Exploring & Improvements

Tuesday, March 19

Today, we are still trying to figure out the time zone. Our bodies still say it's an hour later, so we didn't really get moving as fast as we had hoped. Tony went down and got us some free breakfast, and we had waffles. They were pretty good!

Once we got moving, we decided to drive over to Goshen, to see where the North American Heartland Owners Rally is going to be held this June. We also stopped at a truck stop for cheaper fuel that was recommended by one of the other patrons at Dually Depot, a local transport driver. Tony wanted to put some fuel in the tank, to make sure it was operating correctly. We put in about 40 gallons, and headed over to the fairgrounds, where the Rally will be held. There we looked around a bit, then tried the pump to transfer fuel to the OEM tank. It worked as advertised! It took about 15 min to pump a full tank.

We stopped for lunch at Subway, then we headed back to Elkhart to stop in and see the status of Mammoth.

We went by the office and John escorted us over to the shop. We met with Tim, who was already sanding and finishing the repaired area. He showed us another coach that was having a similar repair, so we could see what all had taken place. Tim assured us that Mammoth was in really good shape, that reinforcement was added and there was no sign of frame damage. We also went over some other areas we wanted Heartland to look at, and they agreed to do so. We felt so much better after this meeting, and any fears were calmed by the good folks working on our coach.

After visiting Mammoth, Tony wanted to stop by Dually Depot and check on a few things. The light on the switch they had installed didn't seem to be lighting up, and the fuel gauge on the tank was a little foggy. We drove over there, and they immediately looked into the issues. While we were waiting, we decided to also get a teflon slide for the hitch plate. We have been buying the teflon discs that slide up on the hitch-pin, but these tend to wear and then fall off easily... making it a hassle to get hitched up. This plate is the same material, but it has attachments to weld it to the hitch plate on the hitch itself. No more falling discs! They also confirmed the light was working and replaced the foggy gauge, so we were happy campers once again.

It's funny, in both these cases, I was the one who said, "Stop at Dually Depot!" and encouraged these two upgrades to our towing experience. But Tony is the most happy I did!

pic here

After a little more waiting for the hitch plate, (which was never boring as we listened to transport drivers talk about their trucks and experiences,) we headed back to the hotel and had a free dinner there... yes, they serve "bar food" in the early evening, so we made a meal out of salad and meatball sliders. They also offer two (small) free cups of beer or wine per person.