Catching you up

June 19th 2009 Friday

We are at the Heartland Rally in Goshen Indiana for the next few days. We actually arrived last Sunday. Lots of just visiting and relaxing although a lot of eating is also getting done!

Monday some of the Heartland crew came to fix a couple of minor things on our RV. That took all of about 10 minutes. Thursday there was the Vendor display although not many vendors in attendance but was interesting. I picked up some snap in screens for the Fans in the ceiling and some quick disconnect fittings for the hose.

They have had several seminars that have been interesting including suspensions for 5th wheels, roof and axle maintenance and an all round seminar from Lippert. We have decided to have a different suspension installed on our unit because of being a rear kitchen it really gets everything tossed around pretty bad. Originally we were gonna have to take the rv to Lippert anyway as they screwed up when they installed the shocks last February by installing them in a fully compressed condition. They will have to be cut off. We are scheduled for that on Monday morning at 8am. Hopefully they get that done quickly and we will continue our voyage to Minnesota. We are on a 3 week trek this time.

Tuesday night we went for an Amish dinner at a farm called Yoders that was fantastic! With about 120 people in attendance we were stuffed with Cole slaw salad, Fried chicken, salsibury steak, mashed potatoes, vegetables, homemade chicken and noodles, homemade bread and topped off by homemade pie! We waddled out like a bunch of penquins.

Friday noon they provided subway sandwiches, they bout a dozen 6 foot subs and that came after Lippert smoozed us with Donuts on Friday morning before their seminar. Friday night was another Amish dinner at a place called the Blue Gate, once again getting stuffed with fried chicken, Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad, Bread, green beans, chicken and noodles and also topped off by a piece of peanut butter pie and Deanna had Chocolate pie.

Saturday was a complete tour of the heartland facility. They fed us again with burgers brats and chips. Tonight was pork chops and salad and some kind of stuff I DON"T EAT :) This dinner was also cooked by Nelsons who cooked the burgers and brats earlier in the afternoon. Was all good food and was topped off by Strawberry shortcake!

June 14th Sunday

Well the rally is officially over now, next year will be in Nashville, Tn. Was a fantastic turnout this year with 123 rigs showing up. The service team was really busy fixing little things for people.

For those that knew about our little experience back in the earlier part of the year with the Lippert corporation when I had them install shocks on our Rv and they almost burnt it to the ground, but I discovered this time round that the shocks were mounted incorrectly and when he welded the brackets the shocks were installed in a completely compressed mode actually taking any spring action out of the coach and turning it into a log wagon :( . I immediately called the Lippert contact on Sunday afternoon and they showed up first thing the next day to check it out. Unfortunately she brought a not so ………..mmmmmm, up to speed tech! Well eventually I got to speak with their axle engineer and he agreed it was a mess and they would have to re-weld the brackets. YIKES!!!! AT YOUR FACTORY? I THINK NOT!!! So we opted to have air suspension installed on the rv which is done at a different shop and it was agreed they would remount the shocks at lipperts expense.

So anyway, Sunday was just a loaf day watching people pull out to head for home and me thinking I am glad I have 2 more weeks of loafing! :) We went out that night and tried out an ice cream place we had been told about. It was pretty good, of course I am not sure if there is really any BAD ice cream :)

June 15th Monday

Well we have an appointment at 8 am to have the air suspension installed on the rv, it is called Centerpoint and is Made by Trailair.

After arriving there was someone else already consuming some of my time so we had to wait on them to get finished up. After we got in the guy (Ron) went right to work removing the old suspension and pulling out the axles. I had talked with lippert on Friday and told them I wanted all new U bolts and Spring plates to replace the ones on the RV as I feared they had been compromised from the incorrect installed shocks transferring shock thru the bolts and plates. They had agreed and promptly brought the parts over in the morning. Well Ron looked at the springs and said he thought they also needed replaced so he called them and told them to bring over 4 new springs, so we now have a completely rebuilt suspension with air ride now installed.

During the installation we discovered that one of my drain lines for a tank was going to be in the way so I had to run to Menards and get some fittings to reroute the line. Only took about 30 minutes and I had that done for him so he could continue. He reassembled everything and remounted the shocks in the correct position, aired up the suspension and off we went! Took longer than anticipated but the total time was not bad, 4-1/2 hours. So we were off on our trek to Minnesota!

Evening post:

Well we made pretty good time as we really wanted to get to a County Park named Token Creek which is just north of Madison so that we could see some old friends of ours we met about 6 years ago at an RV.net rally. They live in Whitefish bay Wisconsin which is just north and I believe a suburb of Milwaukee. This is on route 39 (ROUGH ROAD) . The trip was about 325 miles. We made it there about 6:30 I believe due to picking up an hour in time change in Illinois. Our friends Milt and Kereene got there around 8:15 as this was about an hour 10 minute drive from them. Was fantastic to see them again and catch up on old times. We all went out to eat at a local truck stop that had fantastic food and large portions! Their display of breakfast goodies in the case was shocking! Cookies that are 12" in diameter, cream puffs that were 10" tall, a chocolate bismark that is the size of 4 that you are use to seeing and THICK!

So we laughed and had a great time and we got Milt who is a physco doctor to analyze Ken, :) he really needs it! :-) We finished our dinner and they had to get on their way as they had to work the next day and it was already after 10pm. We said our goodbyes and shared hugs with the hopes of seeing them again soon.

Back to the campground to get some sleep for tomorrows trip.

June 16th Tuesday

Well me made about 400 miles or so today, pretty uneventful for us although I did have to trace down a leak in our air suspension last night. A fitting needed to be sealed better with some teflon tape so I had got that done and all was well today with it.

We ended up a a campground that was on the Coast to Coast list membership. Called Sherwood Forrest, don't believe we will stay here again although they screwed up and only charged us $5 for the night……………………….. Or maybe it wasn't a screw up! This was a home owners association and lots of people living there so it was not really a campground. The sites were terrible, but it was cheap and a place to rest. Tomorrow we will be in Bemidji and can get some real rest.

June 17th Wednesday

Trip went fine, we got started early as there was no reason to spend in that so called campground any more time than necessary. The trip was only about 125 miles today so it went pretty quick. We arrived about 11am, got checked in and moved to our spots. They parked us right beside our friends Gunner and Virginia as we had requested before coming. They were out running around so we had time to set up and wait for them to return. We were cooking our lunch outside on the grill when they came home. Unfortunately they had got wind that we would be there but did not know when, only that it would be sometime this summer. Either way they were surprised! They work as campers here and take care of the Sunday breakfast that we use to do and also wrap wood up for campground sales. They have stayed here here for at least the last 4 years that I know of.

They look great and exactly the same as the last time we saw them! Their grand daughter is spending some time with them here at the campground. I think Kaylee is 12 or 13. Sweet, cute and very smart girl! Not sure of what she thinks of spending time with all us old foggies though :)

We magically a couple bundles of firewood appeared on our lot after making a trip to town so we had a campfire that night and we all sat around talking about old times. It was getting late so everyone called it a night.

June 19th Friday

On Thursday night our other friends we made while working here Bob and Jane came over to visit. WOW, great to see them also! They were always a great blast to be around. They spent a lot of time working at this campground, they would take care of all the yard maintenance and did a great job. It would take Jane a couple of days just to do the weed eating! Never seen anyone so devoted and hard working.

Thursday we took Ken and Kathy to the Mississippi Headwaters to see the beginning of the Mississippi river. Lots of people there for sure. We walked back to the beginning and I tested the water for temp………….YEP COLD!!!!! They actually are not but about 6 weeks out of the thaw here I suppose. After checking that out we too the long drive thru the park on the wilderness trail. Saw some deer along the way but the undergrowth was incredible! Didn't take long for the green to take over!

On Friday we just went into town and went to visit Babe and Paul on the lake, took Ken and Kathys pic with them and just kind of laxed and enjoyed the day. We strolled around town checking out some various gift shops, pawn shop and visited the Train museum there which is more of a historical of the town of Bemidji. After that we walked back to Babe and Paul where we were parked and enjoyed an ice cream cone before coming home. We ate light today as we were anticipating the hobo stew that is cooked at the campground every Friday night. It was always our favorite meal when we worked here. They start out with about 10 lbs of ground beef and onions, tomatoes and potatoes and then each camper brings a can of vegetables to add to it. MAN was it great! I had a couple of bowls! We topped that off that evening later with Apple pie and Ice cream :) . Then it was time for another fire. I got it going and everyone sat around and enjoyed. Gunner and Virginia and their son stopped by (Gene) Kaylee, Bob and Jane, Ken and Kathy and us. We wasted a bunch of btu's in wood just watching it burn. Finally Ken and I gave up about midnight and called it done!

Another great day of visiting with friends has come to an end but there is still tomorrow and MORE food to be consumed!