Ramp Up to a Dogwood Christmas

Since our last post, much has happened as we prepared for cold weather and our trip to the Dogwood Rally in Williamsburg, VA. Now we are here in Williamsburg and this is a good time to update our blog.

Several weeks ago it was clear that winterizing the coach was a priority. The coach has a automatic system that was highlighted when we were shopping the coach. 'Prevent a Freeze' is the brand name of the system made by Swan Industries in Oregon. It works this way: Two buttons on the control panel inside are used to implement the system; one switch electronically closes a hot water heater by-pass valve that isolates the water tank from the rest of the water system. Behind the water heater is a plastic tank that holds 2 1/2 gallons of antifreeze. Step 1 is to drain all water tanks and the water heater tank and fill the antifreeze reservoir. Step 2 is to activate the by-pass valve and isolate the water heater. Step 3 is to electronically activate the water pump which will pump the antifreeze throughout the water system. Neat, huh?

Steps 1 and 2 were completed successfully. When Step 3 was activated the pump worked successfully. Sadly, the antifreeze was pumped through the hot water heater on to the street in front of our house. Obviously, Step 2 failed. Two days later after calling Swan Industries, Jim Matheny, and will the assistance of Bill Freed, I gave up and winterized the coach using the old fashioned system: blowing out the lines and pouring antifreeze into the traps. This process worked fine and we were able to put the coach back in storage confident that the cold weather would not be a problem.

Four days after returning the coach to storage and four days before we were scheduled to leave for Williamsburg, I visited the coach for a status check. The good news was no signs of mice; the bad news was the starting and house batteries were all run down. The coach would not start; the generator would not start; and, I was not sure why. Bill Freed again came to my rescue. We used the car to charge the house batteries until we had enough power to start the generator. We then put the cables on the starting batteries. The next step was to try to start the coach engine using the starting batteries assisted by the house batteries using the battery boost switch. It did not happen easily and took many tries before the engine finally came alive. What a great sound!

Each day after until today we checked the batteries. The news was good and we started the coach with no problems. The fault was all mine: I had failed to disconnect the chassis and coach batteries when we left the coach, and we possibly left the inverter on. Whatever the reason, I now disconnect these power resources when I leave the coach. Lesson learned.

We came to Williamsburg on Thursday along with the Halsteads and Tolsons and several other Dogwood members. Thursday night's dinner was grand at the NY Deli and we ate slowly enough that we had a very nice visit inside where it was warm.

Friday was a mixed day: Ladies went shopping and the men stayed home to wrestke with connecting my computer to the Internet using my cell phone. We failed, had a good time. The ladies returned with numerous packages just in time for us to get to happy hour and dinner at the recreation hall. We ate well and had a good time meeting new folks. Tomorrow we have breakfast at 8:30 AM; it will be cold.

We are looking forward to tomorrow as the rally gets into full swing. We will have a Christmas party and gift exchange tomorrow night after dinner.

Rally Tour Continued & Ended

We have been very negligent and have not done anything with this blog since Thursday night , October 18. There was a reason: Once we left for Greensboro, NC we had no Internet access until we returned home. Remember that Monaco Windsor we were so interested in? We bought it Thursday night.

Janice could not find a new coach with the kitchen she liked. The Windsor is the first one she has found that is close to the one she had in the La Palma. The Windsor has other attributes that were influential in our decision: two lavatories (like the La Palma); 400-HP Cummings diesel engine; two bedroom slides (much more room & a longer bed); air leveling; washer/dryer (Janice had it installed); 84-inch ceilings; and an impressive price discount.

We made a hasty punch list of items we saw needing service and the sales folks returned the coach to their Concord, NC store. We planned to get delivery the following Friday after the Greensboro Rally. Because we knew we were trading coaches, we headed home Friday morning. This gave us opportunity to off-load much of our baggage. Our plan was to dump everything we would not need in Greensboro. By Saturday afternoon we were on the road again headed to Greensboro, NC.

There is no stopping place along US 29 from Charlottesville to Greensboro. No campgrounds and few places to even pull off the road. Ms. Garmin advised of a Wal-Mart in Danville and we elected to spend the night there, if allowed. Janice called the store and was told, "Come on in. All we ask is that you check in with Security and park where they tell you". Ms. Garmin took us through the heart of Danville, but we eventually found the Wal-Mart. We parked on the edge of the parking lot well distant from the store. Security told us that was fine and that we were welcome to stay as long as we liked. What we learned later is that we were parked very near a race track, within the parking lot, where the young lads of Danville and its environs came on Saturday nights to show off their cars and their egos. By midnight the show was over. We had not been hit by any hotshot or hotrod and we had a good rest of the night.

Monaco America had thirty plus coaches going to Greensboro for the Monaco Harvest Coming Home Rally. We agreed to meet in a shopping center parking lot at 3:00 PM on Sunday afternoon so that we could caravan to the rally site together. We arrived about 1:00 PM, and we visited with several of the others from Urbanna. Soon after 3:00 PM the caravan began, and we did serious damage to Greensboro's Sunday afternoon traffic; 35 coaches take up a lot of city road space. It was at least 90 minutes before we were able to park at the Coliseum Complex; the travel distance was about a mile, but the parking crew was overwhelmed with most of the 400 coaches arriving on Sunday.

The Greensboro Coliseum Complex is a very nice facility and great for a rally. The only drawback is dry camping in an asphalt parking lot, which turned out to be no drawback at all. The show coaches were all inside; the seminars were in fully equipped presentation rooms; the vendors were well spaced in a huge assembly hall; and the dining room was more than adequate for the numbers we had there. Rain arrived on Thursday, but most folks kept going. Showers Friday morning ended early and by mid morning the parking lot was emptying rapidly.

One of the neat things Monaco does at these rallies is a "game of chance". If you buy a coach at the rally, you are eligible to enter a drawing the last night of the rally. We were pleasantly surprised to be included since we purchased our coach the previous week at Urbanna. Our dealer (sales manager) convinced Monaco officials that we purchased at the "pre-rally" and should be included. A table is set with one envelope for each coach sold; we had 42 coaches sold at the rally. Each envelope has a certificate in it to be redeemed for cash. Most of the envelopes have $1000 certificates; several have $2000 or $3000 certificates; there is one with a $5000 certificate, and one worth $10,000. We were happy to draw a $1000 award.

The Greensboro rally was much fun. Monaco does it well with excellent seminars, meals, entertainment and a party atmosphere. Obviously, treating your customers well encourages them to buy another Monaco. The service techs were busy all through the week. This is another customer service that has great value in customer loyalty.

We departed Greensboro Friday morning en route to Tom Johnson Camping Center in Concord, NC. Johnson's place is on Speedway Boulevard about half a mile from Lowe's Motor Speedway. Between the showroom and the race track sits a campground, about 200 yards from Johnson's front door. The sales folks had reserved two adjoining sites for us. On Saturday morning they brought the Windsor over, parked it next to us, and gave us as long as we wanted to transfer our belongings from coach to coach. Eventually, the La Palma was driven away to the used coach lot, and we were getting settled in our new coach.

Our plan was to live in the coach through the weekend and devote Monday to fixing problems we had found. By Monday, we had assembled our list. By mid day we had not heard from the service folks, so we inquired. A technician came to the coach and did some minor adjustments, but we had a major concern about getting the new coach equipped to tow our car. To do this required the coach to be put on a lift, and that could not be done until Tuesday.

On Tuesday we met with a service adviser who promised that "he would take care of everything". He was eager, animated. and clueless. By Wednesday, progress was being made, but the tow system was not finished until Thursday morning. Fortunately, it was done well. We have an appointment to return to Concord in January en route to Florida. Parts are on order and will be installed during that visit along with anything we discover between now and then.

We departed Concord around mid morning; seven hours later we had returned home needing a rest. The two week Rally Tour lasted three weeks. We are happy to be home and will be here until November 29 when we go to the Dogwood Rally in Williamsburg. Until then.