "We are supposed to check in at the mine, which has to be up ahead. Let's keep going."

I agreed to that so I started to pull forward. As I did I heard something funny. It was a scraping noise of some kind.

"STOP! STOP! You are caught on the pole!"

This terrible but very necessary instruction from Janis was emitted from our radio.

I quickly stopped, and of course, thought to myself:

"What have I done now?"

I exited the coach expecting to see the side of it crushed like an empty tissue box. Gary was already outside. I looked up to see the pole nesting itself in the 1-foot-wide space between the patio awing and the bedroom topper awning cover. Two telephone guy wires were broken and caught up in the awing as well.

There was no damage to the coach itself. We had ONE inch between the pole and the side of the coach.

This would take some kind of driving to get off the pole. I had only one idea of how to get away from it. Do the opposite of what put the coach there in the first place. I told Gary that I was going to turn my wheels hard to the right and back up, toad and all. Then, if we were lucky, the coach would be clear and I could pull it forward. He agreed that it might work and he would give me instructions on the radio. Diane and Nickolas decided to watch from outside so they exited the coach. Now it was up to Gary, myself, and some prayer.

I got back in and used the UFO’s 55-degree turning ratio for all it was worth. With Gary giving me precise instructions and to the amazement and amusement of many people living along the street we inched that big monster back and forth until it was clear of the nasty pole. I did have to force one driver to back up quite a ways but he looked like he enjoyed it. I continued the one block up the road to the Exhibition's main entrance.

Diane and Nicolas hitched a ride with Gary and Janis. No, I didn't forget her.

I parked the coach and made an inspection. It seemed that the pole pushed the bedroom topper cover out of position. It was now back about two feet and the topper was obviously being pulled in a direction it didn't want to go. It looked fixable and after all, we were heading for a repair facility.

At this point, I just wanted to park it, eat some dinner, have a beer (now you know what they are really for), and call it a night.

We did all the above. First, we had a fun drive back down to the offending pole where we made a left turn up the steep hill to the campground. It was small but not a bad place. Gary and I repaired the bedroom topper. It took a while to get it back into position. This required the use of a ladder positioned on a picnic table. I discovered that the plastic cover at the top of the left patio awning arm was cracked. I felt very thankful that that was all the damage there was. I figured that ESC could take care of it with no problem. I hoped so anyway.

For the most part, it had been a good first day. It ended with a bang, so to speak, but hey it was an adventure. Tomorrow would be another day. The mountains of West Virginia awaited us, then on to Ohio and Indiana.

But first......a stop at Tamarack.

Pilgrimage to Elkhart Day 2

Saturday morning was sunny, but a bit chilly. Gary and I broke camp and pulled in our slides. He had not put his main one out because it just did not work smoothly. We discovered, the night before, that my main slide had a fraying cable so it would not be deployed for our second night. This would make the interior of the coach a bit tight but that was the breaks so to speak.

The night before, while Gary and I were repairing my bedroom slide-out topper/telephone pole mishap we had a visitor from Ohio who was also staying at the campground. He happened to see me on top of the ladder that was on top of the picnic table with my arms under the topper. We told him the whole sad story and he told us that the campground staff had warned him about that pole when he made his reservation. We received no such warning. He also warned us that we would not like the stretch of Interstate 77 between Beckley and twenty miles past Charleston. He informed us the traffic would be intolerable.

While all this chatting was going on the ladies decided on our Saturday itinerary. Get up; get out on the road with Canton, Ohio being our next stop for the night. The First thing though would be brunch at Tamarack. This was the place that Diane had wanted to revisit for many years. She had been there once before during an auto cross-country trip from Oregon to Virginia that she made with her cousin Elaine and two greyhounds. It is a very nice marketplace for area craftspeople and it has a restaurant run by the Greenbrier, a famous West Virginia five-star resort. Also, Saturday, the tenth, was her birthday and we all felt that a stop there was a small present but it was what she wanted.

We called it a night. I tried to eat a bowl of soup but my phone keep ringing off the hook with customer calls. I thought that calling me after eight pm on a Friday night was a bit ridiculous. I kept telling them to call me back on Monday.

The next morning, right after we all sang Happy Birthday to Diane, Gary and I started dumping tanks, disconnecting, and rolling hoses up. I did have a problem with the bedroom slide-out. The topper would not retract. I pulled the slide in and the topper folded up like a fan. I put it back out and pulled my ladder back out of the basement. I climbed up and opened the topper cover and gave the roller a bit of a spin. It made a snapping noise and wound up quickly, like a window shade let go of too fast. It retracted just fine after that and I never had another bit of trouble with it.

The ladies drove our cars back to the Mine Country Store parking lot. Gary and I secured our campsites; we had to attach cables and locks across the front of the pads. Then we carefully drove our coaches down the steep hill and made a right turn at the bottom. We met up with our cars and hooked them up. A few minutes later we were on our way. We made a left turn, back up the road carefully past the offending pole, and then to the main street through town.

We had good directions to Tamarack. It was a quick journey of a couple of miles, located right next to I-77 at exit 45. Its red peaked roof made it easy to spot. Tamarack has a huge bus and RV-friendly parking lot. That is a good thing when you are suffering from post-pole collision syndrome. (At breakfast I attempted to make some jokes about the telephone guy hitting the telephone pole but no one thought they were all that funny, including me).

Tamarack was great. I was impressed. There were so many fine crafts there. Handmade baskets, quilts, glass etching, textiles, and photography were all on display and for sale. We could see that it would take some time to eyeball it all and we were hungry so we walked over to the food court. They served cafeteria style. I glanced at the menu and saw what I wanted right away the West Virginia Rainbow Trout and Eggs.

The good-sized trout filet was pan-fried with two eggs over easy and served with Home Fried Taters and the biggest fluffiest biscuit I have ever eaten. It was really good. Along with the fish and eggs, I had a bottle of hot and spicy V-8.

Gary ordered the same thing and the ladies each had the Appalachian Omelet with fried green tomatoes (in the omelet), Red Eye Country ham, and Swiss Cheese. It also came with home fries and Biscuits all for 4.95. They raved about it.

Breakfast was worth every dime. After eating it was time for some exploring. First, though I got a call from my parents asking where we were. I told them our location and also let them know that we hoped to be at our place in Galax by the following Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. We hoped to have a visit with them at some point.

I also made a call to Joel. He was having a yard sale, at our home, with proceeds going towards medical bills he received for the treatment of a dislocated finger. That happened during a soccer game. If you ever dislocate a finger do not go to a hospital emergency room. Find Urgent care or just put up with the pain until you can see a doctor. An emergency room will sock it to you cost-wise. Some of the proceeds of the yard sale would also go towards funding the band he is a member of. Joel is the drummer, the band is called Long Division and they just self-released a CD.

The yard sale seemed to be going well. The band had made over 250 dollars by ten thirty. By the end of the day, they would make 450 dollars.

I found this out while we were walking around Tamarack looking at all their great craftwork.

Around noon we were ready to continue our journey. We headed up I-77 and I mean up, to Parkersburg where we stopped for fuel. From there we continued to Clearwater RV Park in Uniontown, Ohio. It was quite the drive. We crossed the New River Gorge over the bridge that is famous for its wild bungee jumping. We traveled through Charleston. We made some wild stops to pay tolls and had some interesting encounters with slow-moving truckers.

At our exit for the RV park, we had to make a right turn at the bottom of the exit ramp. Two cars in the left turn lane turned right instead and swung around Gary, who was leading us. The cars went into the oncoming traffic lane and then moved over and cut him off. It always amazes me how nonthinking drivers believe our rigs can stop on a dime.

We traveled without any more incidents down a long hilly country road until we reached the RV park. The park had a small water park that was not open yet. There was also a mini golf course. We parked our rigs, set up camp, had a nice talk with the park manager, and then played a round of golf. The birthday girl won. After that, I fired up my grill and toasted some hamburgers.

We sat in Gary and Janis' coach and ate dinner while we chatted about our list of things we hoped to accomplish in Elkhart. The List of things included repairs as well as places we wanted to see. Top of our list of places to visit was the RV Hall of Fame.

By nine we were all ready to call it a night. Diane and I avoided spending too much time in the too-small living area (it was full of slide-out) and decided to watch TV in the bedroom. I had recently installed a new 26-inch LCD and I figured that watching some old episodes of Christy would be a good way to end day two.

I never saw the end of the episode. After about twenty minutes I was out cold. I woke up at the end of it. Diane missed it as well. So it was time for lights out. We wanted to get an early start. We hoped to be at Elkhart by late afternoon.

Both coaches were getting anxious. So were the people in them. Now as the author of this thing I am taking a break.

For the last week and a half, I have been sick. The first couple of days I was forced to just lay around the house drinking Alka-Seltzer Cold remedy (every four hours) and feeling sorry for myself.

Last Saturday afternoon around 2:30 p.m., I decided that I had had enough of being ill. I drank my last seltzer and put on some shorts and my mowing shoes. I mowed the yard, then trimmed and edged it. I also pulled all the weeds out of the flowerbeds. When I was done, I was tired and sore but I felt much better than before I started. I realize now, that at my age, if I don't have the energy to get something done, if I can't make myself get up and start moving just because I don't feel good, then I am in trouble. I can't work only when I feel like it.

Motor coaching is like that as well.

I might as well leave the coach in the driveway if the only time I am going to take it out is when conditions are perfect. Not every trip can be to Disney World. Sometimes you just have to start it up and go somewhere! You never know what you might find when you get there. That's one of the reasons we took the trip to Indiana. We wanted to go get our coach repaired but we also wanted to go where we would see something new. We wanted to have a bit of an adventure.

Pilgrimage to Elkhart, Day 3 and Day 4: The Reason for Going.

Very Early Sunday morning found us all up and about quite early. It was our last leg. We had about a six-hour journey to the ESC campground. We planned our exit out of the Clearwater RV camp and back to I-77. Not far to the north, we would be leaving the interstate and then heading due west on the Ohio Turnpike.

We made a big loop in the campground headed up to the exit, and drove the up and down road back to the Interstate. Within minutes we were at a cruising speed of 62 miles per hour.

We didn't stop until we reached the Erie Isle rest stop near the Indiana state line. I found the view through the windshield to be quite nice. It had been a long time since I visited Ohio and the same for Indiana. I had spent quite a bit of time in Cincinnati when I worked for AT&T but I saw very little of the state, from the ground anyway.

Diane and I, back in the seventies, when we were working for PTL, made a long bus trip from Charlotte, through West Virginia to Canton, Ohio for a telethon.

Tammy Bakker and some of the PTL wives, including my own, were seated in the back of the bus. They were laughing and chatting quite loudly about something. I took a walk back there and sat down. Tammy had a stack of National Inquirers on the seat next to her and all the girls were looking over the headlines. The paper had typical stuff about three-headed babies, UFO (no pun intended) sightings, celebrity wives cheating on husbands, and vice versa. Tammy laughed and said wouldn't it be a hoot to be on the cover?

I don't know if I said it then, but I could have said that one should always be careful what one wishes for.

Now, many years later, we were traveling through Ohio in our own bus so to speak. It is a pretty state. Big corn fields, horse farms with rolling hills, and white fences. I found it to be a pleasant drive.

Shortly after passing the Sandusky exit, we came to the Eerie Isle rest stop. It was an interesting place with a neat visitor center, a Starbucks, a food court, and a good size gift shop with lots of Cleveland Indians merchandise. We spent a bit of time there, and after we let Nickolas stretch his legs we hit the road again.

The tolls on the Ohio Turnpike are a bit steep, twenty-five bucks one way. The good thing is you take a ticket when you get on and pay once when you get off. We paid at the Indiana state line. From the toll, we had sixty more miles to our Elkhart exit.

An hour later we were exiting off the Indiana Turnpike, paying another toll, ten bucks this time, and driving the main business route to our final stop. We passed some RV factories along the way, along with some transport holding lots. In other words, we saw a lot of tow-ables and quite a few coaches. We also drove by the RV Hall of Fame. We knew we were coming back there in a couple of days.

Soon we pulled into the ESC compound. There were two large buildings with a lot of bays all of them closed on Sunday of course. We drove past them to a gravel campground located behind the second building. Gary and I each picked a spot. We both leveled our coaches and then Gary discovered that there was no water or power. Not good. I suspected that the campground was still winterized. We did some walking around and discovered the main power breakers were turned off. We turned them on and we had power but still no water.

We decided that what water we had in our tanks was best reserved for flushing; not washing dishes, so dinner at Cracker Barrel seemed like a good idea. We passed one on the way in, so it was easy to find our way back.

I ordered some kind of Southern Boiled Dinner with shrimp, red skin potatoes, corn on the cob, and sausage that was really good. I don't remember what everyone else had. After dinner, we browsed the country store for a while and then headed back.

I think I was in a bit of a daze now that we were finally in Elkhart. What's the big deal about being there? Well, we had tried two times before to make the trip and things just didn't work out. It also didn't work out for us to go to the Monaco Service center at Wildwood, Florida either. We were just a few days away from making the trip when Monaco called and canceled on us. They were just a few days from declaring bankruptcy and laying everyone off. This meant that for two years, Diane and I had been trying, unsuccessfully, to repair our coach problems. The first week we owned it we took it to a dealer where it sat for four weeks and nothing was fixed. I could tell you how bad that experience was but I won't. We also took it numerous times to independent service facilities, where some good techs tried to fix the slide-out problems but they, at the most, had some temporary success. I had also tried to fix it myself, but as much as I hate to admit it, I think that only made it worse.

So, I was now going to get factory service. Although based on telephone support from the techs, I had every reason to think that the problems would be resolved, I was still anxious. I hoped to not have any unpleasant surprises and/or disappointments.

Gary and I both piddled around our coaches, looking through all the basements, checking the roofs, looking for anything and everything that we wanted the guys to fix, modify or repair. We each made a list and then compared and discussed what on the list we would actually get done and what we guessed it might cost. Our lists had a number of things in common:

We both needed our main slide-out cables replaced and adjusted. Gary needed work done on his bedroom slide-out as well.

We both needed repair of our freshwater tanks (mine leaked due to the overflow plumbing missing; Gary's sagged due to a support strut missing.)

I wanted my coach roof inspected and resealed where necessary.

Gary needed his shower door to be adjusted so it wouldn't bounce out of its track while traveling down the road.

We both had front door locking arm problems. They locked when we didn't want them to and wouldn't when we needed them to. In other words, they were a pain.

I had holes in my bathroom vinyl floor that Diane wanted to be fixed. I told her I thought only one was all that bad, but more about that later.

I needed some interior work done on the facade covering the main slide-out motor and chains. Gary needed the same but he left the facades back home in his garage.

Gary had a rear basement door that was coming loose from the coach.

Gary also had a wiper park failure alarm that remained constantly on his dash instrument panel.

We both wanted our coach chassis lubed and I wanted an oil change as well.

I needed some touch-up paint mixed up. A small item but nice to have when you need it.

We both wanted our auto levelers recalibrated. When Gary auto-leveled his coach, the front end would end up ten inches off the ground. My coach auto jacks would take the back end off the ground and that rendered the parking brake useless.

While Gary and I were comparing notes and just wandering around our coaches a Forest River Wildcat fifth wheel pulled into the campground. It looked new and it had Quebec plates. A gentleman exited his pickup and started hooking up the fiver. We helped him find a hot pedestal. Not all of them were working. Gary and I could never figure out why that was, but I tried cause I love a good electronic mystery.

I don't remember the name of the gentleman from Canada. I am terrible with names. I am fortunate to remember the names of my own kids. But I remember faces and conversations and he had a very friendly face and we had a good conversation with him. He had been traveling with a group, a caravan as it were, to Mexico. He left the group to come back to Elkhart, where he bought the trailer, to have some paperwork cleared up so he could take the fiver across the border back into Canada. That part of his story was interesting if you like hearing about the pains of dealing with government bureaucracies, but the real story was why he purchased this slightly used Wildcat in the first place.

It seems that the original brand new Wildcat that he left Canada with had a couple of unfortunate accidents. One, he blew a tire that ruined a wheel. The replacement wheel was not installed correctly so he lost it and that ruined the wheel well and tore up the side of the trailer at the same time. He had to leave the caravan to Mexico in order to take care of that problem. I think he said he got it fixed in Elkhart and then left for Mexico on his own where he planned to rejoin his group somewhere in Texas.

He made it as far as West Indianapolis due to a wrong turn and some bad directions. He found himself, at night, going down a very dark road where he passed under a barely viewable old bridge that was about a foot lower than the top of the fifth wheel. Well, I think you get the picture. The bridge grabbed the rubber and peeled it back, along with his fan vents and air conditioners. The roof just rolled itself up like a big "rubber burrito".

After calls to the police to explain why this RV was blocking traffic, and some roadside assistance, he extracted the coach from the bridge's jaws and took it back to Elkhart. There, he discovered, it was a total loss. But there was a happy ending; he was able to purchase a used Wildcat that was an upgrade from his new one and still make it to Mexico where his thirty-day temporary tag expired thus causing his Canadian Customs problems with his paperwork.

Like most experienced RVers, our new friend from Canada made this story sound humorous. While describing his troubles towing a big rig, he used the phrase, "Things can happen, you know and they are not always good." I have used that phrase myself a time or two, but his accent is much better than mine.

After hearing about this adventure, we realized it was starting to get really cold outside so we called it a night. I guess I may have gone inside and read for a while or watched TV. I don't know. I remember hearing a lot of trailers being towed past us to the transport company’s holding lot next door. I think that noise went on until about eleven that night.

Day 4 Monday

I was up around seven buttoning up the coach. Around seven thirty, I was standing just inside of Gary's door when I saw a person with a clipboard heading our way. I learned that his name was Walt and he was the tech in charge of taking care of Gary's UFO. I left Walt to talk with Gary and headed back to my coach, Roger, the tech in charge of my coach repairs was waiting for me.

Roger, a really nice guy, was wearing a Monaco jacket. I found out that he, like most of the techs at Elkhart Service and Collision, had worked for Monaco/Holiday Rambler before it went under. They were quite familiar with our coaches. They would be taking care of our list while offering any needed assistance to the techs from BAL who would be working on our slide-outs. The BAL techs had arrived at the shop at seven that morning very anxious to get started.

That was one of the best things about this whole experience. Working with techs who wanted to work and get things fixed as fast as possible and more importantly get them fixed right. I know that sounds simple, "get it fixed right". I sure knew what it was like to have things fixed wrong.

Just at seven forty-five, our coaches were parked side by side inside two big service bays. We all watched them pull in and the doors went down. Now we had to figure out how to keep ourselves entertained for the next eight hours.

We decided to visit the local Amish farm market for a big breakfast and then head over to the outlets in Michigan City. This was going to be a shopping day. I was not in a big-spending mood but hey you never know what you might find. My mood could change.

It didn't. At eight twenty we were sitting in the farm market parking lot. The place was not open until the weekend so we were trying to decide where to go for breakfast. Before we could make a decision my phone started to ring and I spent the next sixty-five minutes trying to solve multiple emergencies back home. It was crazy. I told Diane she would have to drive.

We went to a convenience store for gas. Diane had to pump it herself. She went in for coffee. I walked in and told her I was driving back to the coach to get my cell phone charger. She didn't look too pleased. We informed Gary and Janis where we were going. They said they would wait there until we got back. We drove to the coach and I made a mad dash inside the service center to get my charger. There were techs all over our two coaches, like ants at a picnic. I could see the tech in the overhead of Gary's slide out (or was it mine?) and they were in the bays as well. It was very obvious these people don't mess around.

I had just a second to meet JD the manager and then it was back to my car. As soon as I sat down and plugged in my cell, two calls hit me at the same time.

I hardly noticed the scenery as Diane followed Gary to Michigan City. We finally made it and found a breakfast place that served really good skillets. I ate mine without interruption and we walked over to the outlets. Just as we walked into the first store my second round of calls began. I was on the phone for another two hours and then I had to listen to the low battery beep again until we had enough of shopping and went back to the car.

I wish I could have a real vacation. I have forgotten what one of them is like, one with no business phone calls or other interruptions. I can only hope to have a few of them again one day. (I had to retire for almost a year first)

At three thirty we were turning down the road to the shop. As we approached the campground we saw both our coaches parked in their spots, with power hooked up, jacks down, and all slides out. That was a sight. I entered the coach and immediately tried the main slide out. It moved in and out like a dream. It was enough to make a grown man cry. No, I didn't really cry, but I sure was happy to see that slide out flush against the living room wall for the first time.

I checked the bathroom floor and I could not tell where the repair was, it looked perfect. Diane took a look and said "What about that tear? I think we should get them to fix that too."

I had told Roger to fix the worst spot on the floor, but now the remaining hole looked really bad so I had no problem with Diane's request.

I hopped out of the coach to see how Gary had made out. He looked pretty pleased, so I suspected his slide-outs were working rather well. He told me that the techs had not quite finished yet with the bedroom and he also pointed out that both of us needed new sweeps and gaskets and that had not been done yet either. All that meant was they needed at least another day, and that was quite okay with both of us.

"Let's take a look at your water tank," Gary said. So we did. There was now an overflow tube right where it was supposed to be. No more water flowing into my basement while going down the road. We checked out Gary's tank and could see a new welded stainless steel support where one was missing before. It looked really good.

Gary informed me that his auto levelers now worked like a charm. I informed him that I forget to tell Roger to adjust mine. That would go on tomorrow's list.

Both Gary and I were feeling as much like kids at Christmas as two guys in their fifties can. I hope that most of my coach friends can relate to how two years of coach issues can affect one's relationship with one's coach. If you can relate then you must know how good it felt to see these long-going problems resolved. Not just fixed but fixed by people who really know and care about what they are doing. That is so rare these days to have that happen.

Diane called me in for some leftovers that we brought from home. I wasn't all that hungry, but I figured I had to eat something and why not have a Woodchuck cider to celebrate our first day's good results? First, though we took the coach to fill up the water tank. It was a pleasure to work the slides again, unplug the coach, get some water, and then set them back up. It took about thirty minutes to do and while the tank was filling I talked to Walt and Roger and told them what a great job they had done so far.

Then it was a quick dinner of something, I can't remember what, oh it was meatloaf and sweet potatoes. We watched the first half of Dances with Wolves and pretty soon it was time to call it a night.

Even with all the phone calls, it had been a very good day.

A comment from me.

Gary, Janis, Diane and I are good friends. We travel together and we both own the same coach. It is a Holiday Rambler Vacationer XL, model 38PLT built on the Workhorse UFO chassis. The UFO has the engine in the rear and it is gas not diesel. We get a lot of comments when we pull into a campground together or separately.

For example:

"Man, your coach sure is quiet, what's wrong with it?"

(Nothing)

"Well, it sure is a funny sounding Diesel."

(That's because it isn't a diesel, it's a gas pusher.)

"No Way! Nobody makes one of those!"

(Well, Holiday Rambler made mine.)

"Are you sure it's gas?"

(Well, it was the last time I filled the tank.)

"Man I have never seen one of these going down the road."

(You may have, you just didn't know it.)

"That's crazy, a gas pusher? Where's the engine in it?"

(Ahhh...I think it's in the rear.)

Is this that UFO thing I have heard about?

(Why, yes it is!)

"What is a UFO anyway?"

(It is a diesel coach that runs on gas.)

Jeff Daniels says "Always remember and never forget; you're not a real American till you've been behind the wheel of a Recreational Vehicle."

I agree with that but let me add this: People sure think you are an odd American when you tell them your Recreational Vehicle's gas engine is in the rear. Even the techs in Elkhart thought we were an unusual group of coach travelers. Personally, I think one of our coaches should be in the Elkhart RV Hall of Fame one day. We have been there and I know just where they can park it.

Better Than New! Pilgrimage to Elkhart Days 5 and 6

Tuesday morning came early. It was cloudy and cold. Gary and I had our coaches ready for their short trip to the service bays by seven twenty. Roger and Walt were there to pick them up ten minutes later.

We told the guys how pleased we were with their work so far. I asked Roger if he would repair the second hole in the bathroom floor, and he said he would. He had cut a piece of vinyl from the floor inside the plumbing compartment next to the washer and dryer to fix the first rip. That was a small square. He wanted to replace a whole section this time. I felt sure he could figure out something.

I also added recalibrating my leveling system, and would they please inspect the roof (another thing I forgot to tell them the day before. It seems I misplaced my list and was going from memory).

Walt told us that Ed from BAL still had some work to do on the slide-outs and that Tim Belle the tech support manager wanted to meet with us in about an hour. I had had a number of very helpful phone conversations with Tim and was looking forward to meeting him in person.

Roger hopped into the driver's seat. I asked him what he thought of the UFO chassis.

"Yesterday I almost started it twice. I noticed that the tack was moving so I didn't, it's just amazing how quiet it is." He said

I told Roger that I often turn up the rear camera microphone to listen to the engine.

I have almost started the engine twice myself. I can only imagine what kind of terrible grinding noise that would cause. I hope I never hear it.

Our rigs were moved back over to the service bays. I informed the ladies they would have to wait in the car if they didn't want to wait inside because we needed to meet with JD, and Tim and I wanted to take some pictures as well. That was all right with them.

Gary and I walked over to the shop to see JD Adams, the manager of ESC. JD had talked to us both on the phone and I meet him briefly the morning before. He met us in the shop and introduced us to Rod and Mike, whom we had not met yet. We then went to Gary's coach where Ed from BAL was hard at work on Gary's main slide out.

We chatted with him and with the other guys until Tim arrived. Tim told us what they had done so far which included installing new cables, all new standoffs (the bracket on the outside of the slide out that the cable attaches to), and most important a bigger high torque motor that would move the big slide out much faster. What they planned to do today was change the seals on the outside. We told him how much we appreciated it.

Walt had some questions about repairing Gary's basement door, and Roger had already started repairing my bathroom floor.

I could have hovered around there for a long time watching these guys work.

It is easy for me to lose track of time when I am with a bunch of technical guys. With my wife and the dog just sitting in the car on a cold morning; I could lose enough time to get myself in trouble. I suggested to Gary we take pictures and then rescue the ladies.

We took pictures and then rescued the ladies. Diane was sitting and shivering with the car engine running. She was looking more than a little cold.

"You okay?"

"Yeeesss," she said with chattering teeth. "Can we get going now?"

"Sure, the museum doesn't open until ten anyway so we would have just been sitting there."

"I'm okay."

I was relieved to see she wasn't obviously upset with me.

Just before we pulled out, our neighbor from Quebec pulled in, truck and trailer. I didn't even notice he was gone. Before he could get more than a few feet off the road his truck died. He had pulled his fifth wheel around to the other side of the service building to fill his water tank.

Well, Gary and I couldn't just leave him stranded like that so we spent the next fifteen minutes trying to jump his truck and get it moving again. We started it, but it wouldn't run long. He had to unhitch the trailer and move the truck to where he could plug in a trickle charger.

That was the best we could do for him, so we headed off for the Elkhart RV/MH Hall of Fame Museum and Conference Center.

Just for your information, the MH stands for Manufactured Housing, not motorhome.

When it came to sightseeing in Elkhart, this was the highlight of the whole trip.

We were the first people through the door that morning. JD had given us three free passes and we expected to pay for one ticket but the two gentlemen curator/guides who met us at the door said that would not be necessary. We signed the visitor's registry and the self-guided tour began.

The museum is divided into four main halls. One is the supplier's hall, the Go RVing hall which has new rigs on display, and the RV Founders and Ingram Halls which have a fantastic collection of antique housecars and house trailers.

Diane and I visited the supplier's hall first. There we found displays of towing equipment, and RV appliances, including some that are also residential, along with displays from RV clubs and campgrounds. There was also one from Workhorse. It was a display of the UFO chassis. Of course, I had to gravitate toward it. There was a video that I watched that showed some of the first people who drove the chassis and the first owners. I found it fascinating. I had to tell Diane about it so I went to get her. She walked over, and looked at the video for about ten seconds.

"That's nice," she said. "Let's go look for Gary and Janis."

Feeling somewhat deflated, I followed her to the Go RVing hall. I walked past everything and went straight to the Damon Avanti that was parked near the front window. It is a small Class A with Euro Styling and is powered by a front engine Navistar diesel engine. Nice rig, but we didn't look at it for long. Next, we visited the Founders Hall.

I was amazed at the assortment of Motor Houses. I looked at the older tow-ables but I really wanted to spend more time looking at the motorized RVs. I was impressed the most by the Mae West Mobile and the Tennessee Traveler with its pot-bellied "furnace". I know that most of us are used to a lot of comforts. I have to wonder what earlier House Car-ers, who drove with their backsides resting on wooden benches would think of our plush seats and air ride. I bet they would think we are all a bunch of motor-homing weenies.

We left the museum sometime around twelve thirty. I remember because I took a phone call just before we left and I noted the time. It was the only one I had the whole day. A miracle!

Our next stop was Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury. It is this large complex with an Amish-style restaurant, an inn, shops, and a bakery. They serve lunch home style; some may call it country style. We had about a half-hour drive to get there because we planned on taking the scenic route through Amish country. We arrived forty minutes later and were ready to eat.

The restaurant was a huge place. It must seat three hundred people or more. There was hardly anyone there. I guess the tourist season had not geared up yet. We told our server we were there for the home-style lunch. She informed us that would include fried chicken, homemade egg noodles, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and our choice of pot roast or ham. We chose the pot roast.

It wasn't the best country-style food I have eaten. That distinction is a toss-up between the food served at the Daniel Boone Inn in Boone North Carolina or a little hole in the wall called Lazy Susan's in Spruce Pine North Carolina. As I said it wasn't the best but was still very good. For dessert, I had fresh strawberry pie with ice cream, of course.

After lunch, we explored the place a bit. It had this big meandering country store that took up the four outside walls of the inn. We also visited some other shops and climbed the stairs to the top of a grain silo that had been converted into an observation deck.

Sometime around three thirty, quarter to four we were ready to head back to Elkhart.

We took the interstate back so it was a rather quick trip. Once again our coaches were parked in their spots, power connected, jacks down and slides out. Once inside, I soon discovered that my tank was full of water. I would not have been surprised to find mints on our pillows.

The bathroom floor looked perfect. I went outside the coach to check the main slide sweeps. They had been replaced. I checked the roof and saw that my big bedroom skylight had been resealed. There were a couple of other spots that looked like they had been touched up as well.

I visited Gary's coach and we inspected the work done on his slide-outs. We could tell that Ed had extended a couple of cables instead of replacing them. Gary and I had talked about doing this a couple of times ourselves. However, we were not confident in how to go about it or what type of connector to use. Now we knew, but of course, we hoped we would not have a reason to do it. Gary told me that Walt had blocked off a heating vent behind his loveseat. The hot air trapped itself back there and was virtually baking the couch so at Gary's request Walt took care of it.

We had given the techs a long list of things to do. It appeared they had done them all and they repaired the damage from my encounter with the telephone pole.

It was obvious that after two days with ESC our coaches were now better than new.

The four of us visited for a while, talking about the trip and what we had accomplished so far. We were all in agreement that it had been worth the journey, no doubt about that. The last thing we discussed was what time to leave in the morning. I said we can't leave too early, not until we pay our bills.

I had my doubts about coming to Elkhart, it was a long way there and I always get nervous about leaving my business for long stretches of time. Of course I never really leave my business; it follows me wherever I go, but I was sure glad we made the trip.

I knew that I had a good coach, and now with its many problems fixed, I could start to really enjoy it.

Diane and I ended our evening by driving to Elkhart Riverwalk Park. The park runs right beside the river, on both sides, and twists itself around for two miles. It is a great place to stretch one's legs and that is just what we did. Nickolas loves to take walks like this and he led the whole time. Diane and I talked about Galax. We looked forward to being back there in just a couple of days. We talked about the trip, things back at home, just simple stuff that old married couples, who travel in a motor home, chat about.

By dark, we were back at the coach. After dropping Diane and Nickolas off at the door. I drove to a dollar store to buy some bottled water. While there I purchased a set of sheets, after calling Diane to ask her about them, some snacks, and a few housekeeping items.

While paying for my goods, I struck up a conversation with the young lady cashier. She had seen our coaches come down the street. She also told me her husband was a framer for one of the trailer makers. They were very busy. They had an order for 700 rigs and were working overtime to get them done. I thought that was great news. I hoped that the class A market would soon do as well.

Back in the coach, Nickolas and I shared a bag of kettle-cooked potato chips while watching NCIS. Not long after that, it was bedtime. Tomorrow it was back on the road. We would be stopping at a KOA somewhere near Canton, Ohio and we hoped to be out of Elkhart around nine.

Day 6

As usual, Gary and I were up early. We were getting our coaches ready to hit the road. Gary had hooked up his tow car the night before. I was under the hood of my car pulling the ignition fuse which is the last thing I do when I tow the car. As I was closing the hood Roger walked up.

"Are you guys leaving now?" he asked. "I hope not, because we aren't quite done with your coaches yet."

They still needed to change my rig’s oil. The day before, due to supplier problems the shop couldn't get the correct filter, but it was being delivered this morning. Gary's coach still had a wiper park failure error code. Walt hoped to get that cleared up this morning as well.

Gary and I both figured that we came here to get things fixed so let the guys keep on working.

About an hour and a half later my oil was changed and my bill was paid. During the time my coach was being worked on, JD, Gary, and I were sitting in JD's office just shooting the breeze. I learned that JD had helped set up the Monaco service facility in Wildwood, Florida, then transferred to Elkhart where he worked for Monaco both in the coach and towable divisions. As the economy started to put holes in Monaco's ship, he was asked to come to ESC and had been there a good while by the time Gary and I first started talking to him. I also found out that ESC shared its facilities with a graphics company that custom-painted new coaches. What that meant was that for the most part, ESC could take care of about anything.

Walt came in and mentioned that they were having trouble clearing Gary's wiper park failure alarm. They had done what the Workhorse techs had suggested which was to disconnect the chassis battery, do some kind of ground, and then connect it. I suggested that they call a service manager at Workhorse and ask him for help. His name is Eric and I have him on my speed dial. He knows more about the UFO chassis than anybody I know.

I think JD was a little skeptical that a regional rep would take his call. I told him to tell Eric that Gramps said to call him. So he made the call and I could tell that Eric answered. JD said that Gramps said to call, and I could tell that JD got a pretty good response from Eric. They talked for a while and the conclusion was that the coach really needed to go to a Workhorse Service Center where they would have the latest and greatest diagnostic software. We all agreed that would be the best thing to do. At that point, Eric asked to speak to me. We had a pleasant catching-up kind of conversation. I told him the coach was working great and the guys at ESC were really taking good care of us. Eric was actually going through airport security somewhere and we made plans to talk again.

Roger let us know that he was finished with my coach.

We said our goodbyes. I once again hooked up my tow car and we were on the road again.

That was it. Our coaches were now in really great shape. Gary had the wiper problem, but that will be fixed eventually. Later there was one thing that Diane wished we had asked the guys to do. She would like to fasten hinges to the solid stove top covers so that they could just be folded back when needed and not be a falling hazard. (See my blog about turkey soup).

We would like to make a trip to Elkhart again. When we do we will be visiting JD and his crew. I don't think they will have any problem with taking care of Diane's wish.

We drove until lunchtime and stopped at a Flying J's for sandwiches and gas. Not too many hours after that we drove back into the hills behind Canton Ohio and soon we were at the local KOA. It was in a remote spot but it was also a very scenic spot. We sat up camp and Gary fired up his grill. We cooked hot dogs and sausages. We used the coals to start a campfire. We just sat there staring at the fire and counting the stars. All of us were thankful that it had been such a successful trip.

The next day would find us splitting up our little caravan. Gary and Janis would head east on I-64 to Charlottesville while Diane and I would stay on I-77 to Galax. I looked forward to that. I wanted to relax and play some golf, actually a lot of golf. I had a new to me set of clubs. Diane and I also wanted to visit with my parents and see our friends again.

But that is another story.

Derrick