Closing Up & Moving On

Tuesday and Wednesday were productive days. The techs got serious about solving the problems confirmed during their test drive with us. Tuesday they discovered the headlight problem was caused by an improperly wired fix done previously. The sloshing water took extraordinary measures (finally) to locate the water. It was in a tube in the frame and was located by drilling test holes until water was discovered. Once found a pump was attached and more than a half gallon was removed. Please don't ask how the water got into the tube.

Four items remain unresolved: Tri-Mark door system does not do what it is supposed to do; the Weldex system still goes out after continuous operation; the Power Gear leveling system needs new sensors (on order);and, a crack has appeared in the metal trim around the main slide. These will all be addressed when we return June 16.

Current work was finished Wednesday afternoon when the techs ran it through the rain tunnel one more time to check for leaks. Kim needed more time to finish the paperwork and asked us to come in at 9:30 AM Thursday.

By 9:00 AM Thursday, the car was hooked to the coach and we were ready to leave. There is a truism at Camp Monaco that all customers recite, “You aren’t finished until the paperwork is done”. The service writer goes over, in detail, every item discussed and/or worked on during your visit, collects any money due, and gives you a copy of all the paper. Before you know it, you are released from Camp Monaco and are on your way to another adventure. We were away at 10:00 AM en route to a refueling station.

Interstate highways are in poor condition. We find this true wherever we go, and I-80 is no exception. We were shaken, rattled, and bumped about periodically as we traveled. There are sections of smooth road that give hope of eventual improvement, but these only tease the senses and quickly give way to broken and rutted pavement.
It was apparent, as we neared our destination, that we had terrible directions to the campground. Miss Garmin was confused by the street address, registration papers did not have directions, and we resorted to the directions in the Trailer Life Directory. These were worse. After several wrong turns, we called the campground for help. That worked. We arrived about 6:00 PM EDT. Parking was an experience.

We got an education about parking in a field at West Virginia’s Samboree. We vowed that if offered field parking here, we would decline. Iowa has been having major rain, tornadoes, and severe weather for a week. At registration, Janice was told, “The site we had reserved for you is under water. We need to find another”. After several minutes, site P-8 was selected. The “parking committee” led us in and directed us into a gravel (newly filled) site. After the “committee” left, we repositioned the coach so that all six wheels were on the gravel. The grass all around is saturated with water, and more is expected.

The late evening weather forecast had tornadoes and severe weather on the ground in the Des Moines area, about 100-miles west of our location. We expected more rain, and it came about 2:00 AM this morning. We had closed the main slide before going to bed and closed the two bedroom slides when we awoke to the wind rocking the coach. The rain was wind driven and pelting the coach from all directions. This morning the sky is blue, yet the wind continues to blow. No tornadoes, but who needs that?

The rally has 93 coaches registered with about a third already here. The official start day is Sunday, but folks come early to make the travel more worthwhile. (Diesel was $4.85 per gallon in Indiana) We are going to the Creamery Theater tonight to see a show “The Nerd”. We have no idea what it is, but many of the early arrivals here will be going. It should be fun. We’ll tell you about it later.