Iowa- don’t Blink (09-12-13)

Before leaving for Iowa, we spent one incredibly hot afternoon in Shipshewana (or Shopshewanna, as my friend says).  As many times as we have been to this area, we've never made it to the huge flea market. We finally remedied that, but with record high temperatures, we didn't walk the whole thing.  After all, we don’t buy much anyway.

We took two days to drive across Indiana and Illinois, into Iowa. This is the view we were greeted with when we arrived:

Acres and acres….and acres….of corn fields.  Mile after mile.  Of course, there were some acres of soybeans in there too, but farming is clearly  the main business in Iowa. I searched the internet looking for something to stop and see that wouldn't be too far out of our way as we crossed the state.  I found “The Kellogg Museum” nearby and thought it would be pretty cool to see where Corn Pops are made.  But when I looked further, I realized that this Kellogg had nothing to do with the cereal.  Oh well.  We skipped the museum.


We decided to spend a couple of nights at the Core of Engineers  Park on Lake Red Rock, near the small town of Pella. 




Our interest in Pella was a sports bar-the Sports Page- that was showing the Patriots football game on Thursday night.  We used it as an excuse to go out for dinner, and watch the football game.  Dinner was actually really good, but we were the only customers left by the time half time arrived.  We left a little while before the end of the game and listened to the last bit on the truck radio on the way home.








The next day we took off on the nearby bike trail. We had a pleasant 12 mile ride, and saw a fair amount of wildlife along the way. At least the weather has cooled off and it was only in the mid 70s.



This deer is barely visible in the picture, but he carefully watched us as we stopped to take his picture.  Before I could get a clear shot, he decided he’d had enough and took off.

Along the shores of the lake we saw pelicans, great blue Herons, and a young bald eagle.

  

And, last but not least, the Monarch butterfly migrates through this area on the way to Mexico.

One of the things I've really enjoyed since we left Michigan is the price of the RV parks we've been staying in.  Paying $35-$55 a night for a spot for the trailer gets pricey after a while.  It feels great to pay $12-$20 !!

A little of this, a little of that (09-09-13)

That’s about what we’ve been up to.  We finished our visit to the Novi area with some doctor visits.  Nothing but good news, and that’s always nice!


Anyone who has been in my trailer for the last few days may be wondering why we have a sleeping bag on the couch.  Well, we are bringing it to California for our daughter, and as soon as I brought it in and put it down, Dozer decided to make a nest in it.  Once he finds a new “place”, he sleeps there for about a week, and since I am sooo nice, I am leaving it there until he gets tired of it.




 

Once we had the doctor appointments out of the way, we headed across the state to a mini DRV Suites rally. We went to this rally last year and really enjoyed the people, so we made a point to get there again this year.

We had several potluck dinners and breakfasts, and went out to dinner one night at a nearby casino.   The weather was just about perfect for  hanging around outside all weekend long. With a small group, you get a chance to get to know people a little better.  Different combinations of people would be lounging by the fire at any given time, which made for smaller, more intimate conversations.

And of course, part of the fun of these rallies is checking out everyone else’s rig.  One of the potential consequences of that pastime is the creation of envy.  More about that later. 

Last year Paul and I played tennis at the single tennis court this RV park has, and this year we headed over there again, hoping to shed at least a half pound or so after eating for 3 days.  We were confused once we started playing because something about the court just didn’t seem right.  Somehow it felt Way Too Small.  As it turns out, they turned the one tennis court into two pickle ball courts.  A pickle ball court is about 2/3 the size of a tennis court.  After a few minutes of accidently backing up into the fence, we gave it up and headed for the pool and hot tub.

   Once the rally was over, we headed down to Howe Indiana to the DRV factory, where our trailer was made. 

Since we were pretty close anyway, we wanted to take the factory tour and see what’s new. Some of the new things they are doing is putting garbage disposals and dishwashers in the new units. I guess that would be nice, but neither is on my Wish List.











Pretty much everyone who has met Paul knows he loves lights- especially LEDs.  He definitely gave the thumbs up to the new LED recessed lights that are being put in the new units.

But in the back of his mind was something he had seen in someone else’s trailer at the rally, and that’s what we were carrying when we walked out the door of DRV. Because nothing is too good for our trailer- Paul is in the process of installing a brand new electric toilet!   Ok, it’s not that exciting, but it will be (or better be, for the price we paid!)  less frustrating to use and maintain than the one we have. Having the positive feedback from current owners was the tipping point on this purchase.

So, that’s what he is working on today.  We’ll stay in the Howe Indiana area for a couple of days while he gets that installed and we do some other shopping.  After that, we’ll meander towards New Mexico, but we haven’t even discussed the route we’ll take, or what we want to see along the way. All I know is that after all this eating,  I want to do some hiking.

Moving right along… (09-09-12)

Not that I am an expert, but I would have to say that I really thought the “Suites” rally in MI was quite good.  There were 17 Suites 5th wheels in attendance. 

Some people have fancier set ups than others. 

The schedule was loosely planned, leaving plenty of time for simple visiting or other activities.  Paul and I played our version of tennis for the first time in a year.  Our version consists of trying to see how many times in a row we can hit the ball to each other.  Our record volley is 23 times and we didn’t come close the other day.  More practice required.


 
  We had one pot luck dinner, and one group dinner at a restaurant while attending the rally.  We also had breakfast cooked for us on two of the mornings. 

For the most part the weather was great, but the night of the pot luck it was chilly and rainy, so we used one of the barn type buildings. 

  We had several campfires and lots of “tours” of rigs. Its always great to get ideas from other people about what customizations can be done to the rig to make life easier, or more fun.

We lit up several “Chinese Lanterns”- miniature hot air balloons that you light, then let go.  They float way up into the air and we could watch them for a few minutes before they burned out.

 

Once we left the rally, we headed to Indiana to get some warranty work done on the trailer.  There weren’t too many issues but we wanted to get them fixed, since our full warranty is up now. DRV is great to work with and helped us get things fixed up to our (Paul’s) satisfaction. While there, we met up with some of our new friends from the rally, who were also getting their rigs worked on, and we all went out to dinner at Maria’s Mexican Restaurant, which has some of the best Margaritas and Mexican food we’ve had in a long time (or, did the great Margaritas make us think the food was good??) 

In any case, we had a great time, but getting work done on the trailer is always stressful. First of all, they start work at 6 am, which means getting up at 5:00, eating, and pulling the slides in by 6 am. Then you get to sit around all day, and in my case, worry about the cat, who is sitting on the kitchen table, in his carrier, all day.  When they are done working, we set up for the night, just to do it all over again the next day.  We thought (hahaha) we only had one day’s work to be done, but its been 3 already, and we have one last thing to do- check the alignment on the trailer axles.  Hopefully it’s ok and we can make our run up to Michigan tonight.
    The alignment is done at a different shop, and the trip getting to it was a lovely (that’s sarcasm, Sheldon) adventure.  Indiana doesn’t do detours.  They just close roads.  So we get to an intersection that has a sign that says “road closed”.  Fine.  We take a left, so we can loop back around and find another way there. Nope.  “NO OUTLET”.  Lovely.  We tried 5 roads before we found one that took us around the road construction.  Since the project is long term ( there is no asphalt at all) you would think they could take two minutes to post some detour signs. It wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t dragging a 38ft trailer behind us.  With the trailer attached, there are many roads we can’t use, either because they aren’t wide enough, can’t handle our weight, or don’t have the trees trimmed high enough to clear the top of our trailer.

Zipping around the Midwest (7-20-11)

    After spending a week in Muskegon MI getting settled into the new home, we have moved to Indiana.   Before accepting the trailer, we got agreement from the factory that we could go directly there to get all our issues resolved.  Of course, after we left our dealer and called to make arrangements with the factory, they told us they couldn't fit us into their schedule.  HA.  A bunch of phone calls later, they agreed again to do the work, with the understanding that we might have to stay a day or two so they could work on the trailer in the afternoons.  
         We stopped first in Canton, to put some things in storage and go "shopping".  We pulled out about 8 feet of stuff in our storage unit, to see what we could get rid of, and what we might want to have with us.  We need to make room so that Jess will have some space for her stuff.  We did get rid of a lot!  While we were there we had some friends over for dinner to show off the new trailer, but we were only there for 2 nights, so not too much socializing for us. Before we left Canton,  the refrigerator stopped working.  Paul got it going again and first thing this morning the technician reset it.  Unfortunately, by this afternoon it wasn't working again and Paul had to reset the thermostat again. 
      After sitting at the DRV factory all day today, they told us they didn't have time to work on our unit, and that we would probably need to be there for a week in order for them to have time to fix everything on our list.  We went to speak with the customer service manager, who came out to look at the trailer and seemed to be appalled with the way we were given the run-around, and with the issues we have with the trailer.  So, he has sent us to a nearby repair facility that does have the time to fix all of the problems this week.  Some things are pretty minor- buffing of fibreglass and caulking the shower, but there are a couple of bigger issues too.   It's a little discouraging but overall we're still happy with the quality of the trailer.  It's hard to sit around for too many days though.  With temperatures soaring we can't leave the cat in the truck at all, and if he is in the trailer he has to be in his carrier so the workers can go in and out.  Poor Dozer!
Paul's new saying:  "How do you know a salesman is lying?  His lips are moving."