Over tha last two months of Ness2 ownership we have accumulated a laundry list of small things that we want addressed. You know, little things like the water pump not working, paint missing from obscure roof areas, and the GPS system sending us off into never-never-land. We secured an appointment and brought our ever expanding list of complaints to the factory today. We rolled into town last Saturday afternoon, and promptly saw a sign for Harness Racing at the Nappanee Raceway for 6 PM that evening! Part of the ITPA (International Trotting and Pacing Association), Saturday's races were a tune-up for the ITPA Stakes race scheduled for next Saturday, and the Midwestern Stakes race that will signal the beginning of the end of this years' racing season.
Harness racing is more about driving ability than speed, but some horses really got with the program!
Most drivers are young people under not yet baptized into the Amish community. Adults are prevented from racing of any sort, but youngsters are not, so while adults train, feed and otherwise dump money into the horses, the kids actually race them!
"Rumspringa" is the name used to describe the period of time between the ages of 14 and 16 or so, where Amish youth must choose whether to remain in the faith or leave the community. Most choose to remain, however, after that decision, actual horse racing is prohibited.
The horses are absolutely beautiful! I'm not an expert by any means, but there are "pacers" and "trotters", each with a different gait. Even while limiting themselves to a regular gait, these guys can move!
Trotterbred horses came from breeding standardbred (full-size) horses with Shetland ponies, and coming up with a smaller and more agile horse. These races are very competitive, even though the race purses only average about $150 to $170. Most drivers and owners do so for the love of the sport.
As the lights came on, and the temperature dropped, we snapped a couple of photos and then split for a warmer location!
At the customer service rv park (?), a variety of coaches began to arrive Saturday evening. Most of us, if not all, have service appointments soon, and decided to get into the cheap seats over the weekend. Newmar doesn't charge for staying at either of their locations, so while it's not a destination, it is a destination....
At one time on Sunday afternoon, there were seven Dutch Star coaches onsite with the identical paint scheme: Sea Pearl. Ours is the one on the right near the white car. In chatting with the other owners, we found that we all liked that color because we thought it would be unique! Hmmm! We are all worried about the fact that all these colors were on '18 DSDP coaches with just a few miles on the odometer. Bad Karma, or ????
Today, Monday the 20th, Todd arrived at our coach at about 6:30 am. That's Eastern Daylight Time. Three hours earlier than our normal Pacific Daylight Time....Ouch. We got up at 4:30 to have the coach ready to roll into the service building, and had enough time to cook up a cup of coffee before the crew arrived. Todd is the lead person for mid-line coach repairs, and has assigned a crew of four technicians to our coach. We visited the coach this afternoon in the "hospital" and talked to Stan, the crew foreman, and were very impressed with his knowledge and demeanor. A number of our concerns were checked off the list today in Newmar's new service facility, Building 42. This is an addition to an existing building in an industrial park on the east side of Nappanee. Over the next few months, that original building will be remodeled and the service area will double in size. Both service and parts will be located in this same building, with an rv park located a hundred yards or so away for the convenience of customers as well as techs. This will consolidate functions that are now located in a variety of smaller buildings on the present campus on the west side of town.'
We spent the day today taking a short drive around the center of Indiana Amish country. Shipshewana, Middlebury, Goshen, and Topeka were on the route. Everything looks just about like it did the last time we were here, a couple of years ago. Lovely farm country!
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