this is the horse hook up at the grocery store in town
But let's go back and review things I forgot to mention last time. First things first. We really did not like driving in MA. The traffic was heavy and they were just jerks to drive near. People did not respect how long it takes a 40,000 lb vehicle to stop. Once we got to I84 it was much better. And NY stayed pretty good. (Actually, the rest areas in NY were great! Huge pet walking area!) I84 transitioned into I80 and traffic was pretty low and the construction was not bad at all. When we crossed into PA the road was great. Jay said he would gladly do the whole trip on roads like I80 through PA.
Ohio seemed really long. It was turnpike, but the first part of it was rough. It got better as we went, but the construction got much worse. In places down to one lane for long stretches. Crossing into IN the road went immediately down hill, but did get better once we turned onto IN 15. (I have done more with geography in the last few days then the last 15 years!)
We are definitely learning tricks as we go. Lesson 1. Tape the toilet paper roll. ;) After traveling the first day I opened the bathroom to find an invisible cat had unrolled the whole thing! What else? Oh, Pilot does have a truck entrance... Jay did a fantastic job getting us out of that tight space! Backing up with a tow vehicle can be done (he proved it) but it is stressful! I am so glad he is on top of things! He checks the tow car each time we stop and after we spent the night in Ohio he noticed that the ball that hooks the dolly to the back had loosened up. Scary! That's why we do the checks. Oil usage has been great, not burning any. We think we are getting about 7mpg but that's not entirely accurate because we run the generator when we "dry dock" in the rest areas. We were looking forward to full hook ups at "Camp Newmar".
As I mentioned, Ohio took us awhile with all the construction, so we didn't get to Newmar until almost 3pm. Obviously we were too late to get on a walk-in service list. No big deal. Our rig has run great and I really wanted to see the factory tour which we could take on Friday (today). We did the Newmar tour today. It was really cool. We went to the 1:00pm show and was so glad we did because the first half of the plant was done working and we didn't have to stay behind the yellow lines. We got to go right up close to see how they build them from the frame up.
We are staying here another night. Most of the rigs that are left are here for long term service since all the techs have gone to CO for the rally that is happening there all next week. Newmar provides FHUs for owners so we have stayed here for free. Well, we did take advantage of the parts store to stock up on bulbs to all the unusual lights, and new A/C filters and vent covers. (Remember all the ones I cleaned? Well they are pretty brittle and discolored) We had also been told the filters are really hard to find. These should last us for a long time. We got new shields for many of the outside lights that the sun has faded to different color also. So I guess it wasn't really "free". :) We carry 4 gallon jugs plus some regular drinking water bottles with us. Our fresh water tank hold 105 gallons of water but it has not been treated yet to be able to drink the water. The grey tank (think dishwater and shower) holds 65 gallons and the black tank (think poo) holds 45 gallons. When you have FHU you don't have to think about those numbers because it all just works. :)
We got really lucky last night because the regular old tv antenna brought in CBS and we were able to watch the Pats play. We sadly do not get NBC so no Blacklist yet. We also do not get cell service here. Verizon and AT&T have coverage in the area but T-Mobile does not have contracts with them for this area. We actually had been very pleased with T-Mobile's service up to this point though. We have some free WiFi here courtesy of Newmar but it gets a bit spotty. People can message us and we can hopefully catch it without too much of a time lag.
We unhooked the car and went into town to do some grocery shopping. The market was cool! Besides the horse hook up they had every register open, a bagger at each lane, and the cashier takes your cart and unloads it while they ring you up so they can sort the way they want and it's super fast! We were pretty impressed! Yes, there is a liquor section. (You knew we were looking for that, right?)
I have to say Newmar has totally impressed me. Not just how quality their products are, although that helps, but how they treat their customers and their employees is pretty cool. We saw many, many employees while being here and they have all been smiling or at least looked like they were enjoying their jobs. A gentleman who was checking part prices in the parts store against prices on Amazon said they were right there or better. Some owners here are kind of grumpy because they have new rigs and there seems to be quite a few problems with them and the repairs are behind with the rally coming up. We're just glad that while our FBG might be the oldest one here, she's also the one that doesn't need work. ;)
We will probably head down the road tomorrow but we're enjoying the evening here. Hope all is well in your world! Thanks for coming along.
~Mikki
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