Departed Shipshewana really early (0600 hrs) to be at the Jayco factory at our appointed time of 0630 hrs.
Again, the reason we needed to go to the factory was due to a problem we've had with the Atwood levelers on our Jayco RV since the day we got it back in May 2013. Well, Jayco was ready for us. Jayco's service coordinator Brad Underwood and Atwood's senior service engineer Mike Williams were both there and they knocked it out of the park! I explained the history and the symptoms, and within a very few minutes Mike duplicated the problem precisely! He knew exactly what was wrong. Both front motors were bad. They were weak and were "clutching" when they should not have been. There is much more technically to the story but I won't bore you with the details. Bottom line, we were treated like royalty by both Jayco and Atwood. They isolated and repaired the problem within a very short time and of course had the parts on-hand. They both made absolutely certain we were completely satisfied and had all of our questions answered. Then we took the RV outside their service area and I put the levelers through their paces as Mike watched. Doreen then video'd Mike as he went back over procedures to use in case of future issues.
While Mike from Atwood was replacing the motors, I picked Brad's cranium on issues, hints and fixes with our specific model of RV. The beauty of being at the factory is they have ALL the parts and they have ALL the experts. Brad took me to other areas of the factory and actually showed me the answers to my questions.
Before we finished, they commented on my tires, calling them "airplane tires" because they are so heavy duty. I explained I had a blow-out of one of the cheap Chinese-made OEM tires with only about 2000 miles on it. It ripped up the side of my RV and I had patched together a fix because they wanted $150 just for the flimsy plastic fender. Jayco said, "Let us replace that for you!" (no charge) and so they did and it looks like brand new!
Not only that, but he gave me two tubes of self-leveling roof sealant and another tube of clear sealant used in places other than the roof.
Well, we had planned to stay at the Jayco factory the entire week as neither us nor the Jayco/Atwood folks knew exactly what was wrong or how long it would take to fix. So it is noon on day one (Tuesday) and we are DONE!! OK, so now what? While we were here we planned to slip up to the Kalamazoo Michigan area and watch grand daughter Lindsey perform her last ice skating event of the year, so we did not want to head to our next destination until tomorrow. No worries, Jayco has two camping spots right here at their service center with 50 amp power and water, plus a sewer dump not far away. Per Brad we are welcome to use them anytime. So we camped out in Jayco's service area and it worked just fine. They had actually just built them and so Brad says we are their first campers!
About a one hour drive to Kalamazoo and supper with daughter Jennifer and her family.
Then to Wings West ice rink to watch Lindsey perform. She is really doing great!
1 June Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
So, my cold is still kicking my rear. The antibiotics and Muscinex don't seem to be helping much, but we must give them time. In the mean time it is safe to say I won't be scuba diving this week, so no reason to go to Van Buren State Park near Gilboa Quarry. Doreen and I talked it over, pulled the plug on both Van Buren and Alum Creek State Parks, made a phone call and booked 1-10 June at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) Fam Camp. Wright-Patterson is where the Air Force Museum is, plus it is closer to Cincinnati where we will be seeing the Reds play on 8 June. Not to mention they had a pull-through site with full-hookups!! Three years ago September Jennifer, James and I all ran the Air Force Marathon (26.2 miles) here! I'm not sure I could run the ".2" right now!!
The trip from Middlebury IN (Jayco factory) to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Fam camp near Dayton OH was fairly uneventful. We wasted a bunch of time due to construction and we ended up getting routed through downtown Lima OH. Other than that most of the trip was four lane. We traveled about 200 miles in about five hours
The "Fam Camp" here is really nice. The spots are paved and grass mowed. Hope to have more pictures tomorrow.
After we arrived and set-up the RV, we ventured into Wright-Patterson AFB and Doreen resupplied at the commissary while I used their Wi-Fi a bit. This week we will explore the area. This weekend one of our friends who I was stationed with in Maine lives near Columbus OH. He and his wife are coming over to visit and have dinner.
Take care,
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