Up, down, and all around

I told Jeffrey the other day that, even when there are "down times" in this lifestyle, there is still nothing I'd rather be doing as the "up times" are so worth it. He gave me a big smile at this statement and admitted he felt the same way.

So lets start with the latest "ups"!  We had a terrific visit with our Raleigh family and friends and were thrilled to witness the high school graduation of nephew, Isaac. He'll be joining his two siblings at NC State this fall and we are so proud of all of them. Though we are in the area for over a month each spring, we rarely do the tourist sightseeing thing, so it was fun to go with niece Anna and her boyfriend, Trevor, to the NC Zoo. It boasts of being one of the "largest" zoos and, based on sore legs and feet the next day, I believe it! It was beautiful but quite sprawled -- felt like I'd hiked 10 miles!

Graduation Day!

Happy Giraffe

We then did a fairly quick transit to Mackinaw City, Michigan (very top of the "hand" right before you cross the big bridge to the "Upper Peninsula") to spend a week with my Dad and Sheila who flew over from their home in Washington state. The four of us had a wonderful time exploring the city, Mackinac Island, and the Soo locks. One highlight was my Dad doing a tandem skydive on his 81rst birthday -- quite a change from his critical hospitalization during his 80th just a year ago. None of us were brave enough to join him (and frankly I was not pleased with his desire to test fate by flinging himself out of a perfectly good airplane), but nothing could erase his joy at the accomplishment.

My daredevil daddy

Lunch at the Mackinac Island Grand Hotel

Adjusting our schedule a day to race incoming weather across the Mackinac Bridge (they won't let tall vehicles across if high winds), we slipped along the south edge of the "UP", down the east edge of Wisconsin, and west over to Iowa. Enroute were were able to detour with the car to Friendship, Wisconsin, to have lunch with former Austin neighbors, Dave and Cheryl Quillman. They are also now RV full-timing and have relatives nearby.  Once we got to Iowa, we again detoured in the car over to Rochester, Minnesota for a great (but too short) visit with Jeffrey's uncle Merlyn (also a former IBMer), aunts Margaret and Louise, plus cousin Mike.

Meeting the Quillmans halfway for lunch

Once back in Iowa we took Max for a "spa" visit. This equaled a few days of getting old ugly decals replaced, the front "bug" mask replaced, and some minor paint "ouches" addressed. He even got a full body "buff" which really shined up his full-body paint, but requires us to re-apply a coat of wax since it was removed in the process (sigh). Since this was done, we've had several RVers ask if the coach was new because it looks so spiffy, so I'm not complaining (much).

Now for "all around" #1. We had a pesky but intermittent "leveling jack" issue and had decided over the winter to have HWH in Moscow, Iowa, take a look at it since we would be nearby.  So east we go. Well, just like the magic recovery that often happens when you finally make an appointment to see your doctor, the jack issue stopped happening and of course refused to show itself at HWH. They gave us a free "check up" anyhow and had us back on the road in a few hours.  The trip was far from a waste though as we got to spend a great weekend with RV friends, the Marlins. In fact, his name is Jeff Marlin, so we always giggle at how close it is to my own Jeff Martin. Anyhow, they were workcamping less than an hour away and we really enjoyed seeing some of the local hot spots with them.

Marlins, Martin, and Nelson at the General Store Pub in Anamosa, Iowa

"All around" #2 took us back west to Forest City for Winnebago's Grand National Rally, held annually near their large manufacturing plant. They have a huge rally grounds area and it easily held the 1000 Winnebagos that arrived for the fun. Many take the opportunity to get some service items taken care of at the same time (including us). Ours were all minor things except for a concern about "low coolant" alarms we had been getting since leaving Raleigh. The 24-hour Freightliner hotline had us adding coolant, looking for leaks, and watching the reservoir tank level closely. We actually had 3 of these alarms on our jaunt to Moscow, so we realized the leak was getting worse. Nobody seemed too concerned so we tried to stay calm and methodical about it.

The rally itself was just as great as it was when we attended 3 years ago.  Lots of educational seminars, visiting with other RVers, items to spend money on, and system experts to talk to. They even have roaming technicians who will come to your RV to help with issues -- and we got a new door awning motor installed free because ours chose to sieze up that day. The Cummins engine experts were also on hand and helped us get some extra coolant and arrange for an appointment in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after the rally was over.

Us posing in the "Fabulous Winnebago" chapel (note Jeffrey's ball and chain)

Getting ready to leave the Grand National Rally

Before leaving Forest City, we took the car halfway to Des Moines to have dinner with fellow UF grad and friend, Ware Lynch.  He recently moved from south Florida to start an exciting new job near Des Moines. We like to tell people that they can try to move away from us but we will track them down wherever they go!

Time for the "downs" now. The next stop was handing Max over to Cummins in Sioux Falls and it took them less than 2 hours to discover the coolant leak location. The bad news is we had to replace the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculator - part of the emissions system). The good news is they had all the parts they would need and could do it in a day. The really bad news is that emissions systems are excluded from our extended warranty. Ouch. However, looking at the bright side, the issue was caught before the engine was damaged (sigh of relief!). The only mystery now is why our 3-month old serpentine belt is splitting. New belt installed and belt path inspected with nothing visibly amiss. We'll have to watch it and see if this one starts to split as well -- which will clearly require deeper investigation.

"Down" #2 and another "all around". We can see that one of the fiberglass/paint repairs done in Forest City at the "spa" did not stay fixed, so back east we go. This blows up our schedule a little and reduces time we'll have visiting friends and sights in South Dakota, but we feel the need to deal with it now. They take another crack at it and things still aren't perfect. Got a rain check to try again in a few years when we will likely want to come back for the rally again anyhow. This beats losing two more days in our schedule. The defect is high on the front cap so not noticeable to anyone but us probably.

Tomorrow we drive west into South Dakota once again. Time for more "ups" we hope!

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