Monday, the 11th, was a stressful day, when Nessie received her physical examination. Her report noted a handful of health and safety items that needed to be addressed before her new owners take possession. We immediately made arrangements with the service department at Steinbring Motorcoach to begin repairs. Several of the items we were aware of, and several we were not, but we could not, in good conscience transfer her to her new owners without taking care of those things that were not just cosmetic.
On Tuesday, Nessie's new owners arrived for their first look at the coach. The first impression was favorable, and the deal was finalized. Thanks again, Mike and Julie! Donna and I celebrated with dinner at Mi Mexico, a local favorite mexican food hangout. Wednesday found us discussing the in's and out's of owning a motorhome with Nessie's new owners. Including lunch, we spent several productive hours going over the various systems onboard before their return to Virginia required an end to the day.
Thursday morning Sasha and I headed out to enjoy a long walk around the property on a bright sunny day. As we passed the service bays, I noticed a motorhome painted the same color as the one we had ordered, and from all appearances, the proper floor plan. After coffee and breakfast, Donna and I had to go into the office to take care of some paperwork, and Lee, our salesperson, casually mentioned that "your coach should be out of detail this afternoon!" Well, Katy, bar the door....we practically ran to the service bay, only to find it empty....
But not by much: she was sitting in a different location!
Soon she was moved to the detail area and we were allowed a quick peek at the interior.
After spending the night in the detail/wash bay, Ness2 was moved to "Kamp Kozy" on Friday about mid-day. This one-site area has a great little lawn and patio with a grill, furniture, and landscaping.
We immediately moved Nessie into the adjacent parking stall and began the Big Move. Friday was a minimal afternoon, just moving enough stuff to spend the night. Saturday was spent moving most of the rest...we worked until 1:00 am Sunday, and still didn't finish!
Saturday night a midwestern supercell moved through the area, with lightning, thunder, hail, and 3 inches of rain along with high wind. Pretty exciting, I'll tell you! Us Californians don't know what to make of that!
Sunday was Fathers Day, and I received wonderful greetings from our children, Jeff and Teresa and their families. Right on! We moved the last of our "have to have" stuff out of Nessie and cleaned her from stem to stern.
Monday, the 18th, found us continuing work on the organizing routine in Ness2 as well as taking care of some additional paperwork. Randy, the PDI guy, gave us a thorough walk-through of the coach, both inside and outside. He is a congenial sort and gave us a great introduction to our new home. We pointed out a half-dozen things that needed attention, and he took care of them without delay. There are a couple of items that will require the factory to address, and an official note of those was made by the warranty guy, Dave, for future correction. One situation revolved around the entertainment system. We had requested that a couple of HDMI cables be run to various points in the coach, but on Sunday, when we attempted to hook up our satellite system, we discovered that the signals weren't being transferred to the appropriate locations. In addition, the back of the sofa blocked the IR signal from reaching the television, so that we were required to stand up and hold the remote over our head to operate the tv! As it turned out, Randy "has people"! Local guru Bob from "Blue Collar Bob's" signal service was available and came by for a look. He found that the cables had been run as we asked, but were not plugged in! I guess we should have made an additional request about that! He also added a remote IR receiver so that we didn't need to get too much exercise standing up and down to change channels and such on the tv! Cool! Now we can use remotes.....!
Tuesday the 19th, Nessie (1) left us. She has been parked next door for several days, and we've become accustomed to seeing her. She went into Service for the repair work, and we are sad. She was a great motorhome, notwithstanding that she had her issues from time to time. She gave us 63,000 miles of travel throughout this great country of ours. We will miss her.
We planned to customize Ness2 a bit as time and ambition permit, but when Ed in Service told us he had a little free time this afternoon, we made arrangements for him to take care of some things while we went to lunch! What a concept! A craft burger (peanut butter and jalapeño) and three grilled fish tacos later, we returned to Steinbring and the work was done! I'm liking this!
Time here is getting away from us, as we found out this morning. When I went into the office, Karen, the admin assistant/book keeper/phone lady/customer service person greeted me with: "Good morning, Gary, are you leaving today?" Hint noted....We have a bit more paperwork to do (which is code for write a check), and then we'll have to think seriously about leaving. The summer camping season is in full swing in the midwest and we're having a bit of trouble finding a place to land. We've been looking southeast toward the Twin Cities and striking out, but tomorrow we'll look north and see what we can find. It's a busy year!
On Wednesday, Jon Steinbring, his son and the business manager, Chase, our salesperson Lee and his wife and Donna and I went to lunch at the local "best place in town", Dolittles. The claim to fame here is a wood fired grill, and the food was delicious. During the conversation, Jon told us about an rv resort he frequents about a 100 miles away. He called them and they had an open site for the next few days, so we snatched it! So now we have a "home" until we drift southeast toward the Twin Cities for the July Fourth holiday.
We're both excited and apprehensive about our first excursion with Ness2, but we've gotta do it sometime, so.....here goes.....
No comments:
Post a Comment