We spent an uneventful night with the understanding we would be there through Monday and would pack then and determine where we would go over the next 7-12 days. At 8am the next morning we were met by 2 people who went over the coach with us. We pointed out the rear end which was the worst part on the coach and then went around discussing all the other places that could use work to replace the peeling clear coat and in some cases even deteriorating paint. We had a definite budget on this and told them obviously we couldn't have it all done since it would be way more than discussed. Amazingly they said they thought they could do it all for the original estimate including repairing a broken wheel well!
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| If you look close you can see all the tape marking the issue areas |
But then came the big surprise, they said we plan to get it in the shop in an hour or so, oh wow! Here we were fat, dumb, and happy thinking we had all day to pack, but we weren't going to look a gift horse in its mouth, so a packing we went. They thought it would take 8 working days, but indicated it might be sooner. In an hour or so we were packed, had all the food stuff we thought we needed, stuff for 2 weeks, truck full, and reminded them 5 times to be sure it stayed plugged in for the fridge and batteries. And off we went to..........where?
I should back up a little bit, we did have at least one plan. I had been having a lot of issues with my right shoulder and my left leg, enough that it was really impacting what I could do and what I couldn't do. My shoulder was treated a little over a year ago for bursitis and I thought it had returned, but my leg was driving me crazy. I made an appointment at the ortho doc to check on both back in Atlanta:-) But here we were heading south a full day early to where. We knew we'd be staying at AirBnB's and VRBO's, no hotels, so we could cook and not worry about going out all the time, also it was roughly 670 miles to Atlanta so we wanted to do the trip in at least 2 legs. So we drove until lunch time, and while we ate we searched for a place to stay.
We found a nice place in Williamstown, KY and by 6pm we were settled in having a drink and cigar, thinking wow.
We had already booked a place in Ellijay, GA for 2 nights and decided to see if we could add a day since we were earlier than we thought. That worked out so we stayed at a cute new modern place in the middle of the woods.
We even managed to meet Karen and Tom for lunch on our extra day.
Then came my doctor's appointment, X-rays were taken of my left leg and hip and a review of my shoulder was made, sure enough the bursitis had returned so I got another shot, and have to say it made a world of difference, then on to my leg. Not good, unless you count the fact of knowing what is wrong is good, I need a hip replacement due to osteoarthritis. So now we are working on the logistics of that.
With that done we were on our way to visit with friends, John and Diane. We had a great visit to include a delicious dinner, cigars, camaraderie, and John even included a blind bourbon tasting. What a hoot, he had picked 3 bourbons, but he didn't know which was which, and I of course had no idea period. Diane poured and marked the glasses and John and I got down to it.
The fun began, we both agreed on the number 3 of the group, but we both went back and forth between the other two. It was fun discussing the relative merits of each and finally we each chose. John said when we started he had chosen, a mid range bourbon, a top shelf bourbon and a cheaper bourbon. Interestingly we both chose as last, the mid range bourbon, and each of us struggled between the last 2, finally I chose B, then C, and John picked C, then B, but we both agreed it was almost too close to call.
For the bourbon drinkers, we both chose the Old Forester as last, and funny enough we struggled between the awesome Weller 12 and the more inexpensive Green River, John, much to his chagrin picking the Green River number one, while I lucked out and chose the Weller:-)
So after a great time and breakfast we headed back to the north because we were still confident they were going to be early and we wanted to make sure we were back, so that night we stayed at a not so hot place in Elizabethtown, KY, but we made the most of it.
Sunday and Monday we found a really cute place in Winona Lake, IN, a very nice community. We had been told they thought it would be ready at noon on Tuesday.
Then, after checking out, and heading for lunch, unfortunately came the call telling us our coach would not be ready until Friday noon, they were having a couple issues with color:-(
We tried to rebook the place we were in, booked. Couldn't find anything except a just okay place in Barbee Lake, it worked but we both agreed we had to find something a little better for the next two nights.
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| Looks okay here, but a basic camp at best |
We did end up finding a nicer place back in the Winona Lake area for the two nights, but as Friday approached we got more and more anxious about whether it would be ready. So all checked out on Friday and at lunch at 11:15, the phone rang, our hearts sunk, but we were told our coach was ready for pick up anytime, that just left us to worry that the colors matched on the ride over to the shop. We got there and wow, the coach looked terrific, it did take a little longer, but they did it within their original estimate!
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| Looks like brand new! |
We headed up to Elkhart to a campground and unfortunately found out they had hit a switch at our entry door, intentionally or accidentally that turned off the power in the basement and to our full of New England seafood, meat, local pork, etc, freezer and we lost it all. Estimate a more than $700 loss, unfortunately a sad finale to this whole saga.
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| Pretty sunset |
On Monday we have an appointment to see if they can fix a leak on our slide out system, and then back to traveling
