Travel Journal

December 2004

On December 7^th we left Fort Wayne at around 4 PM on our way to Topeka, Indiana. Topeka is a small town about 50 miles northwest of Fort Wayne where our

RV was manufactured. It is also right in the middle of Amish country. We had a list of complaints and repairs that we wanted to present directly to the manufacturer, rather than a dealer. We were prepared for a good fight and were ready for the worst.

As we arrived, all of the buildings were closed and it was already dark. Behind the main office is a storage lot with hundreds of new RVs. We saw a man in a pickup truck in the lot, near the entrance. We asked him where we might find the Customer Service Office. He was an extremely friendly person and told us that we would be able to reach someone at 6 AM, then proceeded to explain where we could spend the night, with electric and water hookups, near the old factory nearby. We had toured the old factory before buying our RV and knew that it was only a few hundred yards away. We drove there, hooked up, had supper, watched a little TV, and then went to bed early in preparation for an early morning confrontation. We awoke shortly after 6 and saw that other vehicles were already in the parking lot. We had breakfast, and then we psyched ourselves up for a battle. The ladies in the office were very friendly and so were we. One of the ladies took our list of complaint/problems and told us that someone would be with us within the hour and that we should wait in our RV. About a half hour later, a man knocked on the door with our list in his hand. We went thru the list point-by-point with him, fully expecting to hear the usual “that is not a warranty item” or “that item is out of stock” or “We’ll look into it” etc. Instead, we experienced friendly, expeditious service like never before. Even though there were subcontractors involved, they were immediately contacted. They continually apologized that the air conditioner contractor would not be able to arrive until the following day. Since we were also in the process of selling our house in Stafford, they also let us send and receive faxes to our realtor, free of charge! While we were there, we also received word that we had to have some forms notarized and sent by overnight express delivery to Stafford. Since the pickup was still hooked to the RV, one of the ladies in the office took us in her own car to a Notary Public! The repairman was also so friendly and helpful, even equipping us with an emergency supply of the most common nuts, bolts, etc, used in our RV. While Renée and Lobo went for a walk and enjoyed the sunny afternoon, Chuck sat in the pickup and took pictures of the Amish as they passed by. Here are a few of them.

1. Photo of an Amish buggy (Click here)

2. Another Amish buggy (Click here)

3. A young Amish man on his custom bicycle (Click here)

4. A horse drawn wagon with steel wheels without rubber tires (Click here)

The following morning the repairmen for the air conditioner arrived and in a short time, made the necessary repairs. We were then ready to hit the road. We left with the feeling that we couldn’t have received better treatment anywhere!

From Topeka, Indiana we headed toward Dayton, Ohio on our way to Kentucky. We made a stop in Dayton at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Commissary to stock up on German and other Christmas goodies that are hard to find elsewhere. We left there late in the evening with the intention of staying overnight at a rest stop. The rest stops were completely full of truckers so we continued on to Cincinnati. As we were traveling on the expressway that circles Cincinnati, the road signs indicated a fork ahead. The navigator (Renée) began shouting “Straight ahead, straight ahead!” To the driver (Chuck) the left of the fork appeared more straight ahead than the right of the fork. Of course it was wrong and we wound up in the downtown (Vine Street) traffic, hauling the RV through city traffic and exiting along the Ohio side of the Ohio River when we needed to be on the Kentucky side. After several miles of inner city roads, we finally managed to cross the Ohio River into Kentucky. After driving a few miles through thick fog, we saw a Walmart and it occurred to us that although we had never tried it before, most Walmarts will allow RVers to spend the night in their parking lot. We pulled in, asked for permission, and settled in for the night’s rest that we desperately needed.

The next morning (Friday, Dec 10) was still foggy and we drove the next 15 miles to Falmouth. Kincaid Lake (with campground) is nearby so we went there first to empty our tanks before we went to Patty’s (Chuck’s sister) and Roy’s (brother-in-law) tobacco farm. No one was home but Roy told us on the phone to park anyplace that we wouldn’t sink in the mud. The ground was quite wet so we chose their driveway! After we unhooked and leveled the RV, the Morton family began showing up for guided tours.

1. On the tobacco farm (Click here) 2. Lobo on the farm (Click here)

On Saturday afternoon the Morton Clan gathered at the Woodmen’s Hall for the family Christmas celebration. Everyone brings a dish or two and the variety is enough to satisfy anyone. We brought fruit salad, Tiramisu and large appetites. Most of the Morton Clan lives in Kentucky but the others from South Carolina and Florida were also there. The following morning several of us met again in Crescent Springs (near Cincinnati) for brunch before Chuck’s brother (Joe) and niece (Nicole) flew back to Florida. We left and drove back to Falmouth, drove around the town, then back to the farm. Monday morning it began to snow as we were packing up to leave, but around 2 PM we left when the weather cleared up. We drove south through “Blue Grass Country” and further south through Tennessee to the first rest area in Alabama. We were very pleasantly surprised to find that Alabama is very RV friendly, with dumping stations at many rest areas, as well as designated parking for RV’s in the rest areas. We had a very restful night and pleasant trip through Alabama and were set up at a campground on the beach in Pensacola, Florida before dark.

Hurricane Ivan had done considerable damage to Pensacola a few months before and most of the houses were covered with blue plastic, while waiting for the roofers to show up. The landscape was covered with downed trees, demolished signs, roof shingles and many other unidentifiable objects. Up-rooted trees had destroyed the sewer lines in the campground so we were once again thankful that we had emptied our tanks at the Alabama rest area. Nevertheless, we bought a rolling “Totetank” so that we could empty the tanks and take it to the dump station that was not affected by the hurricane. Otherwise we would have had to periodically hook up and take the RV to the dump station. Within the next two days we transferred titles, registrations and our driver’s licenses to Florida. The 9000 mile service on the pickup was also due and as we passed a GM dealer, we stopped and managed to have it performed while we had lunch outside with Lobo at a nearby Pizza Hut.

Although it was cold and windy, Lobo wanted to take a stroll on the beach before we left.

At the beach (Click here)

Our return trip to Fort Wayne began on Friday, December 17^th, with an overnight at an Alabaman rest area. A trucker had parked in the RV-designated spot so we had to park with the trucks. We had to leave the slide-outs pulled in since they project out further than one parking spot. It was a little narrow inside but we were able to expand the living area after daylight when most of the truckers were gone. After breakfast we hit the road and Renée had her first experience of driving while pulling the RV. After driving through a traffic jam on the outskirts of Birmingham, everything became much easier. Now to learn how to park this thing!

In Kentucky we decided to make a slight detour to Fort Knox where we lived 35 years ago. Fort Knox is heavily guarded, getting on post involved a full search and inspection. As they say, it is guarded like Fort Knox! We had only about 35 minutes in the Commissary before it closed but we were able to stock up on bargains and buy a goose for Christmas dinner (a tradition by us). Purely by coincidence, we passed the street where we used to live, as well as the building where the gold bullion is stored. It was getting late and we decided to use the Cracker Barrel gift certificate that we had received from our neighbors in Stafford. We stopped in Louisville and had supper before crossing the Ohio River into Indiana. In Indiana it is forbidden to spend the night at a rest stop, but because of this restriction there are lots of truck stops with large parking areas where the truckers spend the night. We parked in the back away from the trucks and in the morning woke up in the middle of a snow storm. We turned on the TV to get a weather/traffic report. All reports stated that the snow was not going to stick and would pass by quickly. We had breakfast and then took off. As we tried to enter the interstate, we started slipping and sliding in every direction. The meteorologists had seriously erred and we were suddenly in a blinding snowstorm. There were also no maintenance vehicles on the interstates. We crept along for a few miles with the intention of pulling off at the first exit. Miraculously, a rest area appeared and we slipped and slid in to wait for the maintenance people to clear the roads. After a few hours, we began to see clearer skies that revealed snow removal teams on the interstate. The temperature had dropped to 18°F when we arrived in Fort Wayne late that afternoon (Sunday, December 19^th) and were able to set up before dark in Michael’s driveway.

The temperature continued to drop in the next few days and by Christmas Eve it was at least -4° F with almost 8 inches of snow! The outside thermometer only goes to -4° F so we are unsure how cold it really was. The extra insulation that we had ordered with the RV proved itself. We were able to heat the entire RV with an electric oil-filled radiator and two small electric space heaters. Although we left the furnace thermostat turned on, it never kicked on. The furnace runs on propane and the heavy tanks must be removed and taken to a propane dealer to be filled. We wanted to avoid this since it can be quite strenuous and frustrating in the cold weather. The water lines are a real problem in the severe cold. It is quite difficult to adequately insulate water hoses to withstand such low temperatures, but we are working on it. In the meantime, we use Michael’s shower when the temperature really drops. This would not be a problem at a campground because of the large sewer line, but since the sewer connection is in the back yard (around the garage and across the yard), we have a special device that pulverizes and pumps the sewage through a garden hose and into the sewer inlet. Unfortunately, keeping the garden hose thawed out in sub-zero temperatures is quite difficult.

We celebrated Christmas Eve on the 24^th with Michael. The children were with their mother for Christmas this year, but they arrived on the 26^th and we celebrated again with them and had a nice meal with the goose that we had bought at Fort Knox. On New Year’s Eve we stayed at home with the kids and at midnight we celebrated the New Year with a bottle of champagne. The kids tried a sip of one part champagne and five parts water but found it tasted yucky. But staying up so late was fun for them!

To be continued ………………………..

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