No, I didn't forget.....

....that  I have a blog to write. 
Here is our situation:  Paul and I made our way back to the Keystone factory to get our trailer looked at for the 4th time because of a frame flexing issue.  Paul has been upset because he can see things shifting and warping.
We showed the shop manager some of what we could see happening inside, and he had someone from the company that built the frame there to look at it when they pulled the frontcap off the trailer. The bottom line is, they agreed with Paul that there is a serious issue with the trailer. There are welds that are broken, the floor is bowed, the outriggers that hold up the floor are bent, and the walls are separating.  Although it can be fixed, they have offered to help us get a brand new 2012 5th wheel.  They don't make the same model we have, so we are actually getting a slightly bigger one.
So, although it's been an extremely stressful week, we are very happy that the company is willing to help us to the extent that they are.
We should have the new trailer by the end of next week, so I'll post more then.

Home sweet Home / Hurry up and Hike

I couldn't decide on a title- in fact I had about 5 that I wanted to use.
After an exhausting day yesterday, we were reunited with our "home" at 7 pm.    On Saturday I had called the RV park that we are staying at here to tell them that we would probably not arrive until Tuesday.  They had no problem holding the reservation for us. Sunday we checked in to a nearby  hotel, went out to dinner, and did our laundry.  Fun day, but not as "fun" as yesterday!
   Our doctor appointments started yesterday at 8:15 am and ended at 4:30 pm. Whew.  We sure did cram a lot of things into one day.  We both  almost escaped with a clean bill of health, but one of my doctors wrecked it.  Both of our physicals went fine, with our doctors telling us to go off and have fun for another year.  But the specialist who looked at my foot put the brakes on our footloose and fancy free ideas.  Apparently I need surgery to rebuild the joint that connects the big toe to the foot.  If I wait too long to do the surgery, it will be a joint replacement instead of a joint rebuilding project.  This isn't a total surprise to us, and its part of the reason I brought Paul in to see the doctor with me, so we could both hear the options.  We've pretty much decided that it would be smarter to do this now rather than risk more injury.  Thats where the "hurry up and hike" part comes into play.  When I said "now"  I really meant " a little later". We're going to spend the next month hiking the UP and across Minnesota, and then swing back down here.  I'll be stuck in one place for at least a month, with no traveling, so I'd like to see a little more before I do that.  We'll have to figure out the logistics of where we can stay etc. 
    In between doctors appointments, we talked to Keystone several times and after misunderstandings with our RV dealer here, we finally made arrangements for the Everest to be delivered to the dealer last night.  We even got a call from the driver while he was enroute, to confirm.   Paul's day was even crazier than mine because while I was at the doctors, he had to throw everything, including the cat, into the truck and check out of the hotel.  It was too hot to leave the cat in the truck, so one of us had to stay with the truck until we got the Everest- but!  It was so nice to have our own bed to sleep in!!
    Today was another flurry of appointments- some doctors, some other things.  Tomorrow there are even more appointments.  We're so busy with business stuff, the first time we'll get to see friends is this Thursday.

Holland, MI

Well, Paul says now he feels homeless. There was no way Keystone could finish everything that had to be done to the trailer by Friday afternoon, so we left Indiana without it.  We had about 5 minutes to run in and grab what we thought we would need for the next few days.  Keystone will pay for our hotel until we get the trailer back, but Paul and I are already sick of eating out  all the time, and having to deal with the cat in a hotel room. The days we change hotels are even worse, since we can't leave him in the truck unless we leave it running- so the other day we just ate Subway sandwiches in the truck.

Friday we drove up to Holland Michigan, which is on Lake Michigan.  I have been missing the caribbean, since we haven't been in a while, and Lake Michigan has beautiful water.  In fact, Michigan has the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen.  The town of Holland has been an awesome surprise!  If we could move the town about 4 hours south, it would be perfect for us to live in.  There is a very active downtown, complete with cobblestone sidewalks and sidewalk sales.  There are concerts most weekends, and restaurants with outdoor seating.

 We walked around town this morning, checking out the sales and the town parks.  They have quite a few walking trails in the area, and there is a beautiful park in the center of town.  The streets are lined with flowers, and in some cases, sculptures.  The historic district has older, well maintained homes, and its obvious that the town is thriving.

     This afternoon we spent a few hours at Tunnel Park, a beach on Lake Michigan.  The weather was perfect for hanging out at the beach for a while and it satisfied my craving for the ocean, at least for a little while.

still here....

So much for thinking they were capable!  Well, that's mean I guess, but its Thursday and we are still in Goshen, waiting for the trailer.   Actually we are in Elkhart- I couldn't take another night in that hotel so we moved to a nicer one, with a fitness center (YES!), a pool, and Wi-Fi.

         Tuesday we took a tour of one of the Keystone plants- the one that builds the Montana Fifth Wheel- similar to ours.  It was an interesting afternoon.  There was no one working, due to the hot and humid weather.  A couple of older guys made fun of the idea of sending someone home because of the heat, because in "their day" you worked even if it was 120 outside. When the tour guide came he told them that although it sounds "cushy" that the workers all got to go home,  "wait until you get inside the factory before you make that judgement- oh, and really do you want someone building your rig when they are that uncomfortable?" In fact, the heat was unbearable inside, and that was without 150 people working, with all the lights on.  The older guys shut up pretty fast.  Another guide mentioned that  the glue for the laminate won't dry correctly if the humidity is too high.

       Wednesday morning we took off to the RV Hall Of Fame, which is essentially a museum of RVs, from the early 1900s to about 1970.  After spending a few hours there, we had a quick lunch and went on another tour- this time it was Cougar, a less expensive line of trailers that Keystone has. This guide was very informative as well, and talked about different things, so it didn't feel like a repeat of the day before.  We had checked out of our hotel, so we had the cat with us in the Customer waiting room.  The Customer Service Manager offered to cat sit anytime we wanted to take off and do something, so we left the cat (in the carrier) in his office while we did the tour. By Wednesday afternoon, they told us they were close to being done, so they would pull the Everest outside so we could sleep in it, and then finish up a few details in the morning before taking it for a 50 mile test drive. 

          When we got to see it, we weren't happy with several things. Among other things, the door doesn't close correctly anymore, the slides that they had supposedly adjusted are so out of alignment that we could see the sunlight coming through to the inside.  If  sunshine comes in, water can come in too.  Not a good thing. The rubber roof that they were supposed to fix had air bubbles all across the front.  They told us that's normal, but we are not convinced. They did put in the new A/C unit, which was great, and they gave us a new diningroom table that we asked for.  Its designed better than the one we have now. Anyway, we gave them the new list of issues, and they took it for the test ride to make sure the flexing was fixed (which it is!).  When it came back, both Customer Reps that we have dealt with came to talk to us.  Apparently while on the test run, the rubber roof  of the Everest ripped.  The roof is a one piece membrane stretched across the top,  and needs to be completely waterproof of course.  The bad news is that its a 2-3 day fix, which is why we are back in a hotel tonight.  If they can finish it tomorrow, we'll probably stay at their factory for 2 days to let it cure before we move.  If they can't get it finished tomorrow, we'll have to go to Michigan without it, because we have doctors appointments on Monday morning.  Then we'll have to figure out how to get it back.....

Goshen, IN (Yes, we already left Muncie!)

Here we sit, in a hotel room, waiting for our trailer to get fixed.  The hotel is a Best Western that accepts cats, which is nice, but there is no pool, and worse..horror of horrors.....NO internet!  What's up with that?
   So, as for the last week-  we spent a few days with Jessica in Muncie, and it was the first time that Paul got to see her apartment.  Right now she is living alone, since her 3 new roommates will not move in until next week. She only had a short list of things for Paul to fix-haha.   We found a coffee table for her at a rummage sale, so she was happy about that!  We went out to dinner one night, and she still had to work while we were there, so it really felt like a short visit.  On Saturday her boyfriend came back from his two week visit to his parents, so the 4 of us had dinner at the trailer.   I never took out the camera to take a picture!  I am better at taking pictures of things, rather than people. When I am with people, I am having fun and forget to get  the camera out.  Oh well.
        Sunday we left for Goshen and Keystone RV, the manufacturer of our trailer. We have a list of issues with the trailer that they need to look at, and neither of us was particularly convinced that we would be satisfied with the results.  However, today we went over the list with them, and they pulled the whole side of the trailer off and showed Paul what they were doing.  Our biggest issue is flexing of the frame, which is causing water to get in, among other problems.  They showed Paul the weld that is broken, and how they are going to fix it.  He is much happier after talking to them this morning.  They seem confident  and capable, and willing to look at all the issues (most of them are small).  They are also apparently going to compensate us for our inconvenience by installing a 2nd air conditioner in the trailer. SWEET!
we'll be here for another couple of days.  There is actually a lot of things to do around here. Tomorrow we plan to go to the RV/MH Museum and then take a factory tour in the afternoon.

ahhhh, San Antonio, TX

Two days later we arrived in San Antonio. We spent the night along the way, in Beaumont Texas. Keystone (the manufacturer of our 5th wheel) called us to ask how things were going, and make sure we were ok, which was nice. No one is convinced that the 5th wheel is really 100% ok, because it’s still flexing, but it isn’t as bad as it was- at least, so far. Paul isn’t too worried safety-wise, but if it continues to flex, then Keystone wants us to bring it in to another dealer, probably in El Paso. If it doesn’t get worse, then we can wait it out and see what happens. We arrived in San Antonio with no issues, and it was 83 degrees outside! Yay! What a beautiful day! We sat outside with brochures and made some decisions about what we want to see while we are here. There are some things that are obvious, like the Alamo, but we’re here for 5 days so we have time to do other things as well. We started off by doing some of the obvious today- we went to the Alamo. I must say I was a little apprehensive, since all I have ever heard is how out of place it is in the middle of the city, and that it isn’t worth seeing….Well, it didn’t cost anything, so that right there makes it worth it! There was more to it than I thought. There are several buildings still standing, and the courtyard is still there. I think it was one of those “expectations” situations. I expected that it wouldn’t be that good, so it exceeded my expectations very nicely. I don’t think you can grow up in this country and not know the words “remember the Alamo”, but today I learned a lot more about what made it so special, and what role it played in history. Its amazing that those 200 men were willing to take a stand and fight so hard for what they believed in, against such odds. Of course, they were hoping for reinforcements, but they did have an opportunity to get out, and chose not to take it. After the Alamo we walked down the Riverwalk, and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, sitting outside so we could people watch and enjoy the sunshine. We’ll go back to the Riverwalk again at night to see how different it looks. Probably tomorrow night, since there is a Latin Music Festival near there all day tomorrow, so we can check that out at the same time. Our final tourist event of the day was the Tower of the America’s. It’s a tower that was built in the 1960s for the Worlds Fair that took place in San Antonio. You can take an elevator to the top, where there is an observation tower, and a lounge. I think most big cities have their version of the Tower of the Americas. This one was ok- we could actually see our truck where it was parked a few streets away. There was a 4D movie about Texas that we saw as well. An amusement park type ride, but it was fun. We specifically didn’t make plans for the evening because the RV park we are at serves dinner on Friday nights. For $3.50 per person you get Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, a drink, and dessert. More importantly, it’s a way to meet other people who are staying in the park, so we wanted to go. We met and shared stories with a nice couple from Canada who are on their way to South Padre Island for the winter. We also met today, another couple who are fulltimers- they are on the opposite trajectory from us- headed from West to East, and will spend the winter in Alabama. Really nice people- too bad we met them the night before they are leaving, but we did exchange information. We’ll see what we decide to do tomorrow!