Heading to Nashville, A shocking revelation, and a Grand Ol' time

Tuesday, June 20th, 2017

Today, we got going a little slow since we were suffering from the lack of sleep the night before. We did, however, get on the road pretty quickly, I think by 9:30am. We headed south toward Indianapolis, and then through Louisville Kentucky, and on into Nashville. The roads were pretty rough a lot of the trip, and it seemed as though our new suspension was not doing what it was supposed to do, which was soften the bounce. 

We stopped a few times along the way as customary, for pitstops, and checked on things inside. It seems MORE bounce was occurring! And, we noticed the bushings on the shocks were showing signs of being "beat up" and "super-compressed."

The black rubber bushing looks torn up.

We made it to the Nashville KOA, and got set up. We were really tired from the drive, and there was some rain in the area, so we didn't do much. We hit the hay pretty early!

Our site at the Nashville KOA

Wednesday, June 21st, 2017

This evening, we had tickets to go to the Grand Ol' Opry. But first, we needed to inspect our shocks and what was going on. We discovered once we arrived that much more bouncing had occurred on the trip, dislodging the tv from it's mount slightly, dumping items into the floor, breaking the closet latch, and other things, not normal.

Tony crawled under the rig to inspect it and we found one of the shocks was busted and leaking. We'd have to find a replacement. So we got searching on the internet, went by a couple of RV dealers, and made a bunch of calls. No one had these shocks or others that would suit a trailer like ours, in stock. So we ordered some on Amazon, but they would not be able to be there until Friday.

notice liquid at top of blue boot, and on frame and tire

After dinner at home, we got ready to go to our evening out at the Opry. It's not too far from the campground. We had a great time, seeing Charlie Daniels, Brett Eldredge, CeCe Winans, Rhonda Vincent, Daryle Singltary, Thomson Square and the Eli Young Band.

We were wiped out by the time we got home, but boy, was it worth it!

Up before dawn, sitting in a truck, back to where we started.

Monday, June 19th, 2017

Up at 4AM, we prepped quickly to get on the road and over to MorRyde before 6AM.  We were scheduled to have the SRE4000 suspension system put on, as well as shocks that we supplied.

We rolled in about 5:50am!  Perfect! The MorRyde salesman that was supposed to help us was on vacation, but they had another guy there to help us out. They pulled our rig in about 6:15, and got to work. We sat out in the truck with the cats, since pets were not allowed in the lounge. Luckily it was partly cloudy and not too hot.

Getting worked on

New shocks

We moved over to in the shade of the building, and sat and surfed our phones, I did a little work, and made a few trips back and forth to the customer lounge for restroom breaks and snacks.The cats slept the whole time. About 10AM, I went over to the lounge to inquire about lunch, and place our order.

At 11:30, lunch was supposed to arrive but it was a little late. About that time, they said our rig was ready! So we moved the rig, and I paid.

Moved out of the bay

MorRyde employees measure our new height.

Our new suspension, shackles and wet bolts!

Tony headed back to the lounge to get our lunch, and while he was gone, a guy came and asked us to move our rig so he could put a vehicle in the bay that we were close to. So, instead, we decided to take our lunch and go back to the campground.

When we arrived back at Elkhart Campground, we went back to the site we were in before. And behold, Jim Beletti, the Heartland Owners Club president & Nancy, his wife, were parked next to us! We saw them a little later, as they were headed to get a rental car and head to Chicago to catch a plane overseas!

Eileen at Elkhart Campground, Elkhart, IN

We collapsed from the day and napped some. In the late afternoon, we noticed our friends Lisa and Dan were parked there at the Beletti's trailer, and I saw Lisa standing on the steps, so we went out to say hi. Turns out, they were rig-sitting for Jim and Nancy for a few days. While we were talking, a fellow Heartlander had come up to Jim's rig looking for help, so Tony offered to help him.

After a short visit with Lisa, Dan came home with food for them, so I headed back home and Tony and I had dinner.  After dinner, we headed over to get fuel and some things at WalMart.  We head out to Nashville in the morning!

Ready to roll, but not too far

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Today, we got up and started packing to leave. Tony went up and got the "grab and go" breakfast, and brought it back.  We then worked on getting the inside ready. Tony had already dumped tanks and we had loaded up all the outside stuff last night, so there was not too much for him to do. Luckily so, because this AM it was raining some.

After we had much of the inside ready, I went up to the rally hall one last time to check on the posters and such, and say good bye to folks. Many folks around us had left already, by the time I returned.

We're all alone!

We pulled out about 11AM to head to Elkhart, where we had reservations at Elkhart Campground. Elkhart is only about 20 minutes away from Goshen, so when we say we had a short trip, we really mean a short trip!  But, we moved because we had to vacate the fairgrounds, and we have an appointment at MorRyde, at 6AM Monday!

Elkhart Campground

Our site

After we set up, we decided to eat lunch and drive out to Bontragers RV Surplus, to look around. That place is amazing! Every part you could ever think of for an RV, they probably have it. They have multiple warehouses full of stuff!

Before dinner, we headed over to find where MorRyde was, and then we had grand plans to use one of our gift cards to go eat. We quickly realized it was Father's Day, and every restaurant was packed! So we ended up at Culvers, eating hamburgers and having a custard shake.

After we returned, I took some laundry over to the campground laundry facilities to get some things done. We just had not had time to do much while at the fairgrounds, and not to mention our sewer run was very long and slightly uphill, so not conducive to leaving the tank open for lots of laundry runs.

On my way to the laundry, I noticed some Heartland rigs close together with some folks hanging out and visiting. So after my laundry was going, I went over and visited. It was a good way to pass the time! Tony worked to replace the headlight that we noticed was out. Luckily he had the bulb, as he had bought two when one went out in Alpine, earlier this year.

After laundry, we hitched up and got things put away and ready for leaving early the next morning.

The NAHOR!!!

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Today is the official start to the North American Heartland Owners Rally in Goshen, IN. I am sadly way behind writing this post and the rest of our trip, so these may be more of a summary than a detailed day to day account.

Today we attended some sessions, and enjoyed some visiting around the fairgrounds. I learned about Essential Oils and InstantPot cooking , while Tony learned about Hydraulic systems from Lippert.

In the evening, there was a Dessert Welcome Reception for everyone.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Today we were slow getting up, but that was OK.  We went to the Convection Cooking Session, which proved there are many variables to take into consideration when trying to cook with these things! The samples were good though.

We wandered over to the Rec Tec Pellet Smoker Grilling Demo, and had enough "samples" to call it lunch, and walked around some of the outdoor vendor areas.

After lunch we went to a session on "Cheap Heat", by RV Comfort Systems, which is an add on to your furnace to use electricity instead of gas to get heat through your ducting system, saving you money and time on heating your coach. We like the idea, but the cost is prohibitive. And, since we pay for electricity, it's probably not that much of savings over propane.

Later Wednesday afternoon, we assisted in prepping for the South Central Region Meet and Greet, held at 5pm. We had a good turnout, but unfortunately, I had to handle some work related stuff, and had to miss a lot of it.

Thursday, June 15th, 2017

This morning, Tony headed over to the sessions, while I stayed back for Heartland Service. They came and worked on our 2 items: the plenum seal on our two ACs, and replacing a baggage door. They made quick work of replacing the door, including everything from replacing the door, replacing the door lock with our keyless one, caulking, and replacing the decals. The ACs sound much quieter now, and I think they are cooling better.

In the afternoon, We went to the Torklift Glowstep Revolution seminar, I went to my second session on essential oils -make and take, and one on our MCD Roller shades. It was quite informative. Tony met with the Lippert tech to look at one of our slideouts, and got it adjusted.

For the evening, there was a catered dinner, door prizes, and a musical act, "Chicago Tribute Anthology". We sat with folks we really didn't know, but had a good time. Couples were from Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, and Canada! Quite the mix. We won a fire extinguisher, from Mac the Fire Guy. YAY! The Band was OK, but we decided to go back home instead. Not long after we sat down to watch some TV, I got a call from the guy that was to do our bearing maintenance. He wanted to know if they could do it this evening! So we said yes, and they did it. Some of it in the dark, but they had lights and we helped with lights as well. It was nearly 10:30 by the time they were gone, but it's DONE!

Chicago Tribute Anthology

Friday, June 16th, 2017

Today, Tony and I were moving kinda slow again, but headed over to the Heartland Leadership Luncheon/Meeting at noon. After that, was the beer tasting, at Andy Grime's rig, just 2 over from us. We enjoyed some of the tasting and other excitement, as Jamie, the NE Region Director, passed on the "Traveling Sombrero" to Andy, the Louisiana Chapter Leader. (There's a document that has the history of where the Sombrero has been, on its 2+ year journey.)

The "Traveling Sombrero" has a new home in cajun country!

beer tasting

Beer and even some wine tasting!

Shortly after that was to end, many of the other regions had their meet and greet events, with no other activities scheduled for the evening. We just stayed home, instead, taking a break for all the GO GO GO.

Saturday, June 17th, 2017

Today we had to boogie over and get on a bus at 8am to head to Elkhart, for the Heartland factory tour. This tour is really a highlight, to get to see the rigs in various stages of completion along the line, as well as all the pieces and parts that go into them. It truly is amazing to see. This year, they did much better at the tour, doing a self-guided tour with folks set in different areas to tell what was happening. We got to really explore a lot more that way. However, it was still not enough time to see it all!

Gathering outside the plant

Coley Brady, Vice President of Sales

Andy Westhorp explains about the underbelly construction

Wall pieces

Windows

Part of the assembly line

After that, we took the bus over to the Furrion Innovation Building, and see this supplier's new take on appliances and other things for the RV market. It was quite unique.

This motorhome had steps to the roof, where there was a helipad and a hot tub.

Tony waving from the top!

The hot tub

Stairs

The inside of the innovation center

More inside of the innovation center

A dishwasher, inside a fifth wheel! I need this!

Once done there, we walked about 200 yards over to the RV/MH Hall of Fame.

We were able to visit the unique RV exhibits and gift shop, and then we had lunch and a Q&A with the Heartland executives. Again, it's always quite informative to hear the leadership from Heartland answer questions (unscripted or censored) from the audience.

Lunch!

Heartland Brand Managers take questions from Owners.

After the Q&A was over, we boarded a bus back to the fairgrounds. We didn't have too much time before it was time for dinner! I think we might have fallen asleep in our recliners for a bit.

Dinner was again a catered affair, with entertainment following, called "Timing's Everything". They played a variety of music, including some country. We didn't stay long, opting to visit out around the fairgrounds, and prep for leaving tomorrow.

Here's a great link to a drone flyover of the fairgrounds, and all the rigs that were at this rally!